10 Reasons WWE's John Laurinaitis Should Run SmackDown

WWE GMs John Laurinaitis and Teddy Long, who run Raw and SmackDown, respectively, are heading for a clash at WrestleMania to solve their lingering problems once and for all, according to reports from WrestlingInc.com.

Rumours indicate both will form their own teams to face each other in a match at the event, with the winning team earning its captain the right to run both shows.

Assuming this is true, and recent episodes of Raw and SmackDown strongly suggest this is the case, it's probably bad news for Long. 

Indeed, since debuting in the summer of last year as a smarmy corporate heel, Laurinaitis has seen his on-screen profile increase considerably, becoming a major part of Raw and, in his battles with unruly employee CM Punk, one of the promotion's top villains.

Considering that he appears to be in Vince McMahon's good graces, it seems WWE's real-life head of talent relations' profile will only continue to expand in the upcoming months, with him running the blue brand being the next logical step.

The fact that Long is a tired, over-exposed character doesn't help his case. Nor do his advancing years (Long is 64). It's an extremely cosmetic business, after all.

Indeed, bulbous WWE announcer Jim Ross has found himself forced out of the company on more than one occasion despite his superb commentating skills, reportedly due to higher-ups in the company feeling he is not young or attractive enough for television.

But while fans of Long may be sad to see their man go (after all, who else is going to constantly come out and make tag team matches for after the break?), there are actually a few reasons Laurinaitis will make a great SmackDown GM and provided a boon to the stale, often marginalized show.

Here are those reasons.

David Otunga

While David Otunga may still struggle greatly as a wrestler, he thrives on WWE television as John Laurinaitis' bow tie-wearing comedy sidekick.

Ever since the walkout angle in October of last year, which saw Otunga utilize his legal skills to align himself with Laurinaitis and force out COO Triple H, the coffee-drinking Otunga has perfectly tapped into his real-life experiences to present a smug lawyer character that garners strong heat and fan reactions.

If Laurinaitis ends up running SmackDown, he'll undoubtedly need some help, which he'll find in Otunga, who will likely end up being a blue-brand regular as well. 

Certainly, more of the charismatic and highly entertaining Harvard graduate on WWE screens can only be a good thing. 

Laurinaitis Can Have Great Interaction with SmackDown's Babyfaces

Come on, who wouldn't love to see John Laurinaitis on the receiving end of an RKO? Or being made fun of by Sheamus in various backstage skits?

As his enjoyable programs on Raw with CM Punk and John Cena illustrate, the slimy heel can bring the best out of wrestlers and help them get over with the masses in a way not seen since Vince McMahon was feuding with Steve Austin in the late 1990s.

Teddy Long's Act Is Tired

While the charismatic and talented Teddy Long remains a smooth talker and likable on-screen presence, his entire GM routine has become worn out and tried.

How many tag team matches has Teddy made over the years anyway? Hundreds? How many times have we seen a skit where he flirts with beautiful SmackDown diva Aksana backstage? Again, too many to count.

And don't even get us started on his annoying habit of coming out and forcing poor mid-card heels to go one-on-one with Randy Orton.

In fact, his act has become so stale and predictable, some Internet joker devised a scarily accurate flowchart describing exactly how Long makes his booking decisions. 

All this considered, a change in GM is desperately needed, which is another reason John Laurinaitis, still a fairly fresh character, should run the blue brand. 

Teddy Long Is Terrible at His Job

Let's face it: We're used to heels being in the wrong. They're the bad guys, after all.

Except, John Laurinaitis and David Otunga, purportedly the heels in this current storyline, are actually spot on when they claim that Teddy Long, the apparent babyface, is grossly incompetent at his job.

Aside from his laughably predictable booking style (see previous slide), there's his current storyline with SmackDown star Drew McIntyre, which sees Teddy constantly hire and fire the lowly wrestler on almost a weekly basis in what is presumably an attempt to emotionally torment the poor Scotsman and gain revenge for Drew's shoddy treatment of him in 2010. 

The whole debacle is made even worse when you consider that Teddy openly admitted a few months ago that he spent a small fortune on obtaining McIntyre's services for Smackdown. So, yes, Teddy exhausted a large portion of WWE funds on a guy he's not even going to try to do anything with.

Someone needs to teach this guy about money management.

Not to mention, per SmackDown storylines, he's spent most of the last six months flirting with and trying to bed beautiful diva Aksana. Not only is she half his age, making the whole thing a bit unsettling, but she's his employee.

Teddy, how can you be so unethical?

Understandably, in a recent episode of SmackDown, Otunga and Laurinaitis (concerned and rule-abiding employees that they are) even called out Long on his inappropriate interaction with Aksana and reminded him how unprofessional he was being. 

So, did Long profusely apologize for his outrageous behaviour and vow to stay away from the young diva, as any good and ethical employer would? Er, no. He just acted snooty and changed the subject.

Boss of the year, he is not.  

It Would Make SmackDown Feel More Important

While it is often the superior wrestling program, and its ratings aren't that far behind Raw, SmackDown has almost always been treated as an afterthought by the WWE brass.

Company management prefers to place most of its focus on the Monday night flagship show.

However, having John Laurinaitis, who has been presented as a major heel on WWE television over the past few months, managing the show would surely rectify this somewhat and make the blue brand feel relevant again. 

It Would Mean the End of This Awful Drew McIntyre Storyline

On this week's episode of WWE SmackDown, Teddy Long decided to give Drew McIntyre...you guessed it! One last chance to keep his job.

Per the ultimatum, the grumpy Scotsman had to defeat Justin Gabriel in a match to stay on the roster. Alas, he ended up losing to the former Nexus member and was promptly fired by Long live on SmackDown.

Not to worry, though. He'll undoubtedly be back. This is, like, the 89th time Teddy has fired him, and he always gets brought back and given another chance. Not that anyone will care; not only has this storyline murdered Drew's career, it has also bored fans to death. 

Getting rid of Long as SmackDown GM and bringing in John Laurinaitis, who wouldn't have time for such nonsense, would at least put an end to this angle. 

Laurinaitis Is on His Way to Becoming One of the Great Heel Authority Figures

With his smarminess, bumbling demeanour and apparent eagerness to get along with everyone, John Laurinaitis is an altogether different kind of heel GM. 

Unlike previous heel GMs like Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff and Vickie Guerrero, who were over the top and open about their efforts to sabotage the good guys, Laurinaitis proclaims constantly on television that he wants to be "fair" and be friends with his rowdy employees. (Hilariously, he even told an unimpressed CM Punk he had attended "management classes" to help their strained working relationship.)

Oh, he's still out to get the faces, of course. He's just not too obvious about it.

It's a new, refreshing type of heel and, as Laurinaitis continues to blossom on-screen, bringing this character to SmackDown seems the next logical step. 

It Would Help Revive SmackDown

While SmackDown is often an extremely entertaining wrestling program, in the past few months, things have felt a little...well, stale. 

The mid-card in particular. How many times have we seen Ted DiBiase face Hunico? Not to mention that whole Jinder Mahal/Sheamus program.

That said, if John Laurinaitis took over, things would be different, and we'd surely get some fresher angles and matchups as the heel GM seeks to re-haul the brand. Especially if he decided to start booking Raw talent on the show more often.

John Laurinaitis Is Better Than Any of the Other Options

How many good on-screen authority characters does WWE have?

Teddy Long's act, as noted, has become worn out and tired. Heat magnet Vickie Guerrero is better as a manager. Vince McMahon has, for the most part, retired from on-screen duties and is now focusing on the business aspect of the company.

The anonymous Raw GM's decisions never made a lick of sense, with the laptop even sometimes switching from heel to babyface then back again on the same show. COO Triple H is more help behind the scenes and as an occasional wrestler than as a full-time figure who runs Raw—and the time he did try to run the show, it fell apart, and everyone walked out on him.

So, when it comes to people who can competently preside over the show, Laurinaitis may be the best option WWE has right now.

John Laurinaitis Is "Mr. Excitement!"

And isn't that the most important thing?