WWE Wrestlemania 28: Why This Will Be John Laurinaitis's Rise to Power

Johnny Ace. Mr. Excitement. Johnny Ratings. The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw.

Whatever you call the annoying WWE figurehead John Laurinaitis, you better get used to calling him the permanent General Manager of both Raw and Smackdown! after Team Johnny leaves WrestleMania 28 in Miami victorious.

When (not if) Team Johnny prevails, it will mark the official beginning of Laurinaitis’s reign of terror on WWE.

And you thought he was annoying before...

In case you don’t believe that Team Johnny will beat team Teddy in Miami, here are some reasons that will steer you in the right direction.

Team Johnny Has Quite the Pedigree

In the WrestleMania tale of the tape between Team Teddy and Team Johnny, it is actually pretty even regarding the major championship category. Concerning the category of major titles claimed (WWE, ECW and World Heavyweight Championships), it’s dead even between Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis’s teams.

Both team’s wrestlers have won a combined six major titles each. However, when you dig deeper, you see that Team Johnny’s titles actually hold more merit.

More members of Team Johnny (four—the Miz, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Dolph Ziggler) have held major titles than Team Teddy members (two—Booker T and the Great Khali).

And it’s nice that Booker T is a five-time WCW Champion. But he’s certainly not a wrestler in his prime. And if Christian hadn’t been knocked off Team Johnny by CM Punk, he would’ve added four more championships to his team’s resume.

At the end of day, Team Johnny’s gold simply holds more weight.

Let's Throw Team Johnny a Bone

Can you believe that the comical members of Team Teddy have received a greater push from WWE bookers recently than the talented members of Team Johnny?

Think about it.

While funny guys like Santino Marella and Zack Ryder have each won the WWE United States Championship in recent months, former major champions like the Miz, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Dolph Ziggler have spent the past few months jobbing to other top talent.

I don’t know about you, but that picture makes no sense to me.

It’s time for the more talented team to actually win for once, as opposed to the team that gets the loudest pop amongst the WWE Universe’s youngest fans.

The WWE bookers need to reward the jobbing members of Team Johnny with a rare victory at WrestleMania.

We Need a Break from Teddy Long

As fellow Bleacher Report WWE Featured Columnist Sharon Glencross pointed out, Teddy Long has been running Smackdown! for quite awhile now.

In between a hiatus or two, Long has been in charge of WWE’s Friday Night program for the past seven years. To put it in perspective, that’s almost as long as two full presidential terms.

It’s time for Long to be impeached from office.

His gimmick has grown pretty stale. On any given episode of Smackdown! these days, Long just arranges one match, in between exchanging sexual innuendoes with WWE Diva Asanka and accusing someone of drinking "Haterade."

It’s time for this former WWE referee to hit the bricks—at least for a little while.

John Laurinaitis Is the Perfect Heel

I realize I’m in the minority here, but I think it would be a total shame if John Laurinaitis were to be taken off WWE television now. He’s really starting to come into his element as a great heel.

Of course, one trademark of a great heel is his ability to sell. And nobody sells better right now than the General Manager formerly known as Johnny Ace.

He draws laughs from the WWE Universe every time he overdramatizes his falling victim to the likes of Teddy Long and his wrestlers in a heated in-ring confrontation. And he still draws significant heat from the crowd every time he makes an appearance.

Much like heel announcer Michael Cole, Laurinaitis garners too much of a reaction to be removed from WWE programming.

That’s why I expect Team Johnny to leave WrestleMania victorious.

Let's Give the Miz Some Dignity

A year ago, Mike “the Miz” Mizanin was on top of the world. He left WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta with the WWE Championship still wrapped around his waist after a bit of assistance from Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.

But since then, the Miz hasn’t gotten a sniff at the main event and has had to fight and claw his way just to WrestleMania 28’s undercard. The only way for Mizanin to keep what little dignity he has left as a WWE competitor is to have him lead Team Johnny to a WrestleMania win in Miami.

That will be the best way for WWE bookers to tell the Internet Wrestling Community if they still view the Miz as “awesome” or “awful” these days.