WWE Has Killed the Power of Authority Figures

WWE has done a great job sucking the fun out of authority figures as the years go on.

No wrestling company has ever used the on-screen authority figure better than WWE with Vince McMahon and his historic feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. That taste of success seemed to have implemented a life-long rule that says there must be an authority figure on television.

I disagree.

McMahon worked in the role because that actually is his role and he's naturally such an aggressive person. He was publicly exposed as that in a very controversial and organic situation with the Montreal Screwjob in 1997. The evil boss against the rebel Austin fit the attitude of WWE and the general wrestling audience of the time.

I'm not saying anger toward your boss is outdated, but it doesn't fit in today's WWE script.

When authority figure storylines were booming with WWE, it was all reality-based. McMahon, who owns the company, made it simple for fans to understand. Even with Eric Bischoff, former president and executive producer of the rival WCW promotion, it made sense to bring him in as an on-screen authority figure for Raw once WCW went under.

Since these times of employer glory, the angle has been done to the death. Death of the importance to on-screen authority figures in wrestling.

I've sat in enough wrestling booking conversations to confidently tell you that often times the phrase “it's wrestling” gets uttered when responding to a potential loophole in the logic of the story. This means that in wrestling, you have to suspend some disbelief.

A great example is the backstage area. Everyone comes from one entrance way. If two guys really don't like each other, how did they both come from the same entrance way so quickly? If they're all sharing the same backstage, how did one person not know the other guy was there in the building? Wouldn't you have heard through the grapevine? It's this I'll give credit to TNA wrestling for with their innovation of using two entrance ways years ago—one for the heel and one for the face. It actually made a lot of sense.

Another is that the ringside is full of people, ring announcers, time keepers and commentators. Sometimes we see a heel cheat and then another referee comes out and explains to the assigned referee how he missed some cheating go on behind his back. Well, if that is valid, why wouldn't the people at ringside speak up every time? It's ridiculous sounding, I know, but I'm making a point.

All of these things we should be looking past as loopholes in wrestling logic get amplified when you continue to use authority figures.

A great example is the random influence the "Board of Directors" has in the storyline with Big Show. Where have they been? All of the sudden, they came to the aid of Big Show by not allowing him to be fired. Where were they when Daniel Bryan kept getting unfairly treated? What about Cody Rhodes and his job situation?

Some might think having an authority figure gives all of these great options in booking, and I think it's the opposite. It backs the booking up against a wall.

McMahon versus Austin worked because of the two insane personalities. It was also extremely fresh compared to anything we had ever seen before. Nobody ever delivered a finishing move to Jack Tunney or punched out the Crocketts on television for story.

If the authority figures stay out of the weekly television programming, it allows more suspension of disbelief. The wizard should remain behind the curtain, and then you have an easier time as a booker to let things develop without logical questioning getting in the way, and the fans can accept things easier without obvious logic gaps flashing in their face.

If an authority figure is evil, what is stopping them from just flat-out cheating and taking the title from the babyface they don't like? We've seen authority figures get the title on guys they want. Randy Orton recently stealing the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam is a good example. But now, in theory, Orton should never not have it. If there is an evil, corrupt authority group in charge, everything they want should happen with no way for anything otherwise to happen.

So the Board of Directors steps in to shift the balance of fairness. Well, if they shifted that balance of fairness, shouldn't they right all of the other wrongs ever done? The fact that they didn't highlights the issues of having authority figures holding prominent roles in the first place.

I think Vickie Guerrero and Brad Maddox are both entertaining characters, but I wish they were just managers rather than authority figures. I don't buy their involvement.

I had the same issue with Bischoff being in the New World Order during his days with WCW. It takes away from the realism that made the entire era of an invasion from WWE guys work. When the promotion had the nWo Sold Out pay-per-view, that really did the faction in. A pay-per-view the nWo controlled, with its own referee, and some WCW guys actually went over? It was a big blow to the momentum and mystic that the angle had at the time. It wouldn't be the last blow.

A few years ago, I was an on-screen authority figure for a wrestling company known as Prime Wrestling on local Ohio television and DirecTV. I had finished a storyline that saw me getting bullied by a heel and forced me to bring in a hired gun (Kevin Nash) to go against some other guys (one of whom was the man who went on to be Luke Harper). Once this was done, I thought I was done with the company.

It asked me to come back as its on-screen authority but as a babyface. I did it because, at the time, there was more programming that the company could create involving the story of myself and the heels who had an issue with me.

Looking back from experience, authority figures can piece a few things together, but they mostly get in the way. An authority figure also shouldn't be a long-term face. It just goes against natural emotions from the fans. But then, if you have a heel authority figure, you run into everything I've just talked about above.

Lesson of the topic: stop using on-screen authority figures—it hurts more than it helps.

  

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