The Authority's Return to WWE Programming Has Been Rushed

On November 23, 2014, Team Cena beat Team Authority at WWE Survivor Series to oust the totalitarianism of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, a duo that had gone out of their way to upset the WWE Universe with the relentless prioritizing of their hand-picked lackeys.

On December 29, 2014, that was all undone in seconds as John Cena reinstated The Authority under pressure from Seth Rollins, who was threatening to curb stomp former legend Edge in the middle of the ring.

What a waste of everybody’s time.

For all but the most blinkered of fans, it was obvious that The Authority would be making its return sooner or later. Aside from the fact that the McMahon family owns and runs the company, the highly contrived stipulation that only John Cena could bring back The Authority, as opposed to nobody at all, was a clear message that the face of the WWE would be bringing it back one way or another. However, few expected it would be so soon; barely a month down the line.

Bringing HHH and Steph back so quickly is a poor decision in that it renders Dolph Ziggler’s heroics at Survivor Series moot whilst lessening the credibility of future bookings of similar significance. Survivor Series was shown free of charge in the U.S. for anybody willing to create an account on the WWE Network. It would be no surprise if fans who signed up for the service on the back of this new, post-Authority era feel cheated that WWE Creative has hit the reset button.

Opening the final Monday Night Raw before Survivor Series, Triple H made a speech claiming that the fans would rather “the inmates ran the asylum.” Check it out in the video below:

This hinted at a possible angle wherein, with no real leadership, the roster gets out of control and Cena is forced to bring back The Authority to reclaim some sanity. This could have played out in many ways and would’ve made for exciting viewing. Alternatively, Cena could have lost his third bout with the WWE champion Brock Lesnar and brought back The Authority to get a fourth title shot he would have otherwise not been entitled to. A cameo from the Anonymous General Manager, in hindsight, served little purpose. Simply put, it just seems rushed.

Of course, the premature return of HHH, in particular, permits him ample time to pick and choose his WrestleMania XXXI opponent and start building a rivalry. As reported by What Culture, Wrestling Inc. and Latinos Post, among other websites, HHH vs. Sting has been mooted as a possible match at the year’s biggest event. Reinstating The Game sooner rather than later provides enough time to build up a significant amount of tension with The Icon.

After an impressive showing against Brie Bella at SummerSlam that prompted chants of “You’ve still got it” from the crowd, Creative may be tempted to throw Steph into the mix as well.

But this is little more than a silver lining to some sloppy booking. Daniel Bryan’s title victory at last year’s WrestleMania was only so rewarding because the fans had been put through the ringer for so long. The arduous struggle made the payoff all the more sweet.

By contrast, The Authority have been gone for such a short amount of time that the fans have barely had time to enjoy their renewed freedom, yet suddenly it’s back to the norm. Letting the fans begin to forget what life under The Authority was like before having it force its way back onto the scene would have been much more effective. As it is, it feels like The Authority were simply on holiday rather than gone for good.

At a time when many fans are turning their primary attention away from Monday Night Raw and championing NXT for originality and rewarding writing, as per Jeremy Bennett of What Culture, this move to bring back such a hated stable so soon after it was overthrown comes across as rushed, lazy and ill-informed.