WWE Missed Opportunities: Naming a New Raw General Manager

The 2014 Survivor Series culminated with a series of events that had to leave fans of the current product in an excited, optimistic state.

Not only had Sting made his long-awaited WWE debut, but Team Cena was able to defeat The Authority and in the process, remove Triple H and Stephanie McMahon from power.

On top of that, it was Dolph Ziggler—not John Cena—who was able to earn the deciding pinfall for his team. That was a very encouraging sign.

But in less than six weeks, WWE has managed to render that entire match and stipulation all but meaningless with the events that have transpired over the last two weeks.

Triple H and Stephanie returned to Raw and the very next week, threw their power around before firing Ryback, Erick Rowan and Ziggler. Cena could only stand back and watch it all happen.

It's the same old song and dance from WWE. They've long ran with the model of having an extremely disliked person or persons in charge of Raw or SmackDown, hell-bent on making the lives of many of the top Superstars miserable.

It worked with Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff, but it's gotten stale with the likes of Vickie Guerrero and now the WWE's top power couple.

It's just not that interesting anymore.

Following Survivor Series, WWE had an excellent opportunity to buck that trend and place a new General Manager on their flagship show. Only this time, why not have it be someone who the majority of the fans like or at the very least, someone who isn't a despised heel.

The idea of having a heel in charge of the show creating roadblocks for certain Superstars is a tried-and-true plan, but it doesn't have to be the way things go forever.

Does WWE not know how to book any other way?

Take for example when Mick Foley was WWE Commissioner back in 2000 and 2001.

Foley was not only very good in the role, but he made things entertaining. There wasn't someone intentionally trying to bury certain individuals by coming up with things like handicap matches on a regular basis.

Again, these storylines have proven to work, but with years upon years of repetition, it tends to get a little boring.

That is exactly why WWE should have chosen a different direction than the one they just went in.

Why not reverse the tables and have a new general manager come in and make things tough for The Authority and their associates? This would have been especially interesting in the case of Seth Rollins.

Instead of having a stipulation where Cena was the only person who could bring The Authority back, the new GM could have set something into place where it would have been Rollins' decision when they would return.

What would be the catch? Rollins would have to use his Money in the Bank briefcase to do it. In other words, Rollins would have to successfully cash in the briefcase in order to get Triple H and Stephanie back on television.

This would have kept things interesting as fans would have constantly wondered when and where Rollins would try to cash it in. Would he be patient without his support group or would he feel the pressure and turn in the briefcase sooner than he would have originally liked?

Sting, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Foley are all guys who would have been good selections for this role, so long as they were interested. Even if they weren't, WWE would have plenty of options to fill the position.

Instead, they went the same tired route that they have become all too familiar with. The Authority was back one month after Survivor Series. As usual, WWE refused to do a slow build to a new storyline.

Even if there was no way they would have changed their minds about The Authority's return to power, they could have waited longer.

But what fans have been given on the last two episodes of Raw have been nothing short of atrocious.

Having Triple H and Stephanie come back and subsequently fire Rowan, Ryback and Ziggler completely erased everything that Survivor Series stood for. In many ways, it made it pointless.

What appeared to defining moment for Ziggler when he pinned Rollins to win the elimination match at Survivor Series now appears worthless.

Of course, anyone who has followed WWE knows that Rowan, Ryback and Ziggler will be back and at the same time, WWE may throw in a twist that completely turns around the storyline in a positive direction.

But does anyone have any confidence that they will?