We Are The Authority: 7 Changes to WWE Raw and SmackDown Fans Want to See

The McMahon family and Triple H opened this week's WWE Raw with an address promising they would make significant changes in the near future to address Superstars being held back, low ratings and the repetitive nature of shows. The same message was repeated by Shane McMahon on SmackDown.

The big statement Triple H made to the WWE Universe was "You are The Authority now." This indicates management intends to actively listen to its audience instead of giving us what the company thinks we want.

As always, fans were skeptical about any promise of real change since we have heard things like this before only to see the same WWE programming continue.

Monday's Raw certainly didn't feature any dramatic shift in the way business is done, but it might take weeks or months before any sort of progress is made.

Thanks to social media, WWE can listen to what a certain percentage of fans want to see happen, but as with anything, fans don't always agree on what is best for business.

Following the McMahon family's big announcement, I put out a request on Twitter asking what the WWE Universe would do if they were in charge of the company.

A lot of ideas came in, but a few stood out as the most requested. Let's take a look at what WWE fans would change about the current product.

Better Use of Tournaments

WWE has been using tournaments such as the Mae Young Classic and UK Championship tourney on the WWE Network to introduce new talents to fans for the past couple of years, but the main roster is a different story.

The King of the Ring has been gone for years and WWE's most recent one-night tournament, the World Cup, was a disaster from start to finish.

A few fans suggested finding new and exciting ways to use tournaments on both the main roster and in NXT. These are definitely ideas WWE management should consider.

The Mixed Match Challenge was a good concept, but the conclusion of Season 2 felt like more of a comedy segment than anything else. 

The KOTR is something the company could utilize to help struggling Superstars without having to use a championship. Almost every past winner has benefited in a big way and so can countless others. 

Make Raw Shorter

Raw began as a one-hour program when it first debuted, but it has grown into a three-hour monster that some people don't have the patience to sit through every week.

The most successful period for the company came when the show ran at a tight two hours. This was perfect because it was long enough to feature every champion but short enough that fans didn't get bored by the end.

The expansion to three hours was likely done as a way to increase ad revenue from an additional hour of commercials, but it may have also been what has led to some people tuning out halfway through the show.

This doesn't mean WWE has to feature fewer stars, it just means the company needs to find a way to use its time more wisely.

Factions

WWE has a handful of three-man teams on the main roster, but it has been quite some time since an actual stable dominated the company.

The most successful groups in pro wrestling have always had four or more members. The Four Horsemen, DX, NWO, Evolution and countless others ran the show because they had the manpower to do it. 

We don't necessarily need to see a group of people usurp power from the McMahons, but a couple of groups competing with each other could help a lot of wrestlers.

The great thing about larger groups is it gives people lower on the card a chance to rub elbows with the main eventers running the stable. Sometimes, just being in the ring with a certain person can raise another Superstar's profile.

WWE probably wants to avoid comparisons to The Bullet Club, but considering it has four former members on its roster, it's shocking we have only ever seen a three-man version of the faction pop up for a couple of short runs.

Ranking System

An interesting idea pitched by a few fans was to introduce some kind of ranking system. A few different ideas were thrown out there, but the reasoning behind them was the same.

It sometimes feels like people don't even have to earn title shots. All they have to do is interrupt the champion and bug the bosses until they relent and book the match.

Tracking wins and losses would be a big help as some wrestlers go months without losing only to end up being buried because someone with a little more name recognition is a bigger priority.

We all know wrestling is scripted, but that doesn't mean we don't want some logic with it. Treating the product with more respect and attention to detail will let the fans know WWE doesn't think we're stupid.

In fairness, WWE did try to introduce the SmackDown Top 10 list this year, but the concept barely lasted a few weeks before it was ignored. It might take some time for something like this to work.

Treat Tag Teams Better

SmackDown has had good and bad times with its tag team division in 2018, but Raw hasn't been nearly as good to its duos.

While everyone had different ideas of what to do with the division, a lot of fans were passionate about the idea of treating tag team wrestling with more respect.

The most recent call-ups from NXT have suffered more than anyone. It took WWE months before it found a way to use AOP, and it has taken even longer for Sanity to be taken seriously on SmackDown.

And let's not even get into how poorly WWE has used Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

WWE has the time, talent and resources to have the best tag team division in the world. Why it wouldn't even try to make that happen is a mystery only chairman Vince McMahon can solve.

Better Use of Part-Time Superstars and Universal Title

One of the things people were most vocal about was not allowing the Universal Championship to be held hostage by a part-time Superstar.

Here's the problem: WWE actually does an incredible job building up most of Brock Lesnar's challengers to look like they have a real shot at beating him only for The Beast Incarnate to end up winning with a few F-5s.

Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles and more would have received a massive boost with a win over The Beast, but for some reason, WWE would rather have its flagship brand's top title sit at home with the champion on his farm.

Lesnar is an undeniable draw, and that means he doesn't need a belt. Just showing up and having a fun match with someone is enough for fans to want to see him. It's as simple as that.

Ronda Rousey gets a pass here because she has been working multiple television tapings every month and putting on good matches at almost every pay-per-view. She has earned more respect in her first year than some fans have for Lesnar after 16 years.

The 30-day title defense regulation has been all but ignored in recent years. It's time to start bringing back rules like this to make the product feel more legitimate.

Women's Tag Titles

Without a doubt, the most suggested change by the people who responded to the original questions was introducing a set of women's tag titles.

This is a topic WWE has even brought up on its own programming from time to time, but there has been no indication of any progress toward making these belts a reality.

Legends like Madusa want them. Current stars such as Naomi want them. Wrestling writers have been talking about it for months. This is something people want and WWE needs to give it to them.

The women's division has grown to the point of needing something else for it to fight over on each show. Whether it's one set of titles or a set for every edition is the thing WWE needs to figure out.

The best part is the company already has several established pairs who could make up a division right away:

• Bayley and Sasha Banks
• Nia Jax and Tamina
• Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville
• The Bella Twins
• Ronda Rousey and Natalya
• Naomi and Asuka
• The Riott Squad
• Mickie James and Alicia Fox
• The IIconics

If we can have two sets of Tag Team Championships for the men on the main roster and two in the developmental system, the company can find a way to introduce one for the main roster's women. With any luck, this is one of the changes WWE makes in 2019.

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Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas. Click on the link to the original tweet at the top to see all the ideas from WWE fans. If you were running WWE, what kind of changes would you make?