The Real Problem with The Authority

[Savage Gambino]

Inspired by the Daniel Bryan/Triple H "Monster" promo and my recently watching the St. Valentine's Day Massacre PPV.

I think we can all agree that The Authority has rapidly become one of the worst things about WWE TV, if not thee worst thing about WWE TV. They're stale, they're repetitive, and they're just a chore to watch in general. The weird thing is, it wasn't always that way; if Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority was an example of WWE at it's best, the underdog facing and overcoming insurmountable odds, The Authority vs. the World has come to encompass the worst of WWE, the stale corrupt authority figure versus the one-dimensional babyface leading to repetitive matches with obvious outcomes. The obvious problem is that The Authority is treated as this undefeatable juggernaut that never looks weak, but I think that only highlights the biggest issue: The Authority is just a f***ing lame group.

When you look at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, when Mr. McMahon promises Steve Austin that no members of The Corporation will interfere, it means Austin can give Vince the ass-kicking he needs and deserves without having to worry about the likes of The Rock, Ken Shamrock, Kane (when he was something other than a bad joke), and The Bossman. At Over the Limit, Randy Orton's stipulation barring The Authority from ringside barred, what, a corporate monster who hasn't really been a monster in about five years and two retired cruiserweights that are about a head shorter than the champion they're supposed to be protecting? On the RAW after Triple H screwed Daniel Bryan, Bryan had to go through the full might of The Shield to even get into the ring. This past Monday on RAW, Seth Rollins as the HEEL champion, was the one who had to overcome the odds.

The Authority has managed to be unbeatable while also being completely unimpressive. They're not intimidating, they're just a nuisance, like a mosquito in the room or genital warts.

[Deleted]

The Corporation left themselves open to ass-kicking, babyface shit talking and embarrassment. The Authority doesn't allow any of that and if one of those things happen, then the Authority will get one over on the faces in another way. They don't allow themselves to be put down in any way and this is especially true for Stephanie. I mean look at the Bryan/Authority storyline. Even when Bryan gave up the title, they still shat on him, Brie looked like crap in the Stephanie feud, they're shitting on him currently. You just can't get one over that group. Even the Shield guys, the so-called new "Golden Boys" of the company look like crap compared to the Authority.

What made the Corporation great is that they could dish it out and take it. The Authority doesn't allow themselves to take it and because of that, they're horrible.

[SAJ Forth]

To add to this, the times that Austin beat the Corporation, their losses haunted them for some time. Every time this group loses, they brush it off in a way that makes Cena shake his head.

[Some Baritone guy IS REDEEMED!]

Jun 13, 2015 17:36:14 GMT -5 Savage Gambino said:

Inspired by the Daniel Bryan/Triple H "Monster" promo and my recently watching the St. Valentine's Day Massacre PPV.

I think we can all agree that The Authority has rapidly become one of the worst things about WWE TV, if not thee worst thing about WWE TV. They're stale, they're repetitive, and they're just a chore to watch in general. The weird thing is, it wasn't always that way; if Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority was an example of WWE at it's best, the underdog facing and overcoming insurmountable odds, The Authority vs. the World has come to encompass the worst of WWE, the stale corrupt authority figure versus the one-dimensional babyface leading to repetitive matches with obvious outcomes. The obvious problem is that The Authority is treated as this undefeatable juggernaut that never looks weak, but I think that only highlights the biggest issue: The Authority is just a f***ing lame group.

When you look at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, when Mr. McMahon promises Steve Austin that no members of The Corporation will interfere, it means Austin can give Vince the ass-kicking he needs and deserves without having to worry about the likes of The Rock, Ken Shamrock, Kane (when he was something other than a bad joke), and The Bossman. At Over the Limit, Randy Orton's stipulation barring The Authority from ringside barred, what, a corporate monster who hasn't really been a monster in about five years and two retired cruiserweights that are about a head shorter than the champion they're supposed to be protecting? On the RAW after Triple H screwed Daniel Bryan, Bryan had to go through the full might of The Shield to even get into the ring. This past Monday on RAW, Seth Rollins as the HEEL champion, was the one who had to overcome the odds.

The Authority has managed to be unbeatable while also being completely unimpressive. They're not intimidating, they're just a nuisance, like a mosquito in the room or genital warts.

GENITAL WARTS RULE!!!

[Savage Gambino]

Jun 13, 2015 19:13:30 GMT -5 SAJ Forth said:

To add to this, the times that Austin beat the Corporation, their losses haunted them for some time. Every time this group loses, they brush it off in a way that makes Cena shake his head.

Which only goes to highlight how shallow The Authority is, as a group; when they win, it's overbearing, and when they lose, it's inconsequential, but the only people protected by that booking are Triple H, Stephanie, and Local Man Kane.

[Deleted]

f*** The Authority.

[Sam Punk]

Exactly right

[Bang Bang Bart]

Jun 13, 2015 19:24:36 GMT -5 Savage Gambino said:

Jun 13, 2015 19:13:30 GMT -5 SAJ Forth said:

To add to this, the times that Austin beat the Corporation, their losses haunted them for some time. Every time this group loses, they brush it off in a way that makes Cena shake his head.

Which only goes to highlight how shallow The Authority is, as a group; when they win, it's overbearing, and when they lose, it's inconsequential, but the only people protected by that booking are Triple H, Stephanie, and Local Man Kane.

We'll have Ambrose or Reigns getting one up on the Authority, but at worst, Steph and HHH will just glower at them in anger and not really show any vulnerability.

[The Unconquered Sun]

my problem is it's a story line that's been going on for close to 2 years and has gone no where.

[wisdomwizard]

The saddest thing about it is that the only real reason it's still going is because USA got taken over by nimrods. They'd drop this completely if they could afford to tell USA to shove off, but they can't. Steph and HHH stayed off for a bit after WrestleMania, yet USA demanded them back because they thought that would spike the ratings back up. When you have Vince micro-managing things plus USA network bean counters breathing down their neck, the writers' lives have got to be hell.

[Bang Bang Bart]

Jun 13, 2015 17:36:14 GMT -5 Savage Gambino said:

Inspired by the Daniel Bryan/Triple H "Monster" promo and my recently watching the St. Valentine's Day Massacre PPV.

I think we can all agree that The Authority has rapidly become one of the worst things about WWE TV, if not thee worst thing about WWE TV. They're stale, they're repetitive, and they're just a chore to watch in general. The weird thing is, it wasn't always that way; if Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority was an example of WWE at it's best, the underdog facing and overcoming insurmountable odds, The Authority vs. the World has come to encompass the worst of WWE, the stale corrupt authority figure versus the one-dimensional babyface leading to repetitive matches with obvious outcomes. The obvious problem is that The Authority is treated as this undefeatable juggernaut that never looks weak, but I think that only highlights the biggest issue: The Authority is just a f***ing lame group.

When you look at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, when Mr. McMahon promises Steve Austin that no members of The Corporation will interfere, it means Austin can give Vince the ass-kicking he needs and deserves without having to worry about the likes of The Rock, Ken Shamrock, Kane (when he was something other than a bad joke), and The Bossman. At Over the Limit, Randy Orton's stipulation barring The Authority from ringside barred, what, a corporate monster who hasn't really been a monster in about five years and two retired cruiserweights that are about a head shorter than the champion they're supposed to be protecting? On the RAW after Triple H screwed Daniel Bryan, Bryan had to go through the full might of The Shield to even get into the ring. This past Monday on RAW, Seth Rollins as the HEEL champion, was the one who had to overcome the odds.

The Authority has managed to be unbeatable while also being completely unimpressive. They're not intimidating, they're just a nuisance, like a mosquito in the room or genital warts.

And in the Valentines' Massacre example, McMahon had Big Show (or Paul Wight) appear, but he wasn't a Corporation member yet. Even then, Steve Austin still got one up on Vince when the latter's big acquisition accidentally helped Stone Cold by tossing him thru the cage. So in that sense, Vince got a chance to enact a huge plan to f*** over Stone Cold, but that still backfired and the good guy still won in the end.

[Savage Gambino]

Jun 13, 2015 19:42:35 GMT -5 wisdomwizard said:

The saddest thing about it is that the only real reason it's still going is because USA got taken over by nimrods. They'd drop this completely if they could afford to tell USA to shove off, but they can't. Steph and HHH stayed off for a bit after WrestleMania, yet USA demanded them back because they thought that would spike the ratings back up. When you have Vince micro-managing things plus USA network bean counters breathing down their neck, the writers' lives have got to be hell.

Perfectly put. I've said before, one of the biggest reasons why NXT is leaps and bounds better than RAW, besides the fresher talent and the influence of guys like William Regal and the late Dusty Rhodes, is the fact that they don't have to answer to shareholders and stuck-up business guys that don't know shit about wrestling. It's a wrestling show written for wrestling fans.

It's one of the reasons why I'm looking forward to the 4th of July show in Japan; it will be Network-exclusive, so I know it's going to look nothing like the average WWE TV show.

["Magic" Mark Hurr]

I'm not gonna repeat my disdain for The Authority. There are so many reasons to why they are detrimental to the evolution to angles and characters.

If you can't handle ultimately losing then put on a character who can and get out of the way. There are too many wrestlers who could have been put in position to be the mega heels who are eventually beaten. New villains can be created and new heroes can rise up. Old villains can regroup and old heroes can bring up new talent to there level or become the new villains.

f***ing character evolution people.

[HMARK Center]

To piggyback on your point about the babyfaces who counter the Authority coming off as one-dimensional, another issue is that all too often the Authority isn't coming off as truly villainous, and the babyfaces come off as big man-children...no, I'm not making another "the heels are right!" post, just that it's well documented that WWE babyfaces tend to be written pretty poorly, and that the villainy of the Authority all too often seems to be very mild, at best.

In other words, the stakes are way too low. They were high when Bryan was at the core of the story, but they haven't had any focus since then.

[The Ichi]

I can think of only two times that HHH/Steph looked completely defeated. Wrestlemania 30 and Survivor Series last year.

Of course, in both instances they bounced back without so much as a dent in their armor.

I guess you could count the Rock/Rousey HHH/Steph segment too.

[Deleted]

I wonder if they feel like being annoying and generally boring as hell = reality era heel heat.

[The Ichi]

Thinking about this some more: it's amazing how different Vince actually is from his daughter. Say what you will about Vince, but this is a man that wasn't afraid to be made to look stupid for the sake of a wrestling story. He willingly had his face shoved into Big Shows sweaty bunghole, and that's just something he did whilst NOT during a boom period.

Steph on the other hand...



If you look closely, I think you can see real insecurity in her face because Dusty dared to not look like a quivering wreck infront of her. I don't doubt for a second that the handslap wasn't scripted. She basically shot on Dusty f***ing Rhodes because he made her look weak for a second.

[Deleted]

The real problem with the Authority is that they're still here.

[HMARK Center]

Jun 13, 2015 21:35:17 GMT -5 @chikago said:

I wonder if they feel like being annoying and generally boring as hell = reality era heel heat.

In a way, I guess so; people are so apt to cheer dynamic heels that a lot of guys figure "keep things dull, then they'll boo you". I always had a problem with that line of thinking, as there have been plenty of heels in even smarky indy companies who've managed to get legitimate heel heat without giving up being dynamic in the ring. Heels probably shouldn't be doing too many high spots or whatever, but yeah, the whole "chinlocks and nothing else!" mindset for modern heels is just laziness.

[chrom]

McMahon made himself look weak and vulnerable and he was shown as becoming unhinged after constant losses and struggling to keep it together at times after Austin foiled his latest plan.

HHH and Steph aren't going to do that. It's like playing with that one kid in Kindergarten and he always gives the toy he plays with all sorts of stuff and has no weaknesses and immune to everything whilst the one you have only has one leg and looks like its been chewed on by the dog.

And when told to play fair they throw it down and break it so no one else can play with it and sulk off acting like they are the victim.