If they must use the storyline all the time...

[OldDirtyBernie]

...where the people in charge DON'T want someone to be the champion, then why not reverse the roles for once having the Authority be tweeners or faces, and the person they're trying to keep from being champion for various reasons be BELIEVABLE??
One reason a lot of people can't stand this whole Reigns/Authority storyline is that there's absolutely no believable reason they'd try and keep him from being champion. He's good looking, youngish, etc.
I also think that Foley has a point in that some of the more casual viewers have a bit of trouble separating truth and storyline when it comes to having the corporate people in a publicly traded company portrayed as villains.
One thing I was thinking, for example, is to take Owens(since he's supposed to be one of HHH's boys and all that) and use the ROH/SCUM storyline as a loose template. Obviously he's not physically what they normally want as a champion, and they could take a while to build him up as a wrestler out for himself, injuring opponents, etc. This would give the higher-ups a legitimate reason to want to keep him from being the "face of the company".
Perhaps build a small stable around him if need be(Maybe even bring Jimmy Jacobs on-screen as a talker, even though Owens doesn't need it himself). Ideally, Zayn would be the one to topple him as champion at some point.

Again, it's just a loose outline and pretty idealistic but I think it could give a new twist to this story they constantly feel the need to rehash, get some new people into the main event spots for a bit, and I'm pretty sure they could stretch this for quite a while.
Being as Owens works just as well as a face, they could even give him a bit of time off after he's finally defeated and have him return freshly as a hugely over face(especially being as he'd probably still have a lot of support as a "fat dude being bullied by his boss", which is a line they'd REALLY have to learn to walk carefully if they wanted to have the Authority to ever come off as face.)

Meh...just something I needed to get out of my head.

[Bo Rida]

The crowd have gone nuts every time WWE have teased the Wyatts standing against The Authority.

An angle that uses that plays on that reaction until eventually people realise that The Authority may be the lesser of two evils and they do a double turn could work really well.

Of course you have the slight issue of how they'd manage to get people to go along with that double (triple?) turn but it's interesting in theory.

[OldDirtyBernie]

I was going to include that Owens could be interchangeable with the Wyatt family in my idea, but I'd personally rather they just stay heel forever, although it'd be great if they could be written better.

Also, I prefer what I'm doing with them in my head-canon in WWE 2K16 so...

[Urethra Franklin]

I think in either of those scenarios (Owens or Bray), the heel gets cheered.

SCUM was a heel faction, but Steen was still getting cheered and turned face again.

[Allie Kitsune]

Nobody can stay an effective heel if the crowd doesn't feel at odds with the guy, and cannot identify with them at all.

[Snaptastic]

They just need to stop using daddy's little princess as a top heel. Sure over 1 years ago she'd end up on the receiving end of a stunner or rock bottom (hell she ate a pedigree at Mania 18).

But in this day and age where things have moved on a bit, she's this untouchable heel that will only ever receive indirect misfortune via Haitch or his cronies.

Short of Bayley hugging her to death, such a set up is set to fail every time.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

This is why the Bayley vs Eva Marie NXT Women's Title match with Charles Robinson officiating was so refreshing. Because in that match you can really buy into the idea of Eva Marie being a handpicked champion, since the WWE tended to push the fitness models hard, much to the chagrin of us who wanted to see more capable female wrestlers. So the idea of Bayley (no matter how popular she might be) being screwed over so WWE can regress to their old habits from the John Laurinaitis "sex sells" era is a very plausible outcome.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Because they're the corporation. Even more so than in the 90s, you can't make a corporate millionaire executive a babyface. It doesn't work. They're 1%ers.

[Abdullah]

Mar 31, 2016 19:47:16 GMT -5 tigermaskxxxvii said:

This is why the Bayley vs Eva Marie NXT Women's Title match with Charles Robinson officiating was so refreshing. Because in that match you can really buy into the idea of Eva Marie being a handpicked champion, since the WWE tended to push the fitness models hard, much to the chagrin of us who wanted to see more capable female wrestlers. So the idea of Bayley (no matter how popular she might be) being screwed over so WWE can regress to their old habits from the John Laurinaitis "sex sells" era is a very plausible outcome.

I'm genuinely miffed NXT didn't go further with that. It would probably be damn good for at least a transitional Takeover. And yes, I mean more worthwhile than Bayley vs Nia.