Shining a Spotlight 11.13.08: Authority Rules

Ah, doesn’t it feel great to have the election over? I don’t mean wonderful because Obama won (although that is a great thing for the nation) but also because we finally have the long, long, long political coverage out of our faces for a while. Seriously, it does get a bit much even for the more intellectual kind. But it is a bit heartening to see so many taking part in what should be our most important right as citizens. Really is assuring that for once, we had more people voting for President than for “American Idol.”

And yes, have heard the story of TNA offering to have Sarah Palin over at Final Resolution but still clinging to the idea it’s an elaborate joke instead of one of the craziest ideas ever. Assuming it’s not a look-alike, really don’t see how appearing at a wrestling show is going to change Palin’s public image but then, the woman does seem truly unaware of how much of a joke she is.

It got me to thinking on a topic for the column this week which is wrestling’s penchant for on-air bosses. Whether it’s a President or general manager, wrestling promoters do enjoy having someone be the on-screen boss. It’s actually a fairly recent development as far as wrestling history goes as most of the old-time guys saw little need for it.

It has to be remembered that the National Wrestling Alliance was the power in wrestling until Vince McMahon Jr. took over in 1983 and everyone knew it. They had their own board of directors and president so there was no real need to put up any fake guy, they could just mention the real NWA president and even have him on hand for some things. Jim Crockett often presented himself as an announcer only but did sometimes take a more visible role as the promoter and was acknowledged as the boss. For the most part, however, the various promoters were content to take a back seat and let fans think these things just happened. You would get heels complaining about how “promoters” were holding them back and such but there was no singular person to focus on or be an on-air authority.

It was actually the American Wrestling Association that began to play with that idea. Verne Gagne was of course the boss but always presented himself as a wrestler and commentator. So, Stanley Blackburn was presented as the AWA President, who would appear on interview segments for things like title controversies or some big events. He would stick around as the pseudo President pretty much until the company folded, always taking fan heat for some bad stuff while Verne really ran the company (into the ground some might say but that’s a whole other matter).

Vince soon got into the act with the most famous of these fake authority figures: Jack Tunney. While bland to the point of being almost emotionless, Tunney did project authority with his deep booming voice and good speaking skills. He was used to announce everything from big controversies and decisions to major events (like the Hogan-Warrior Wrestlemania VI match) and more. He was a familiar face to fans, part of the WWF machine of the time and many truly assumed he had a hand in running operations when he was just an actor.

Indeed, even the Apter mags, who did acknowledge Vince as the owner of WWF, would act as if Tunney was the president. I even remember back in 1990, when the planned tag title change from the Hart Foundation to the Rockers was overturned, the mags had a “impeach Tunney” fan ballot put together which, naturally, came to nothing. Tunney would last until 1996 when Gorilla Monsoon took over as the new President, a bit more hands-on but able to handle the role. He had memorable moments like when Vader beat up some refs, Monsoon suspended him and Vader then beat up Monsoon, hitting him with some splashes. That led to Roddy Piper becoming an interim president for a bit before Monsoon got it back.

In 1997, Sgt Slaughter was named a new President, a bit of a face at first but capable. But a shift soon occurred when Vince began to take on his “Mr. McMahon” persona in 1998 and openly acknowledged himself as the boss. As such, the role of President shrunk down, Slaughter now more one of Vince’s stooges than any real power at all. So it was little surprise when Slaughter was replaced by Shawn Michaels in late 1998. At first, it seemed Michaels was in Vince’s pocket, aiding him in battling DX but when Vince tried to fire Mick Foley, Michaels stood up to him and helped arrange for Foley to win his first WWF title against the Rock. However, Michaels would take a bit of a long break in early ‘99, mostly due to his personal issues of the time. He’d make a brief return in August of 1999, going heel helping HHH but would take another break while HHH and Stephanie began to run things as the powerful heel couple.

Leaping over to WCW, a control figure was always a tricky thing. Of course, that’s because the very real authority in WCW was always shifting about. One of the better parts of the New World Order angle was when Bischoff turned out to be working with them and started the whole “evil owner” bit before Vince did. Of course, the difference is major looking back. For all his doing and actions, Bischoff really came off as an arrogant punk tossing around money and power that didn’t really belong to him. Vince, however, took what people had always thought of him as a conniving bastard and just amped it up to the tenth power. He really seemed the type of guy who got off on making other people miserable and loved being evil while Bischoff was really more of a punk.

Trying to track the list of guys after that is hard because in WCW, one honestly didn’t know who was in charge for real. Bischoff would make a move as a baby face owner after a few months off and then we’d get a completely insane story of Ric Flair and Roddy Piper both fighting over the presidency where Flair seemingly going nuts for real. JJ Dillion would be commissioner for a bit, then Terry Funk. When Russo took over, he’d present himself as the boss with his infamous insanity as he shattered the lines between kayfabe and reality and from that point on, the fans could barely care who was in charge as the place remained in chaos until it was sold. Just as in real life, the lack of a singular figure in authority to help keep things clear was one of the key reasons WCW went under.

ECW was a bit interesting. While Tod Gordon was the owner starting out and presented himself as the on-air boss, Paul Heyman was pretty much in control from 1994 on. In 1997, suspicion came that Gordon was a mole for WCW (a charge he continues to deny) and he was forced out with Heyman doing an on-air announcement for it, truly acknowledging himself as the true power of ECW. In 1999, when they ran into problems with TNN, Heyman would try to get back at them by creating the character of Cyrus, a “network representative” who would try to tone down the violence on the shows. It was a pretty weak effort that didn’t stop ECW from going under.

Michaels would return in 2000 to cede power over to Mick Foley, who’d have a grand old time as the boss, holding court in the back and banging people with his gavel while catering to crowds with some ideas. He’d last until late 2000 when Stephanie and Vince managed to push him out. After a bit of time with just Vince bossing things around, William Regal would be named to his first term as general manager, shifting a bit between face and heel with the Invasion. I actually liked Regal’s segments in the back, acting as a reasonable man up to his eyeballs in complete lunatics from Perry Saturn and “Moppy” to Kurt Angle’s various demands. His sudden change of loyalty from WWF to WCW was one of the worst moves of the Invasion (and that’s saying something) but it did lead to the return of Foley to shake things up.

The day after the 2001 Survivor Series that ended in victory for WWF, Foley would resign and Ric Flair would make his surprise return to announce he was now part owner of the company. This would lead to a feud with he and McMahon that let them co-manage for a bit. When WWE broke into the brands, Vince decided to give them their own flavor with Stephanie leading Smackdown and, to the shock of most everyone, Bischoff hired to be general manager of RAW. Things would soon shift on both as Steve Austin was hired as a “sheriff” on RAW to make things more interesting while Stephanie was replace by Paul Heyman on Smackdown. Kurt Angle would briefly by the general manager on Smackdown while healing from injuries before Heyman came back and Teddy Long took over for a pretty good run. The original plan was that when Teddy had his “heart attack” during his wedding, Kristal would take over as the heel manager. But then Kristal got herself fired so they had to write Vickie Guerrero into things. Meanwhile, over on RAW, we got some shifts before William Regal became a pretty decent general manager, his own problems hurting his run so we get the nightmare of Mike Amadale as the “boss.”

Some question why WWE would do this when everyone knows Vince is the boss. Part of it is simple delegation as Vince does have other duties running this company and can’t be on TV all the time. As I noted before, it also helps to have an on-air authority figure, someone fans can get behind on the shows to believe he or she is the boss and handle the heat. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don’t but then that goes for much of the roster as well.

TNA’s history with such things is interesting. When they started out, Jarrett was in control of the company but there was little need for a regular on-air boss running things. They would have Russo doing it for a bit, the usual zany boss stuff he had in WCW as well. In 2004, they had Dusty Rhodes come in as a “director of authority,” throwing around weight and making matches and such. Rhodes would be let go in June of ‘05 with Larry Zybsko taking on much of those on-air duties but not really identified as a true power in TNA management. Thus when Jim Cornette was hired, it was a big move as the guy comes off great as a boss, his rapid-fire delivery and wisecracking enlivening things and it was fun seeing him driven to the brink of insanity by the goings-on in TNA. So it was a surprise to see TNA suddenly deciding to have Mick Foley become a “majority stockholder” which suddenly makes him the boss. Don’t get me wrong, Mick is fine in the role but TNA had a perfectly good authority in Cornette so it just seems they’re catering to a new hire. Still, Foleys’ good humor and connection with crowds should be able to make the role work, provided he doesn’t go too over the top with it (which, in TNA, is a likelihood).

ROH doesn’t really have anyone to be the on-screen authority as they press more on in-ring action than angles. I do see that changing if they get a regular TV deal as the need for someone like that is important for a TV wrestling company. Even the smaller promotions who didn’t last long (like Global or even XPW) realized that having someone to be the on-air boss is an important component for wrestling programming. Wrestling is entertainment as I’ve said before in my columns and the personalities are characters. In any ensemble revolving around a business, you need a boss figure and making him or her a scumbag makes you root for those against him.

Wrestling has always had a history of promoters not wanting to mess with what works. Vince still remembers how he struck absolute gold with the feud of Austin against the evil owner so it’s little wonder he keeps going to it in various forms with other figures. I know it seems fans are sick of it but it’s probably going to keep on going for a while and who knows, may work given the right people. After all, who doesn’t like seeing the hero stand up to the arrogant boss? TNA seems to go the opposite route with a more face boss handling the heels in his own fashion while staying true to his job which Cornette excelled at. Foley can hopefully carry that on as TNA, whatever their other creative faults, understands that an on-air authority figure gives folks someone to empathize with and Dixie Carter seems to understand her place is more behind the scenes than before the camera.

As I said before, the role of the authority figure is to give fans someone to believe is the boss of things and focus attention on rather than on the creative forces behind the scenes. That has changed in the last decade with the death of kayfabe but remember that not every wrestling fan is an IWC troll. Many still hold to the illusion and want to get sucked into the stories and so are willing to believe that Regal or Vickie or Foley really is in charge of things. They want to boo their bad decisions or cheer if they agree with them at times. More importantly, the authority figure is still a good figurehead, a way for the real boss of the company to see how fans react to their moves and even adjust if they want to (which rarely happens but still a chance). Maybe this on-air boss has no real power but the illusion of it is still helpful in keeping fans pulled into the events of the wrestling world. Which, if you think about it, can pertain to quite a few real-life rulers in the world today.

Also around 411mania:

Chin talks the Importance of what WCW did right

Evolution Schematic continues to talk SHIMMER

For the Record talks Montreal

Against the Grain examines Brock Lesner

The Shimmy looks at Y2J vs. Cena

Five Star Conversation talks TNA

Scripted Through Sin also looks at TNA and more specifically, their sometimes deluded fan base

The Wrestling Doctor talks about Round Robins

Tim does his Take on the Main Event Mafia while Piledriver Report talks of them with Christian possibly leaving

Thoughts From the Top Rope also examines Christian’s possible TNA exit

Brooklyn Brawling tires to turn Charlie Haas around

Don’t forge Column of Honor, Triple Threat, 3 R’s, Fact or Fiction, Ask 411 and the rest.

Next week I examine the new book by Scott Keith and my feelings on him today. For now, the spotlight is off.