Slasher

I can't speak for the Rock but I'd imagine it'd make a difference to the Rock to just back Shawn down if it looks like Shawn trying something on Reigns outside the ring. Nobody's asking the Rock to work a program with Shawn or anything. The interaction could be kept to a minimum but still a significant thing for fans to see. The Rock had a problem with Shawn for years way back and he still accepted getting superkicked by HBK on an early Smackdown (I think it was the debut episode of Smackdown actually). And if the end game is getting Reigns to a certain point, why not right? Ending the show with Daniel Bryan and Rock standing tall with Reigns over the beaten body of Triple H might offset any possible negative response to Reigns winning. Maybe not though.

I think I prefer Scott Hall's idea of having Shawn Michaels in Triple H's corner, the Rock in Reigns's and Daniel Bryan as special ref. So basically they would accomplish: 1. Enough intrigue in the actual match and where it ends up 2. You get Shawn and Rock interacting which is very rare in WWE storylines 3. You have a potential for an altercation between Triple H and the Rock 4. Roman Reigns would not be expected to sell the match on his own 5. Fans gets to see Daniel Bryan in a somewhat meaningful role at Wrestlemania and possibly finally closing the book on Triple H vs Daniel Bryan's storyline.

Evolution really was the best idea for Daniel Bryan. Supposing he didn't have to leave due to injury, it was natural progression to run Bryan vs Orton, Bryan vs Batista and Bryan vs Triple H in any order for his spring tour as champion. Obviously the plan was always gonna be Brock winning the belt at Summerslam so I mean, you had 4 Network events to fill before then, so use that time to solidify the idea that Bryan deserved that belt after he successfully defended it against Evolution. Money in the Bank probably could be Wyatt or Kane or Big Show. That brings Bryan to Summerslam against Brock having beaten the former champion, the former A-level star main eventer and the legend turned executive and leader of his biggest opposing force in the Authority. That probably would have made the Brock squash more palatable. If he only feuded with Kane then lose the belt to Brock he looks almost as chump-y as Rey did in his run.

Does this mean Vince pays himself only 3.3 million total? I find that hard to believe. I can believe Vince paying other people more than himself in the interest of fairness but not that it comes out to only 3.3 million.

I am pretty sure Vince, Stephanie and Triple H makes "less" money as executives because they also get paid as performers as well, so it all comes out paying themselves more in the end with the combined income streams.

I will admit that Stephanie will be the one that has the ultimate final control over the company, no doubt, but it is very difficult for me to believe that Shane would be a powerless entity for the WWE. It doesn't contradict your point either way but I thought Shane left because his ideas were rejected or altered by Stephanie and he was frustrated about that? I didn't know he saw himself as Vince's successor. His actions would not have supported that belief. Stephanie ingrained herself into the company through the creative department where she became the head writer as early as around 2000. Shane, to my knowledge, didn't really get involved on that side of things. He was more of a guy who worked in the office than the road with the talents. So I mean, how did he not understand the circumstances that would produce the situation he finds himself in, being usurped? Startling lack of awareness if you ask me.

No that isn't going to happen. If Shane wants to be part of the company (not totally a given), he'll be more than just a silent partner. That's absurd to think otherwise. Shane had been groomed just as long if not longer than Stephanie in the family business. The only thing I see being likely from that post is him essentially being the Linda McMahon of the next generation. That one will be true, yes. Except it'd be the Linda from 1980s to 2000s before she "quit". You forget that Vince has huge respect for people who provea capable of living without him lining their pockets with cash. Vince will make sure Shane is a big part of it if only because he would have thought he deserves it. Again, this is assuming Shane wants this, which I am not totally convinced of. It would likely be Stephanie as the Vince, Triple H as the Dunn/Patterson with some extra responsibilities and Shane as the Linda. The three will also delegate responsibilities to specialists like Barrios and Wilson below them. If the investors are spooked by Shane's history with the service company, they are not going to feel better about Triple H/Stephanie and the fact WWE has declined in many aspects of revenue streams and indicators since 2001 when they both rose in power.

Yeah Punk was cut off when he was about to say something about Vince presumably being a bully as hypocrisy with the Be a Star campaign. Triple H has definitely gone out of his way to not be anywhere close to the Rock but I think that was a two way street here. I can't imagine the Rock ever wanting anything to do with Triple H ever again either. But for a while Triple H sure liked to indirectly make Rock look bad by beating everyone that ever got one over on the Rock in quick fashion, making it look like a guy who gave Rock difficulty is a guy that has no chance against Triple H. Heck they even had the Rock come out and playing a celebrity buddy asking Eugene who his favorite wrestler was and his face when Eugene claimed Triple H as the answer. At this point the Rock gave Eugene some credibility by getting involved but Triple H made sure to squash Eugene quickly at Summerslam. Man no wonder Rocky got the fuck outta there.

Feels like the last time someone got an one liner over Triple H was Rob Van Dam back in 2002 when he made fun of his amazing ability to spit on himself during his prematch routine. After that I can't remember anyone else ever being allowed to do that. Maybe Punk in his pipe bomb but what he said about him was tame in comparison to the other guys he ripped to shreds.

The thing is...he really doesn't need to be business savvy. The investors would be misguided if they were to think that way. I think Triple H would obviously be a key piece and leader of anything to do with the creative side of the company but he's likely not gonna be expected to be the guy to go to meetings with network executives or advertising/marketing guys or anything like that. I think that is where Stephanie and/or Shane would be responsible for those duties. I don't buy that once Vince goes that it'd just be Stephanie and Hunter at the top. Shane is going to figure in their plans, I'd bet anything on that. Shane only has to point out his companies and how he ran them as a proof the investors would be comfortable. To a lesser extent the same would be true for Stephanie and the work she's done the past...how long has it been? 15 years? That is a big enough sample for the investors to judge her on. As for Triple H, he is most definitely a bright mind when it comes to pro wrestling. I don't think his burying people is evidence that he lacks such a mind. He knows how to manipulate people. He's the one who got Bruno back in association with the WWE. I think the Warrior HoF deal was his too (could be wrong on this one though). His problem isn't stupidity. It is ego. Unlike Vince who also had a big ego, Triple H's connection to the health of the company isn't as strong. Vince literally lived for WWE. If it died, his professional career was probably over. Triple H doesn't have the same intimacy as Vince. So he is more prone to let his ego get in the way of what's best for business. So that's where we are at I guess.

Remember that time when Triple H tried to argue that Kurt Angle wasn't credible enough for people to buy him losing to? It was so absurd Pat Patterson piped up that Kurt was a freakin' gold medalist in wrestling for christ's sake. Judging by how their careers have gone before Angle left, it would seem like Triple H won that argument. So yeah of course he sees himself as badassed as Brock and Taker are.

I took it to mean that he thinks that they know they are trying to push Reigns but that Triple H has prioritized getting himself over and the expense for that push (making Reigns look bad for now) is an acceptable price to pay. If you wanna get crazy illogical about it, it could be argued that Triple H is getting himself over to a higher level so it means something impressive when Reigns does beat him. It's the basis of Mick Foley dusting off the Cactus Jack gimmick which is associated with barbarism, to get Triple H over as a guy who could hang with a psychopathic brawler. I don't think its effective in this case obviously, but wouldn't be surprised if that is the internal reasoning for all this.

Smackdown settled in after a while, I will agree, but when we are talking about a brand split off the heels of a McMahon centric storyline, how can there not be any expectations that it'd be McMahon dominated? They are why we are even talking about the brand split again! So if it is a permanent split and not just something to sell the angle, sure, I'll look forward to Smackdown in 2018. But I think being concerned is a valid thing for 2016.

It didn't? Didn't we have a year long Triple H reign around this time on Raw and didn't we see a very uncomfortable Vince vs Stephanie feud at the same time dominating Smackdown while Brock was off to the side messing around with Taker before Vince got involved with Taker in a feud? Not dominated by McMahons? Sure coulda have fooled me.

You do realize that it is a McMahon challenging Triple H and Stephanie right? Shane would probably be a babyface for a while but he's predestined to be meddled with by Vince and having to turn heel to get someone like say Sami Zayn over as the latest rebel against the machine. They can't stop recycling the Austin/McMahon storyline for as long as Vince wants to. Teddy Long had a long run as a babyface manager sure, but he was also always put into his place whenever a "real" authority figure showed up on Smackdown. Teddy was the closest thing to a pro wrestling equivalent of "mid manager" in an office hierarchy. But if they are doing tbe RAW vs WWE war thing, this means more McMahon involvement so any hopes for a Teddy Long version 2.0 is shit outta luck.

As long as Vince is around, the heel authority figure is never going away. Giving them a brand split only either means Authority running two shows or having two separate heel authority figures. I do think though that when the company falls under Triple H's control that we'll finally see it come to an end. Though that's only assuming its true that Triple H had fought with Vince over having him dominate the shows as the heel authority, with Triple H preferring to scale back on the trope and Vince forcing it.

The Rock was booed at the Royal Rumble for endorsing Reigns. He'll never do that again...at least not until they are confident Reigns would get good reactions consistebtly. Speaking of the Rock, if the New Day doesn't have a high profile enough match at the show (meaning doing more than filling out the Battle Royal), I kinda wouldn't mind if New Day served as party hosts of the event.

I believe them. When Vince told Foley not to do that again, I think he was also talking about the first bump-the one off the cell. I don't think Vince knew that was going to happen beforehand. It comes down to Foley and Taker planning the match and Foley thought he had to do something to stand out apart from the Shawn Michaels HIAC, knowing he wasn't as athletic to do cool stuff so he opted to just bump off higher places.

Did they really look for the next Steve Austin? Who did they push in 2001 until the Cena era that was anything like Austin? I don't think the WWE thinks they have to find the next Austin. I don't think they were looking for the next Hogan either. They learned from the Lex Luger fiasco that they can't be so narrow in the way they want their top face booked. What worked for Hogan isn't gonna work for Austin. What worked for Austin won't work for Cena. I think they know this. So they can be rather flexible with how they book their ace, as long as they are getting over. But the Rey thing, that is something they don't understand much about. They think if a guy acts a certain way and dresses a certain way, he'd get over but it doesn't work that way. It is like when they tried to steal Yes! and give it to the Big Show. They didn't understand it was actually a Daniel Bryan thing and not the other way around (Yes being why DB got over, a laughably absurd notion).

That's what I am saying. They want to find someone that has every attribute that Rey had. It's not as simple as finding a Mexican worker that can connect with the audience, no, they specifically want a masked guy or at the very least, superhero lookalike who can work the style Rey had done for years. If their ambitions were to just find a random Mexican worker who can get over, they'd be pushing Alberto Del Rio hard knowing he can get over on some level. The problem js I think the WWE is taking what an once in a generation type worker Rey really was and that his success would be easily manufactured with anyone they can think of and then seeing them fail and not understanding why.

No, they pretty much wants a guy who wrestles like Rey. Remember the stories about them signing guys like Ultimo Dragon and being disappointed he didn't fly around the ring like Rey. They are definitely on the lookout for quite nearly literally the "next Rey Mysterio". A guy who does what Rey used to do and getting over with that. They've only been able to find guys who wrestled like that but that the audiences didn't care about or guys who had superhero like qualities in their character but that didn't do the eye opening spots that they liked seeing Rey do. Thry haven't found a guy who combines all those expectations to make the next Rey.

At the very least the fans can trust that Shane would be willing to get his ass handed to him when the occasion calls for it, which is more than you can say about Stephanie and Triple H (and shockingly enough Triple H has been better about this compared to his wife).

Isn't that what John Rocker basically did back in the late 90s? Jingus- the sad thing about the whole Hassan thing is that his original gimmick was so creative and outside the box type thinking. But the WWE just couldn't stop themselves from going deeper into a rabbit hole and resorting to the shock value.

Ok so you don't actually say should or would. I just assumed you calling it a pipe dream is close enough to "should" but that isn't fair of me to put words in your mouth. My apologies.

Initially because they wanted to protect their chosen one (Seth Rollins) and his title reign since they like controlling who is to be the face of the company rather than letting crowd support for nonpicked guys to get out of control like Steve Austin (for Vince McMahon) or The Rock (the McMahon Helmsley Regime) or Daniel Bryan (The Authority). After Rollins went down with the injury Triple H offered to wipe Roman Reigns's slate clean and help him become the champion and the new face of the company. But how dare Roman Reigns turn them down! He must be taught a lesson that the Authority is who decides who tbe champ should and would be.