The Authority won

[Xkimo]

So I've been thinking about the main event of Payback 2015 and looking back to around September 2013 when the Authority was in its early incarnation and Best for Business was just starting to fly.

The members of the Authority at that time:
Power Couple: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon who were seen on tv nearly every week and really drew heat from the wwe universe for their perpetual scrutiny of Daniel Bryan and other baby face wrestlers.

WWE Champion/Poster Boy: Randy Orton
Director of Operations: Kane
Forced Enforcer: Big Show
Hit Squad: Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose (The Shield)

So if we look at the members of the Authority back then, and we look at the main event of Payback today. We see that Kane is quite handily directing operations in making the main event of a payperview. While Randy Orton is still in the wwe world title picture, and all 3 members of the shield are now evolved into main event stars.

What if the authority's plan to keep the world title within their ranks, to the point where they made us believe that the shield and later Randy Orton actually defected from their ranks - when really they have secured the main event picture within their faction and now Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are worry free and can take their vacation with those superstars in their main event positions?

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

Wouldn't that be awesome if the Payback ppv went off in confusion, Rollins retaining and all 4 staring at each other ready to jump. Then went off the air. People would be pissed. But the the next night Raw starts off with Trips and Steph coming out with Rollins, Kane, and the big show cutting a promo. Then Orton, Reigns, and Ambrose come out instead of brawling they reveal the "master plan". I'd like it but there's a huge problem there. Who would be the faces to battle them?

Cena is about all left. Bryan is out. Cena is the US champ, Ziggler is not really consistent enough..It would be rushing Nevelle (he is my fav though)..Barrett and Wyatt are heels. Just a quick roster glance with that scenario,

Rollins- authority heel
Orton- authority heel
Reigns- authority heel
Ambrose- authority heel
Kane- authority heel
Big show- authority heel
Cena- US champ face
Ziggler- face but consistent enough??
Bryan- injured
Zayn- injured
Nevelle- too soon?
Barrett- KOTR heel
Wyatt- heel
Rusev- heel
Ryback- consistent enough face?
Harper- heel

It's almost Survivor Series again. Nobody wants to see Cena champ again.You've got Wildcards if you wanna make HUGE BLOCKBUSTER move
Lesnar- face, sign him for more appearances
Sting- face, sign him for more appearances
Then you've got one in a million signees. The rock, Jericho, Taker,

It'd leave wwe in a mess...but it'd be exciting playing the trust game!!

 

[OldSchoolWrestlingFan]

So I've been thinking about the main event of Payback 2015 and looking back to around September 2013 when the Authority was in its early incarnation and Best for Business was just starting to fly.

The members of the Authority at that time:
Power Couple: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon who were seen on tv nearly every week and really drew heat from the wwe universe for their perpetual scrutiny of Daniel Bryan and other baby face wrestlers.

WWE Champion/Poster Boy: Randy Orton
Director of Operations: Kane
Forced Enforcer: Big Show
Hit Squad: Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose (The Shield)

So if we look at the members of the Authority back then, and we look at the main event of Payback today. We see that Kane is quite handily directing operations in making the main event of a payperview. While Randy Orton is still in the wwe world title picture, and all 3 members of the shield are now evolved into main event stars.

What if the authority's plan to keep the world title within their ranks, to the point where they made us believe that the shield and later Randy Orton actually defected from their ranks - when really they have secured the main event picture within their faction and now Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are worry free and can take their vacation with those superstars in their main event positions?

This would be brilliant - I said months ago that it would be great if the Authority would hit us with a swerve like this showing that they control not only the WWE universe inside the ring but also the fans outside of it! I would be all for this! But even if they don't hit us with a swerve they have still won & the WWE Universe is too dense to realize it!

As far as who would take them on if they all turned - that is a simple fix.....you've got plenty of guys that deserve the spotlight on the roster & in NXT - so that is the least of the worries. I really hope this happens.

 

[The Kiz]

I like that idea, but you can't put too many of your top stars in one stable, else there's only a few people who can challange them.

Think back when you had the McMahon/Helmsley Faction back in the late 90's early 2000's, there was only really The Rock and Stone Cold against them. Could you have Cena and Orton as the new version of this angle? I could see it working, but then again you need someone the crowd are 100% behind.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

So the whole past year was a long con that went as far as Rollins crushing the skulls of Ambrose and Orton at certain points? I'm not normally that uptight about logic in pro wrestling but this is absurd and really has little payoff but some extra heat for a group that already has heat.

Or maybe I just don't get it

 

[Mustang Sally]

It'd leave wwe in a mess...but it'd be exciting playing the trust game!!

Yes it would, but as always, WWE has to be careful of putting all their eggs in one basket and getting so many people into the Authority storyline that it chokes everything else.

I've been wondering whether the absence of Triple H and Stephanie in the past month is more a result of personal vacation time for the married couple.....or the realization that WWE has to ease off on featuring these two every week. Yes, it's been said Vince McMahon believes the fans absolutely love seeing the First Family on their screens.....and it's true, except that everything has a saturation point.

As to the rest of them, I'm simultaneously enjoying/getting tired of the machinations of Seth Rollins and his cronies. He keeps his title every week by doing just enough ring work on his own to get to the point in which his henchmen step in for him. I think they've done enough of it....and there seems to be a ray of hope in the recent changes in Kane's character; he's sick of Seth Rollins manipulations and has made Seth handle things by himself a couple of times by banning J & J Security from ringside and generally making things harder for Rollins. This is a positive development.

In all, the Authority storyline is still viable but I would advise against enlarging their stable by getting more performers involved, taking them away from storylines of their own. Keeping the ranks even by having some defect and adding others is fine....to a point. But if the group takes in too many members, it starts to resemble the NWO.....and we know how that wound up.