Does A Face GM Work?

[Mudlup50]

I was reading the post about having Co GM's and it got me to thinking that the Raw GM always seems to be heel. The authority, John Laurinitis, Adamle, Vince and Vickie just off the top of my head. Then I try to think of face GM's and all I come up with in this century is Teddy Long and Stone Cold(but he was co Gm?)

I get why they need a heel GM, everybody hates their boss. Then add onto that, you can get a face super over by feuding with the bad GM. Plus it helps when the lower heels(i.e. anyone under the GM) have someone they can turn to for extra help.

But my question is, does a face GM even work? I enjoyed Teddy Long as GM but Smackdown was really weak for a few years there. Even when Stone Cold was a co-GM, there was a heel countering him.

 

[S'All Goodman]

I think it would work right now, having The Authority can be a bit overwhelming for me sometimes, i would like an alternative to that and have Face Co GM's further down the card. someone on my thread mentioned having Edge and Christian and i thought that would be a great idea, they could just be involved in the Tag Team division as well as having some hilarious segments.

 

[Megadeth]

In the way of Face GMs, there was Bret Harts very brief run as the Raw GM in 2010, and Booker Ts run as the Smackdown GM. Also I think Mick Foley was considered the Co-GM for a few weeks back in late 2003 after Stone Cold was "fired" from the position, and arguably the Commissioner position was the precursor the the GM, which Mick Foley also held for a while, as did HBK and Sgt. Slaughter, and they were both faces for part of their runs. And lastly Tiffany aka Taryn Terrell was a face GM for ECWs last run.

So basically, every time they have really done a face authority figure, especially since the attitude era, it usually doesnt last long, and is mostly forgettable, and really only works when there is a heel authority at the same time to compete with them.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

In '96-'97, before Vince became the on-screen authority figure, we had Gorilla Monsoon, Roddy Piper, and Sgt. Slaughter as "Commissioner". They were all faces. But they weren't all over the show like how GMs are now. They were authority figures but were superficial in a sense.

I just don't think face GMs really fit into how the shows work now. Teddy Long was awful. A few guys would be in the ring arguing, his shitty music would hit, and he would "make" a match that everyone knew was going to happen anyway. And his backstage segments were lame. A face GM just doesn't "push buttons", they're basically matchmakers.

Foley as Commissioner was pretty good, so it IS possible, but it would take the right guy.

Austin had Bischoff to play off of, by himself it wouldn't have worked as well.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Kurt Angle played a decent face Smackdown GM at one point.

I think it's mostly the fact that face managers don't get the spotlight as much as your evil ones do because they're not as memorable. That's just how it is. Not many people care about authority figures unless you have your blue collar everyman wrestler step up to them.

 

[AyatollahOfCocaCola]

I think it's time for a neutral Commissioner. Face/Heel dynamic when it comes to authority figures is stale. I don't want to see someone pandering the crowd. Plus it would add an element of realism, but they have to answer to the board of directors instead of The Authority making them autonomous. They can then 'book' the matches that everyone wants to see. But also maybe a obstacle in a particular face or heel to overcome or challenge.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

This is me being nice about how I feel about GMs, face or heel....HELL FUCKING NO! We don't need a Face GM nor do we need any more heel GMs or corrupt authority figures. Coming from the generation of fandom that I do, authority figures that do their best to be fair at all times, even when they might not always be are in my opinion the best route.

And here's why I think that. Figures like Jack Tunney, Gorilla Monsoon and yes even Roddy Piper in the President role of the WWF came out and spoke their peace when they had to. Sure, some got involved in segments but it wasn't overdone. Not like this nonsense coming up for Sunday evening when Brie Bella battles Stephanie McMahon for the right to get employment back with WWE.

It was a fad, albeit an entertaining one when Vince McMahon and Steve Austin did it, but then came Vince vs Undertaker, Vince vs Shawn Michaels, Vince vs Hogan and so on...God, did that get tiresome. Granted, I know it was a success but just the same, I think the overexposure of the McMahon family on TV leaves something to be desired.

The overabundance of authority figures over the years eliminated in my mind one of wrestling's most valuable plot devices: the managers.

As we see today, some wrestlers just don't have the gift of gab or some could do very well with a manager to play off their already existent charisma, two examples in each respective circumstance would be Paul Orndorff, whose mic skills weren't the best but guys like Bobby Heenan helped work through that deficiency and on the opposite side of the coin "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig did beautifully with Bobby Heenan as his manager because the two of them had charisma that just interplayed beautifully.

The reason I bring up the manager in this equation is because when it came to screwing over the good guys and working the system, you had managers to do all that. If Bobby Heenan wasn't satisfied with something going the way he wanted it to go he would, pardon the pun, weasel his way through all the loopholes he could find to make things go his way. Granted, he wasn't always successful but there were times he had to acquiesce.

Instead, you have the tried and true and all too predictable method of the "owners" of the company overturning possibly every outcome and it just leads to ad nauseum crap for me. Granted, the manager concept itself has a formula to it, however, there is a VERY fine line between formulaic and redundant. In the case of GMs, it's redundant because no matter what a GM is going to do, you'll always have the "owners" to likely overturn anything.

I won't hold my breath on the manager concept ever truly being revived despite the fact that you have folks like Paul Heyman, Zeb Coulter and Lana around. I don't show any optimism for a full on revival.

But pardon my coarse language and I must reemphasize my point...FUCK GENERAL MANAGERS. The worst thing thing to happen to wrestling story lines in sometime. I put the GM plot device up there with the Katie Vick saga and the Mr. McMahon murder mystery in terms of what DOESN'T belong in professional wrestling.

 

[lil steroid meat]

Both face and heel GM's are played out. Authority figures vs. wrestlers was the focal point in both WCW and WWE in the late 90's. And ever since then it's been overdone to death.

Bring back the indifferent, by the book authority figure and keep the stories with the wrestlers.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I think a Face GM can work. If we really look at the position of the GM and why there is one from a storyline point of view ; it gives an authority presence on TV. Therefore, commissioner, owner, GM, guest host, however you call it; it has been played out before.

In whatever title you give it; there have been face authorities- Vince, Shane, Stepanie, Linda and HHH all have played face and heel authority figures. Same with Booker T, and Teddy long. Mick Foley was a good guy commissioner but they ofset him with a heel William regal in 2001.

There has been some comments on here that the authority angle has been overdone and I agree. It should be done away with for a while. Bring back a faction of bad guy heels that run over anyone in their path. Get them over - forget about the owners etc; that story line has dragged on since 1996 in WCW, and 1998 in WWE/WWF. It is time that angle was done with for now. Bring it back in the future. But get rid for now.

 

[RedRegan1005]

Me personally, would rather GM's be neither heel nor face. Or at least not totally heel or face. I think GM's benefit from having some middle ground. For example, when the Authority comes out, you know they are going to make a decision in favor of the heel. And if a face GM came out he'd make a ruling in favor of the face wrestler(s). Have a GM that when he comes out, the crowd actually has to think what he might do. Have a GM that's not good or bad. I'd rather see a GM that is a flip of the coin, down the middle, never know what decision he'll make next kind of guy, or girl.

 

[Just Do It]

Yes. Mick Foley proved this without any doubt. Shawn Michaels was fun as a commissioner when he did show up also. That being said, the heel authority figure works better. However its been done to death at this point. TO DEATH.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I enjoyed Teddy Long as a welcome relief to the stream of blowhard heels who had served as GM. Teddy quietly but firmly issued his edicts, calling for matches in response to whatever had just happened in prior moments. As a little guy, he occasionally had to back off when physically threatened, which is what would realistically happen when constantly dealing with a bunch of violent people

I was always waiting for one of the wrestlers who had just been assigned a match to say: "F**k you, Teddy.... I ain't doin' it!"

What does a GM do if that happens, whether the authority figure be a heel or face?

But in contrast to loudmouths Vickie Guerrero, Booker T. and others, I thought Teddy was more of what a GM should be.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm of the opinion that the GM gimmick as a whole has long since been played out. Over the course of the past 20+ years, we've seen various on-air authority figures used in WCW, TNA, WWE, ROH and various others to one degree or another. Sometimes, they're simply called the "President" of the company, the "Commissioner", the "General Manager", the "Director of Operations", the "Major Shareholder", etc. and they've been held by anyone from wrestling legends, managers, genuine company executives and family members of legendary stars. I just don't really see anything fresh that can be done with it and it wouldn't bother me if the GM gimmick ultimately went away.

However, as to a face GM, it can work sometimes in the short term as a means of "giving fans what they want" due to having an authority figure that's a "good guy." It can be a nice change of pace for a while, but it'll grow pretty stale before too long. In the long run, however, a heel is ultimately the way to go for long term success as it plays into basic psychology and social structure. Since time immemorial, there's been an underlying friction between the few with power and the masses who don't. The few powerful tend to be wealthy and, again, rich vs. poor is an age old story that seems to be woven into the very fabric of every society in recorded history. A heel GM is generally someone that's easy to dislike as he/she is cast as someone that's corrupt, hypocritical, two-faced, egomaniacal, condescending and blatantly unfair. These qualities, from an ideological standpoint that's pretty much universal, aren't what people want to see in someone that's "in charge", but every story needs a good villain, someone to root against. And a villain with power is an ideal candidate for a figure of authority.

 

[MCMG]

Yes it can work. Teddy Long definitely worked for Smackdown. It gives a show a different feel and allows for the heels to get their comeuppance which is sort of the point of wrestling. "One on one with The Undertaker" was one of his trademarks and it worked everytime

Having a heel GM works better. Look at Daniel Bryan's story. He kept getting put down by those in charge and the people loved him more and more. A face GM can be a nice change but it should be permanent. There are more options with a bad guy in charge and it is better, long-term, for the show.

 

[MWRedskins]

i think authority figures as a whole are good if the performer is good. i thought Mick Foley as Commish was fun to watch and just flat out entertaining. he would be silly, yet, he would be fair and stern. however, there are a few bad exceptions like say Long who started out ok, but then it just got old and he booked tag matches a ton of times. so it depends on who is the "boss."

 

[kadroan]

It could work. I remember when being commissioner was a big deal. Foley was commissioner in the 2000s and did a pretty good job. I don't see why it wouldn't work as a GM, pretty much the same thing.

 

[whoopin' ass]

My opinion - the heel gm is a poor writers tool. Instead of having the villain do bad things to get the hero to agree to the matches do he can stop him, the heel gm just creates a match and stacks the odds against the hero. The flip of that is the face gm makes things boring as they can even things up every time so there is no drama. I agree that the gm thing has been played to death so right now, neither would work. Can a face gm work? Sure, they just can't appear all the time. They are that authority figure who suddenly appears when the heel thinks he has won everything and goes "hold on sunshine..." and then gives the face the fair chance they never got. You can't overuse them or it gets boring quick.