Is Stephanie Mcmahon's persona getting a little too obnoxious?

[AegonTargaryen]

1)Well yes, she was always a little too obnoxious, and was supposed to be, as a heel, anyway.

2)The 7-8 slaps she delivered to Roman Reigns last monday on Raw were done so in a set of furious three, a four or five, and a final one, and they were all legitimately hard. Hell, she was so engrossed in portraying her "onscreen/scripted rage" that she almost hit his right eye. Ya'll may recall how Reigns' eye seemed to have been fluttering, almost like a poor little bird's wings.

3)The opening segment from Raw today was not only boring but also pretty much ridiculous and pointless, except that Stephanie Mcmahon acting how she acted when she was 24(in 2000) was neither amusing from the POV of kayfabe, nor suited the businesswoman/power-hungry corporate boss that she is in real-life or on screen. Not to mention how they handled Reigns' part of the script. He should've been either intense from the beginning, or a completely indifferent person who's still reveling in his WWE WHC victory. He smiled, then looked surprised, then smiled again, and awkwardly retreated. And there she was- Come back Roman, come back Roman...meh.

4)We get it that she's supposed to portray this "millionaire bitch" who throws tantrums when someone pisses her off, especially Roman Reigns. But slapping the hell out of a reporter/interviewer like she did in the end of the show was completely ridiculous. A single slap should've sufficed, if it was needed at all. At least before this, I've never seen an interviewer who's not a part of a storyline being slapped/beaten up like that.

5)Finally, even if she wants to be an angry, power-hungry, controlling bitch, isn't the WWE supposed to be PG now, and inspire everyone to "be a star..and not a bully" ? Wasn't that conspicuously a powerful person bullying an employee(even if it's scripted)? It not only destroys that employee's dignity(remember Trish Stratus crawling in the ring?), but makes the viewer feel indignity. To be an on-screen bitch is one thing but to be totally unbecoming while doing so, is another.

6)Personally, I'm totally unsure as to what to make of Stephanie Mcmahon's recent display of anger. One thing's for sure though- it doesn't suit her/them at this point of history when the WWE is supposed to be family-friendly. And it sure doesn't make it very enjoyable/fun/captivating TV. It's 2015. We want excitement and confrontation, not a corporate bully throwing tantrums. The opening segments were so much better when CM Punk and John Laurinaitis were around. At least the latter was inadvertently hilarious while trying to be a bully/tyrant. (Remember the way he smiled and said..My name is John Laurinaitis..? I'm laughing here)

What do you think?

 

[J.J.]

Honestly Stephanie needed a tad more personality. Whenever she's out there with Triple H I forget her overall importance because he mainly calls all the shots on air. She's more or less back to her Billionaire Princess persona. It is capable of drawing much needed heat in this feud but the opening segment was a little too over the top to me.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

She is losing her shit. In the beginning of the show she tried to maintain her "image" but reverted back to her bratty self when things did not go her way over the course of the show.

It is pretty simple and doesn't need so much analysis. Be A Star and PG have nothing to do with what we saw tonight. I enjoyed it.

If you are looking for flaws in tonight's script I would suggest Paige and Nikki's lovefest and Nikki subsequently nailing a speech that seems better suited for Natalya's character.

 

[kadroan]

She is losing her shit. In the beginning of the show she tried to maintain her "image" but reverted back to her bratty self when things did not go her way over the course of the show.

It is pretty simple and doesn't need so much analysis. Be A Star and PG have nothing to do with what we saw tonight. I enjoyed it.

If you are looking for flaws in tonight's script I would suggest Paige and Nikki's lovefest and Nikki subsequently nailing a speech that seems better suited for Natalya's character.

True. I found the punishment for Reigns to be light. I can't see how Usos facing New Day and Ambrose facing Sheamus was so bad. I could see if it was one of the Usos facing New Day by himself or Ambrose facing League of Nations in a cage match by himself with no interference allowed.

As far as the Nikki/Paige storyline, it was weird but they always turn The Bellas a lot.

 

[DirtyD79]

It fits her current character. She's supposed to be a spoiled bitch and throwing temper tantrums is what a spoiled bitch should do when things don't go her way. Fans want to see the heels humiliated and upset. If she acted calm and indifferent to it all it'd kill the angle.

 

[J.J.]

Wonder why Stephanie didn't at least put the Intercontinental title up on the line? The matches tonight weren't bad, just I figured the title would've been on the line to further stack the odds against Ambrose in the presence of LON at ringside.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

She is losing her shit. In the beginning of the show she tried to maintain her "image" but reverted back to her bratty self when things did not go her way over the course of the show.

So you're saying she portrayed the "bratty self" character back in 2000/2001, and 15 years later, she has reverted back to it? Okay. That's quite an evolution.

To be precise, she was 24 yrs old in 2000 and her being a whining brat suited her age/social status/persona.

Now she's in her late 30s, a millionaire in real life, and a seasoned actor on a WWE show. I understand her being a controlling bitch, egomaniac, tyrannical and so on. But to simultaneously act like a whining kid like she did in 2000 makes it incongruent. On the one hand, you're a powerful person who supposedly can put Roman Reigns in a WWE WHC match against anybody, or in a 3-on-1 handicap. And yet all you do is "Nooo Roman..Come back Roman...come back Roman.." ? Fabulous.

More importantly, slapping a male interviewer multiple times was a bit too much. That's my opinion.

It is pretty simple and doesn't need so much analysis. Be A Star and PG have nothing to do with what we saw tonight. I enjoyed it.
.

You enjoyed Stephanie Mcmahon slapping an interviewer? Jesus. But to each his own.

It has a lot to do with Be a Star/PG/them being a Public company. If they don't, John Cena might as well go kissing every female interviewer/diva in sight on live TV, and may be they can call Zack Gowens and make Cena bully him like Vince Mcmahon did(in kayfabe, of course). That will be very congruent with John Cena's and WWE's image as a public company that advocates "Be a star, Don't be a Bully" .

At least more people will tune in.

 

[J.J.]

If you want to bring bullying on the program how do you justify Usos being attacked by LON at random? Stephanie was 'mad' at the fact her plan backfired and suddenly she's approached for an interview. I'm fully sure the company knows their parameters.

 

[swallop]

After the opening promo on raw... i think we all know the one word to answer this.... YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

 

[AegonTargaryen]

If you want to bring bullying on the program how do you justify Usos being attacked by LON at random? .

It's because Stephanie Mcmahon happens to be on the forefront, along with John Cena, in the "Be a Star" campaign. I've seen photos, glimpses or two when they aired that. Of course, it was all to show how the WWE is one charitable and benevolent fucking entity.

The LON is a group of active fucking wrestlers on a wrestling programme. PART OF A STORYLINE too. Wrestling is supposed to involve violence/attacks/etc.

That being said, I understand Stephanie is a bitch only in kayfabe, since she's a part of a storyline where she's the boss and Roman Reigns happens to be just an employee. The whole thread was about- does it mean she should slap the hell out of an interviwer(in kayfabe) ? It reflects not only on the Kayfabe character that is Stephanie Mcmahon but also on her corporate image. INCONGRUENCE. Now I'm not saying that if a particular performer happens to be a nice guy in real life, or an advocate of "be a star don't be a bully program" then he shouldn't be a heel and shouldn't take part in SCRIPTED VIOLENCE. But Stephanie Mcmahon isn't a wrestler, so yes, her slapping the fuck out of an interviewer, even if it's just kayfabe, is taking it too far/incongruent/a reflection.

If you still fail to see the point, here's an analogy.

Imagine Mahatma Gandhi- the advocate of peace, pacifism and nonviolence. Imagine him taking part in a movie/drama/tv show for an extended period of time and portraying either a 1)Hitman/Assassin/Killer, 2)Domestic abuser, 3)A goon who beats up people. That'd really suit him and enhance his otherwise holy image, right?

And worse, imagine if Mahatma Gandhi-the advocate of peace, pacifism and nonviolence, were to beat his wife up occasionally or regularly, in actuality.

I hope you do see my point NOW.

Stephanie was 'mad' at the fact her plan backfired and suddenly she's approached for an interview. I'm fully sure the company knows their parameters.

Yeah and there's no way they could handle that part(the creative, that is) but to have Stephanie Mcmahon almost insanely and absurdly slap an interviewer. They just couldn't instead have her declare that she's booking Reigns in a 3-on-1 handicap match on Smackdown or Raw next week, or put the title on the line in a scramble match, or so on. You're right. The WWE sure know their parameters.

By the way, LOL@Swallop.

 

[swallop]

@renaissanceman2014 If i can be serious for a moment.. The opening promo to me was comical because it was that bad & forced. But we all know steph is going so hard just to keep the heat on her so people keep cheering for reigns. And thus far its worked. Unfortunately. They will do ANYTHING to keep reigns over.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

To answer the question put by the OP.

No I don't think she's getting obnoxious at all. Her voice is a bit grating but that's it.

She's doing her job and is a main star in the main Storyline in the company so she's not going anywhere.

As for those slaps she just witnessed her husband, the father of her kids get put in the hospital. She slapped the piss out of the man who did it. Anyone would do the same in her position.

As for slapping the interviewer her character is reaching a breaking point and she lost it.

I'm probably on the short list of people who actually enjoys watching her. I love to hate the woman and that means she's doing her job.

 

[J.J.]

I get your point. I just feel something that is a source of entertainment shouldn't be viewed as bullying. As I said there are parameters and I definitely don't believe lines were crossed. Although I do not know Stephanie on a personal level I do not believe she possesses this on-air persona in real life. As I said, she needed a kick to get her riled up for this storyline. Ultimately my focus is how the storyline developed and show it helps shape the overall product. The idea here isn't for Steph to go against her standards outside of kayfabe but to generate heat.

 

[MWRedskins]

today it was real obnoxious and also, it hurts that the faces won't harm her (like they have done in the past), but yes it's been obnoxious, but today was downright bad. last week wasnt as bad...the slaps made Roman look cheesy (at least threaten to harm her so she won't do it again or catch her slap like Sting did), but today Stephanie kept shouting to "get out of her ring" then when Roman turns his back and starts leaving, she does a complete 180 and says, "dont walk away from me, get back in this ring." uh, what do you want Steph??? from a character standpoint, that made no sense. i dont mind the Authority storyline, but if Steph's going to be in charge 1) make sense and 2) quit making the faces look weak and 3) no need for the obnoxious screaming. her heel character is better when she's not losing her cool.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

So when Roman spears Triple H, Stephanie slaps the shit out of him and he almost gets fired.

But when Roman superman punches the 70 year old Vince McMahon, wins the World Title, and shoves it up their heel asses (metaphorically speaking of course), she comes out with a big smile on her face. Because of the Slammys. Then his eventual punishment is his cousins being put in a 3-on -2 match, and his friend Dean being put in a one-on-one match against Sheamus that is literally designed to prevent outside interference.

That's fucking lame.

But overall is Stephanie's character too obnoxious? No. She might be kind of stupid based on what I outlined above, but she's not too obnoxious. She's a real heel, a heel that gets under your skin and has zero interest in being liked. Stephanie as a babyface has always sucked, as a bitch heel she's great. The Be A Star bullying argument has always been ridiculous. She's playing a fucking character and her character is a villain. A villain in one of the most one-dimensional genres of storytelling there is. So yeah, she can be an obnoxious bitch and its fine. She talks shit and gets her comeuppance in the end.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

@renaissanceman2014 If i can be serious for a moment.. The opening promo to me was comical because it was that bad & forced. But we all know steph is going so hard just to keep the heat on her so people keep cheering for reigns. And thus far its worked. Unfortunately. They will do ANYTHING to keep reigns over.

I think you nailed it here.

I like Roman Reigns, not that I'm an unwavering, supreme fan of his like I am of Punk, Hitman, Angle, Sting, Michaels, and our beloved Seth freakin' Rollins of course.

But I've been noticing it for quite some time- the fact of Stephanie/Mcmahons overall, deliberately intensifying their act based on the state the audience happens to be in and their reception of/reaction to Reigns at the time- usually lukewarm. It's like if the audience were to be milk on a stove, it just doesn't rise but just keeps simmering. And Stephanie tries to give it some of her own heat. Jesus.

So yes, that's what happened on Raw. She thought maybe if I try to be this tantrum-throwing girl, they might intensify their cheering Reigns. And yes, the opening promo felt bad/forced/awkward.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Well...another horrific RAW. Each week I think it can't get any worse, but each week the garbage product exceeds expecations with it's horrificness. Steffy is annoying as heck and should stay off TV. Dixie Carter learned this and thankfully stays off the air. I tried to watch RAW last night, but 2 minutes into it I turned the tv off. Nothing but the same old garbage booking and tired old washed up wrestlers with no talent. WWE needs a serious infusion of young talent to spice up it's stale and boring product.

 

[The Brain]

Steph is pretty obnoxious but that's the gimmick. I think the idea is she tries to present herself as this sophisticated businesswoman with dignity and respect but deep down she's still that spoiled little brat. She can't help herself.

Well...another horrific RAW. Each week I think it can't get any worse, but each week the garbage product exceeds expecations with it's horrificness. Steffy is annoying as heck and should stay off TV. Dixie Carter learned this and thankfully stays off the air. I tried to watch RAW last night, but 2 minutes into it I turned the tv off. Nothing but the same old garbage booking and tired old washed up wrestlers with no talent. WWE needs a serious infusion of young talent to spice up it's stale and boring product.

Last week you said you were done watching WWE. Why did you turn it on this week? Oh wait, you turned it off after two minutes. Thanks for your opinion on a three hour show after only watching two minutes. You can admit you like WWE. It's a wrestling forum. We understand.

 

[Navi]

But I've been noticing it for quite some time- the fact of Stephanie/Mcmahons overall, deliberately intensifying their act based on the state the audience happens to be in and their reception of/reaction to Reigns at the time- usually lukewarm. It's like if the audience were to be milk on a stove, it just doesn't rise but just keeps simmering. And Stephanie tries to give it some of her own heat. Jesus.

So yes, that's what happened on Raw. She thought maybe if I try to be this tantrum-throwing girl, they might intensify their cheering Reigns. And yes, the opening promo felt bad/forced/awkward.

And you're saying what here, that they are still trying to get Reigns over because he's not there yet?

As for Stephanie, I'm in two minds. There is no reason for her to be slapping people around, she could do a more effective job just with her words and her actions. After all she is the boss and can pretty well make any match that she wants. Hasn't the whole Authority story line over the past two years been all about that.

You can't have the WWE taking on causes like Be a Star and Anti-Bullying and then having the supposed head of the company acting like she's PMSing every week.

While I like Stephanie to a certain extent, I think she's just a bit over the top at times. A silent thinking woman who's in charge is the one you fear the most.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Last week you said you were done watching WWE. Why did you turn it on this week? Oh wait, you turned it off after two minutes. Thanks for your opinion on a three hour show after only watching two minutes. You can admit you like WWE. It's a wrestling forum. We understand.

Oh great! I have an internet troll/stalker. Look Cousin Cletus, if you could read you would know that I didn't watch that garbage last night. I have much better things to do than watch WWE rasslin! You are one of those fanboys who secretly is in love with Reigns. You can admit you love Reigns, It's a wrestling forum, it's not real life...we understand.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

So you're saying she portrayed the "bratty self" character back in 2000/2001, and 15 years later, she has reverted back to it? Okay. That's quite an evolution.

Not completely reverted back but that person still exists. She tries to hide it but with the culmination of not having her father or husband around and Reigns winning the title she couldn't control herself any longer.

It makes sense. Just because someone is 15 years older does not fix all of their insecurities.

To be precise, she was 24 yrs old in 2000 and her being a whining brat suited her age/social status/persona.

That is the story of almost every wrestling personality in the modern age. They don't grow up. The UT still dresses and acts like he is really thinks he is a D&D character. Sting is still that guy that died from that movie. Vince was very much Vince at 70 last week as he was at 55.

Why pick on Stephanie when there are countless examples of arrested development to choose from.

Now she's in her late 30s, a millionaire in real life, and a seasoned actor on a WWE show. I understand her being a controlling bitch, egomaniac, tyrannical and so on. But to simultaneously act like a whining kid like she did in 2000 makes it incongruent. On the one hand, you're a powerful person who supposedly can put Roman Reigns in a WWE WHC match against anybody, or in a 3-on-1 handicap. And yet all you do is "Nooo Roman..Come back Roman...come back Roman.." ? Fabulous.

She wasn't calling him back to give him a hug, she was calling him back to exude her power. She wanted to punish him to his face. Maybe she wanted to smack the shit out of him again. Despite being all of the things you describe above (although I would argue that we shouldn't be holding that fact that wrestling is scripted as something we know when judging this situation) she is unstable. Wouldn't you be unstable if you watched your husband and father get their asses handed to them two nights in a row?

More importantly, slapping a male interviewer multiple times was a bit too much. That's my opinion.

Fine. But a bit too much is better than nothing at all and nothing at all is what we usually get from the end of Raw. This break down from Stephanie gives me a reason to look forward to next week. I'm not saying there will be continuity in next week's episode but I hope there is and will be more likely to tune in to see what she or WWE does next.

Maybe this is their way to write her out for a while.

You enjoyed Stephanie Mcmahon slapping an interviewer? Jesus. But to each his own.

True. But there is plenty of precedent set up that you are going to get moments like that our of Raw.

It has a lot to do with Be a Star/PG/them being a Public company. If they don't, John Cena might as well go kissing every female interviewer/diva in sight on live TV, and may be they can call Zack Gowens and make Cena bully him like Vince Mcmahon did(in kayfabe, of course). That will be very congruent with John Cena's and WWE's image as a public company that advocates "Be a star, Don't be a Bully" .

Stephanie is being portrayed as a hypocritical heel on the show. In Realworldsville the stock holders, charitable organizations, other executives, and most kids understand that. Do you?

 

[OYDK]

I don't think a heel could ever be too obnoxious to be honest. If Steph is getting under your skin and pissing you off enough for you to make a thread about it, than she's doing her job. Whether you think her actions are deplorable in reality are irrelevant, as she's not playing her real self on TV. It's a character. Yes it's a dictatorial character portrayed by somebody who advocates for B.A. Star and Stand up to Bullying, but in the end, I think everybody can make the distinction between reality Steph and kayfabe Steph.

As for her slapping the announcer, do you care all that much? I mean, that's her CHARACTER man, it has been for years now. I can understand people being upset that there is no comeuppance for Steph's physical acts, but that really adds to the heat she has with the audience. You obviously have a lot of sympathy for whoever she slapped, and hate her more now for slapping an innocent interviewer than you did last week, and that's the point.

Also, there still might be some retribution. As you said, the interviewer is not Roman Reigns, he's not a wrestler, therefore it's possible that he "sues" Steph. It might even take her off TV for a while. I don't know, just a possibility.

 

[Navi]

Oh great! I have an internet troll/stalker. Look Cousin Cletus, if you could read you would know that I didn't watch that garbage last night. I have much better things to do than watch WWE rasslin! You are one of those fanboys who secretly is in love with Reigns. You can admit you love Reigns, It's a wrestling forum, it's not real life...we understand.

I'm failing to grasp here how he is a troll and you're not. You openly admit that you think the WWE is garbage, yet people you know must think you like it enough to buy you tickets as a birthday gift.

Not only that you attend the show, think it's crap and then turn it on the next week anyway. Not only that you take your valuable time to post how much you don't like it on an internet wrestling forum. You say one thing yet do another. if you don't like the WWE then don't watch it, period.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Finally, even if she wants to be an angry, power-hungry, controlling bitch, isn't the WWE supposed to be PG now, and inspire everyone to "be a star..and not a bully" ?

That's the biggest contradiction in the persona she wants to portray. Yet, if pro wrestling didn't have bullies, the form of entertainment wouldn't exist, would it?

Still, she's not a wrestler and one would like to think she'd go against the 'norm' in society that proclaims every woman who is successful in the corporate world has to be a bitch.

Is it true? Unfortunately, yes, it often is and the most successful women climb the ladder by being monsters. I've seen it so many times in my office that I've wondered if it isn't a necessity for a woman to get what she wants.

For that reason alone, I'd like to see Stephanie not use her position to bully those in her employ. Of course, WWE is over-the-top; that's what this form of entertainment is about, yet for the highest ranking woman in the organization (both real & kayfabe), I'd bet the writers could depict her as powerful but nice.....even if the 'nice' part is as transparent as a glass of water.

I simultaneously like her....and don't like her..... which, I suppose, is what the company is shooting for.

Life imitates art....except when it doesn't.

 

[tak161]

So the OP has a problem with Stephanie slapping an interviewer, but I don't see you complaining about Roman Reigns punching a 70 year old man. Did you have a problem with Brock Lesnar attacking Michael Cole and a cameraman earlier this year? I doubt you did, so why do you have a problem with Stephanie doing it? Is it because she's a woman?

As far as her being obnoxious, she's supposed to be. And if you find her to be that way, then she is doing her job.