President or GM .

[ECW Sandman]

In WWF/WWE They had '' Presidents '' and now they have ''GM's '' I know it's basically the same,

But what do you prefer and who did you prefer in the spot of '' President'' or ''GM ''


I liked the name '' President '' because back then it seemed believable and you hardly saw the '' President '' until there was something monumental to be announced like a WrestleMania match .


and for '' President '' I have to say Jack Tunny He made people believe back then that wrestling was not staged it seemed a little real at times.




So easy question what do you prefer '' President '' or '' GM '' and who do you prefer in that spot .

 

[The Butcher]

I'll always be a President Jack Tunney mark. As a youngster, his role helped to flesh out the illusion that everything was above board, as you pointed out. Also, the title "President" has more gravitas than that of "General Manager." It really doesn't matter (now it's "Managing Supervisor"), but nostalgia wins the day for me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

They're essentially the same character so it really doesn't matter to me what their fictional title happens to be.

Personally, I'm burned out on the on-air authority figure character. We've seen far, far too much of it over the course of the past decade or so that it just feels plain tired for the most part. I enjoy Vickie Guerrero's character but, to me, the best thing about her in this current role is that she doesn't pop up all the time on Raw. She's usually on screen for a few minutes and then that's about it.

For SmackDown!, it's become a very tired habit for the opening segment to feature one wrestler talking about another, said wrestler to come down to the ring to confront the other, a fight is on the verge of breaking out and Booker T's music hits and he comes out. He says practically the same damn thing and winds up making a match before screaming out his catchphrase.

In TNA, Hulk Hogan comes out or pops up in practically every other segment of Impact Wrestling, bigfoots the show and portrays basically the same super tough guy he was back in the day even though he can no longer physically wrestle. If Hogan drew for TNA, then maybe I could see the justification for featuring him so prominently week after week.

Probably the biggest problem I have with it that we frequently see the GM or President or whatever you want to call the character engage in some sort of rivalry with members of the roster. We've seen it in WWE, TNA ROH, etc. and it's probably the single most overdone & tired angle involving the authority figure.

As I said, it wouldn't bother me if the authority figure disappeared for a while, or only made occasional appearances, thereby making his or her presence on the show seem potentially meaningful.

 

[Pedigree1]

JH said it perfectly! I am also burned out on the GM/President role. Especially Booker T. For someone in charge he is on screen way way too much for my liking. One guy comes down insults the other wrestler and We hear Book's music and we know that match is gonna be made before he opens his mouth.

But I am a huge Jack Tunney guy. To me he was the best authority figure besides Gorilla for a short time. To me the less we see of authority figures the better. They should only appear for important matches or announcements and thats all

 

[GameOver]

President Jack Tunney and later Gorilla Monsoon made it seem there was law and order and that the board had real say and were keeping tabs and ofcourse they were faces so the heels rarely got away with anything for long. Yes they had a board of directors sort of in the 80's aswell, Tunney would speak of them every now and then.

a GM is just a paper figure head who has there own agenda for the most part that being a heel GM for RAW and a Face GM for Smackdown. They make little sense. THey have control yet they don't and if they have to suck up to Vince and he can counter there every decision it seems pointless having them there in the first place, all it serves is a way to bring the decision making process and reasoning for matches being set out to the public as opposed to the old days where matches just happened and you never knew who was gonna face who on a given timeslot.

I'd also agree with the above post that the GM should be heard and not seen for the most part. Make big dicisions and that's it, not hogging the spotlight and taking air time from other talent, but then on the flipside if they didn't appear often they would be insugnificant which wouldn't be a bad thing..


"Can i have your attention please" Bring back the anonymous GM for both RAW and Smackdown

 

[gers09]

for me President is better it sounds more dignified more authoritative to me if Cole said tonight the President of the WWE is going to make a announcement on the WWE championship is much better than the General manager of Smackdown is going to make a announcement on the WWE championship it just sounds like they have more power and now with the split is over we don't need a gm of raw and one of smackdown have one President plus he/she doesn't need to show up in every show do it same way as Tunney and Monsoon had it the odd announcement from there office or the odd show up when it a huge thing he has to say

 

[King Patrick Star]

Well, the way I think it was / is / will be is they used the term President to mean the highest ranking official in the company. When Vince McMahon was revealed to be the “Highest Power” of the WWF / WWE, the term President, to me, seemed to be equivalent to Chairman / Owner / CEO / King of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. So, in my opinion, a manager, in this case a General Manger, sounds like a step below.

I personally prefer GM as long as Vince is around. We all know, even my 4 year old, that no matter who is the on-air head is, Vinny Mac is still end all be all in Professional Sports Wrestling Entertainment.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

When Tunney had the role, it was never at the "expense" of anyone - his decisions always "made sense" even if they went against faces, for example the long time it "took" to reinstate Macho Man or vacating the title from Hogan after Flair interfered. We all know now that it was just to stall so Randy could get back in shape and so they could get the belt on Flair... but then we HATED Tunney for those decisions, which was his job - to be as benign as possible to the fans, to make those "tough calls" and hold onto the kayfabe illusion that Vince was not in power. Tunney gave the air of legit authority, that made the WWF a bit more "important" than the NWA with it's board making crazy decisions, holding up titles left and right and later WCW and it's Dustiness.

It went wrong with Monsoon and Piper had it as well after... that was when they started getting more involved with the actual "heel upsetting" characters for example Monsoon and Vader and Piper having his brawl with Goldust. From there it just degenerated. Once Mr. McMahon's genie was unleashed it made it almost impossible for a face to have the role, but heels always suck with it.

The only real person who made a commish or GM role work in that way was Regal, he just seeemed to click with it - as he could beat 90% of the roster in the ring or taught a lot of them - since 97 we've known it's Vince and whoever they put in the "role" it's still Vince at the end of the day.

Today, I would rather see it become more like the Tunney days - with a named President, who is actually the decision maker or the veto when it comes to booking etc. It'll inevitably be Trips once Vince retires or dies but I actually would like to see either Shane return in that role or Mark Callaway. Shane is one of those guys who most people would "buy" as the figurehead president, he's not Trips so doesn't have that "baggage" of feuds or the eye rolling that many do when they see that COO plaque onscreen . Shane was a hell of a worker - even new fans can see Shane's old matches and know that he earned a lot of respect as a true equal of those he would be in charge of, he worked the whole business from ref to scaffold matches - as opposed to his father, who used his power for "his own ends" most of the time. I am sure now he has "made a success" in China, an area Vince will want to get into without doubt and through his talent agency connections, Shane will be back and in a financial position to even buy a large part of the company as his father did, despite the white haired photo that recently came out, I am sure Shane O Mac will return in some capacity sooner rather than later.

But my preference would be that once he hands up the black hat and coat, Mark Callaway becomes the President of WWE/figurehead as himself, he would have the "respect" of the fans and the locker room... Wrestlers wouldn't want to risk him picking up the Taker gimmick one more time to sort them out. While I am sure he would work closely with Trips and Steph, he is the one name I can't imagine any business associate or shareholder having any problem with being the figurhead guy. He's not Trips - so he hasn't "politicked or married into it" and he's not a McMahon so it at least guarantees some semblance of "best for business" rather than the "audience of one". By the time he does retire - which could be as soon as a few weeks time, he will be the most successful sports entertainer WWE has produced. That is someone you want running a Sports Entertainment company.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

In the wrestling world, Presidents and General Managers are two horses of completely different colors...period.

These days, you get a character in charge of a brand of organization, it's always with this stance of partiality, whether it be for the face or heel wrestler, or as they called them back in my day, fan favorites and rulebreakers. Anyway, as some have already said, when you have guys like Jack Tunney and Gorilla Monsoon as the authority figures they often had to make TOUGH decisions in the storyline that didn't always sit well with the fans. But I liked that, because personally speaking, I feel that's what led to the rest of the storylines in the WWF utilizing all its characters from wrestlers to referees and to the oft-forgotten manager.

For example, back in the day if Bobby Heenan had a problem with something that Jack Tunney did, he would do something to help his wrestlers win, see instances like WrestleMania V where he held Warrior's legs down as Rick Rude pinned him to win the IC title. In so many Attitude Era and present day situations, you see the authority figure screw over the champion time and again. It was a fun and novel concept when Vince McMahon and Steve Austin had their feud, but seriously, it was a fad plot device that has sadly turned into a trend, albeit a very bland and uninspiring one.