Who's in charge?

[DaNewGuy]

This is probably me being more dense than usual, but I'm not sure who the kayfabe authority figures are in WWE anymore. If someone could clear this up for for me I'd be thankful.

Right, in 1999 we found out that each McMahon owned 25% of WWE (during the Higher Power angle). Vince and Shane won a ladder match at KOTR meaning that each had 50% and Stephanie and Linda had nothing. Linda is no longer CEO, as Austin lost the ladder match.

2000, Stephanie and Triple H are in charge in the McMahon-Helmsley Regime for no apparent reason as neither has executive power. In fact, Triple H had to beat his WWF Title shot out of Vince McMahon.

Fast forward to 2001, where Shane sells his stocks to purchase WCW and Stephanie (despite not owning any) also sells her stocks to puchase ECW. These stocks are bought by Ric Flair. Flair then loses his 50% ownership to Vince McMahon. Vince is now the 100% owner of the WWF. He establishes General Managers to run each show. An 'ECW representative' is added when ECW on Sci-Fi debuts and is subsequently replaced by a GM.

In October 2005, one week after Austin stunned all four McMahons, Linda McMahon (announced as the CEO) fires Jim Ross. On the same episode of Raw Stephanie goes on a power trip, abusing WWE employees, despite having no actual power.

Raw 2009 sees the 'Guest Host' concept introduced after Donald Trump 'bought the Raw franchise'. Batista announces that Guest Hosts have unlimited power.

August 2009, I'm confused. In kayfabe terms Vince McMahon is the sole owner of WWF stock. His wife may or may not be the CEO. Their children have no authority themselves but act as representatives of their father. Below them in the pecking order are the GMs. When Trump owned Raw he had 100% ownership of that brand and Vince McMahon and his represresentatives (children and GMs) had no power over Raw. Where does the guest host fit in? Does their unlimited power mean that they are above Vince in the hierachy? Do they also have juristriction over the other shows and their GMs? If two Guest Hosts made contracticory decisions what happens, is it like two Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks connecting? Do Vince's children have power based on their kayfabe jobs (not that I know what they are), like the GMs have power depite not owning anything? Also, how is Triple H able to make matches, like the handicap match against Legacy?

 

[666_The_Game_666]

As to their characters the only one who would have power is Vince. Whenever his kids have come out they just use the excuse of the Mcmahon last name. The only time i recall both Shane and Steph having on air power was when they both shared GM Roles on Raw last year. But as we all know Steph was the first GM of Smackdown and Shane was only a GM for a matter of weeks.

 

[CyrusTheVirus=ECW]

well HHH making the match against legacy isnt anything new. we have seen that among many wrestler say there gonna be in a match with someone. and i dont think the guest host have more power than vince. its similar to the GM role, where the have power but vince can overthrow there decisions. of course we most likely wont see that since the celebrity guest host are really only there to promote there movie or something,

 

[DaNewGuy]

well HHH making the match against legacy isnt anything new. we have seen that among many wrestler say there gonna be in a match with someone. and i dont think the guest host have more power than vince. its similar to the GM role, where the have power but vince can overthrow there decisions. of course we most likely wont see that since the celebrity guest host are really only there to promote there movie or something,

Wrestlers challenging one another is nothing new. However no-one in Titan Towers seems to have decided whether Triple H has power based on his marriage to the boss's daughter. Presumably he wouldn't (as she has no power herself), but he may be able to influence the decisions of his father-in-law.

Practically the guest host is largely the same as the GM. However the unlimited power which they possess is like the the Decree of Papal Infalability, in that it works fine in theory, but in practice there are a number of flaws. It's unlimited power within WWE (does that make it limited? ), but if two different forms of unlimited power clash somethings gotta' give (think Hogan-Warrior/Hogan-Andre 'the irresistable force meeting the immovable object').

Presumably, in kayfabe terms the guset hosts were hired by Vince McMahon and therefore he is there boss. However, is Vince subject to the unlimited power of the guest hosts. The hosts seem to book for their own ammusement so why has a face host not booked Vince McMahon against Big Show to punish him for all the bad things that Vince did to their favourite wrestler (Austin/Hogan etc.). Vince's contract does state he's an owner/wrestler (Shawn Micheals as commishioner and Ric Flair as part owner both stated his).

I'm arguing myself away from the point here, which was that I didn't and still don't understand the kayfabe power structure of WWE. Shane clearly works for WWE in some capacity as evidenced by his presence at No Way Out when he stopped the Big Show destroying Floyd Mayweather. I must admit I can't remember his GM stint. When Heyman resigned from Smackdown! he returned in charge of ECW (was he in charge?). These guys presumably exist in the power structure as they make decisions and their wishes are carried out, but why are they there and where are they in the hierachy?

 

[Motor City Mayhem]

OK I'm gonna put this in simple Terms.

Vince McMahon- Chairman. The Boss
Linda McMahon- CEO
Shane McMahon- Executive Vice President of Global Media
Stephanie McMahon- Executive Vice President of Talent and Creative Writing
Triple H- Stephanie's Little Helper.
Guest Hosts- Planned out matches by Stephanie brought to you by whatever star is promoting something.

Basically Vince is Boss, Linda is Second Boss(Although I bet Vince shits in his pants when Lindas Pissed) , Shane and Steph use there McMahon name for power when there on TV, Triple H is a helper for Creative (Like Angle) and The Guest Hosts have absolutly no power what so ever, the matches are all told to them, And come on, the idea is they have full GM Powers not Full Power over the Company for 2hours.

 

[DaNewGuy]

I think you misunderstand, which is probably more due to the fact that I've asked the question badly than anything else. I'm addressing this as if WWE is legitimate and not a psuedo-sport. The matches do not have pre-determined endings. The things that happen on Raw, Smackdown!, ECW and WWE PPVs are real.

If WWE is a legitimate fighting competition then there is no creative, because WWE isn't scripted. Vince is in charge because he's the 100% owner (after winning 75% of that through wrestling matches) and chairman of the board (he's been announced as such for years). Linda McMahon appears to be the CEO, despite leaving this role (when she handpicked Steve Austin as her successor during the revealing of the Higher Power). Shane could legitimately be the Executive Vice President of Global Media, as WWE, the competative matches is shown on TV and PPV, so someone would co-ordinate that. However why would this give him juristriction over competitors. Stephanie's position as Executive Vice President of Talent would presumably still exist as someone hires the wrestlers and then the GMs sign them from the pool (like the MLS I think). Therefore she'd have a degree of control over the talent in that she controls whether or not they are employed.

Triple H, as we found out this year, is married to Stephanie (despite having divorced her in 2002 after dumping her live on air whilst they were renewing their wedding vows, presumably they got re-married somewhere down the line). He holds no executive position, but instead uses his connections (wife and father-in-law) to engineer favourable situations for himself (like he did with GM Bischoff when he and Evolution had leverage over him).

I'll take your statement on the guest hosts in that they only have unlimited power over Raw. However, what about Shaq' using Smackdown!'s Cryme Tyme on Raw. Was there some sort of deal (in which case what did Smackdown! get out of it?), or did Teddy Long do Shaq' a favour because they go 'holla'ing' together at the weekend? Also what happens when two forces of equal power conflict? Take ZZ Top as an example. If Dusty and Billy had disagreed who would have made the final decision?

On reflection, I think I've tried to rationalise this too much. Most of wrestling doen't make sense anymore. I might as well try to fathom how 1 = 0, it'll make almost as much sense as WWE.

 

[Dave]

Yeah, WWE don't really think about the continuity of the power in the company.

Vince McMahon is basically the sole owner in terms of kayfabe, if you are following all the story lines to the t. The point is that people never really remember all of the stuff that has gone down before an angle like this comes along. Any time an angle comes along that is about power, Vince is the man to beat. He sold one of his shows to Donald Trump and that meant that he was no longer in charge of anything that went down on Raw. I think, in kayfabe terms, that a contract must have been drawn up about the guest host thing that meant that Vince had to honour it. I think the guest host does have power over Raw but not over Smackdown and ECW, that's for sure. I think he also does have final say on all things Raw but must follow certain guidelines. It's like if you get a temp as boss at work. They can't fire you and they would have to pass it with higher-ups before anything like that was supposed to happen. They do have some power but I think they are lying when it comes to "Unlimited Power"

The whole Raw angle and the power of the company in kayfabe terms is fucking ridiculous. Bottom line.