Who's REALLY in charge on-screen?

[OmegaWWE]

I didn't really know exactly where to put this one, as it involved the Raw General Manger, the SmackDown Consultant, Vickie Guerrero, and the General Manager of SmackDown, Theodore Long.

It seems to me like the "Teddy Long on probation" storyline has been dropped, as there's been no mention of it in recent memory. With that said, is he even needed? He rarely calls the shots on SmackDown, in fact a lot of the match making on-screen is done by Vickie Guerrero. Additionally, Teddy Long really doesn't seem to have a say in Championships that are supposed to be defended on both brands. The Raw General Manager, at least to my recollection (though I could be wrong), has made ALMOST every match involving the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (he/she even renamed them to the WWE Tag Team Championships, retiring the World Tag Team Championships) as well as the Divas Championship. The most recent example of this was making the Tables match at TLC between Natalya, Beth Phoenix and Lay-Cool. Granted, Natalya is a Raw Diva, but the other three are SmackDown divas.

When was the last time Teddy Long made a ruling on the Divas Championship or the Tag Championship?

While some may consider this irrelevant, it does bother me that SmackDown, who is supposed to be run by ITS General Manager, seems to be in the hands of Vickie Guerrero, the consultant, and, on occasion, the Raw GM.

Thoughts on this? Is Teddy Long even needed? Should he be fired or replaced by Vickie at this point?

 

[Adalam]

I think Teddy Long is the Raw GM. Hear me out on this, but as you say, Vickie is calling the shots for a lot of Smackdown. It may just be that she is going to force Teddy out of office right at the time that he reveals himself to be the GM of Raw. At that time, Stephanie and Triple H will come out and reveal that they, plus Long, plan on reshaping the WWE, starting with Monday Nights. Then we get some thrown together angle that makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[OmegaWWE]

I actually considered Long as a possibility for the Raw General Manager. Not only would it be somewhat unexpected, but it could also signal an end to the Brand Extension, having Long run both shows. But even so, I'm still a bit perplexed as to why he's been mostly involved in getting Hornswoggle to talk, rather than running his show. But what you're saying totally makes sense, and the bit about Stephanie McMahon & Triple H could make for an interesting angle if WWE Creative doesn't shit all over it.

 

[RKOx7]

It would be so wackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk if Teddy was the RAW GM.

The RAW GM is neither face nor heel, just appears heel because its read through Michael Cole, but one thing is for sure, as Edge pointed out, the RAW GM is definitely vindictive. I'm not going to get into who the RAW GM is or who I think he is cuz this thread is not about that.

But I think in terms of who is on charge on screen... Seems to me that the RAW GM has definitely been outspoken in a way. The way he presents himself in his e-mails, even though Michael Cole reads them, really places him as an AUTHORITATIVE figure, who doesn't need to back down to anyone, and can at any time be in total control of his show and his superstars. He has multiple highlights within a show and his presence is definitely felt every time the light flickers and the ding dongs are heard (and he isn't even the Undertaker!). So with that being said, the RAW GM seems to be in a much more controlling position out of anyone on screen with power.

To be honest, I don't even know if we will ever find out who the RAW GM is, seems to me that he was placed as a placeholder for Bret Hart's last minute GM firing and the little computer has really allowed Michael Cole to develop further as a toolbag heel we all hate, and this computer has also interfered whenever he feels justice is needed.

 

[nbieclkl91]

This whole RAW GM thing really is running dry. At this point, I don't even care who it is...I just want to know who it is!!! Seriously, if WWE doesn't reveal it soon, people are going to lose interest (if they haven't already).

My picks in order though are:

1. Michael Cole-Vince wouldn't have turned him into a big heelish character just for the sake of commentating. He's the only direct link to the GM and all the emails seem to benefit him (ie. Jerry Lawler being forced to call a truce with him a few weeks ago).

2. Stephanie McMahon-I started to think it was her after that whole sketch with Vince in a coma and her and Triple H waking up and realizing it was just a dream or whatever.

3. Triple H- With his new role behind the scenes, he's probably not going to be a full time wrestler for much longer (if at all).

4. Teddy Long-He's popped into my mind a few times mainly because HE DOES NOTHING ON SMACKDOWN ANYMORE. Vickie Guerrero has pretty much become the on-screen boss on Smackdown again and frankly, it's bullshit. If she's going to be incharge of Smackdown then Teddy should be in charge of RAW at least.

 

[RKOx7]

The RAW GM thing can get dry, it doesn't matter because the interest of who it is doesn't matter anymore until someone brings it up again itll be on everyones mind. The fact is the RAW GM is there, and the RAW GM makes me happy. He makes matches that I wanna see, and he writes emails that are music to my ears... when CM Punk is reading the emails of course!

 

[JJ15776]

The RAW GM thing can get dry, it doesn't matter because the interest of who it is doesn't matter anymore until someone brings it up again itll be on everyones mind. The fact is the RAW GM is there, and the RAW GM makes me happy. He makes matches that I wanna see, and he writes emails that are music to my ears... when CM Punk is reading the emails of course!

Exactly. It IS dry, the fans have no interest in, because they're not talking about it. Nobody's trying to figure out who it is, nobody's asking who it is...Jericho started going down that path for about a second and that stopped. If/when they do reveal who it is, it's going to be part of a huge storyline with a lot of suspense and buildup.

Honestly, at this point, I doubt the Raw GM is anybody. By that I mean, the WWE doesn't know who it is or who it will turn out to be. It's working so far - I much prefer this to having a live GM like Long or Bischoff or whoever. He's not part of any storylines or fueding with anybody, he's always fair, he doesn't hog a ton of camera time every week...he sends his message, it gets read, and they move on with the show. I love it.

As for who has the power, I pretty much agree with the OP. The only authoritative thing I remember Long doing was taking the laptop and taking control of Raw the week of Bragging Rights.

 

[LSN80]

Long's power has really seem to diminish over the years on Smackdown. He used to be apart of every big decision made, and often came out before the main event on the Smackdown side of the PPV to issue a decree to the heel champion. Lately, he's been relegated to a backstage bit player whose been afraid of Kane and warned Edge about the potential consequences of his actions. He did come out after the Mysterio/Miz match last week and make a tag team match for later in the night between Del Rio/Miz and Edge/Mysterio. This week, however, he was nowhere to be seen and the announcers 'announced' that the Tag Team match for next weeks match came from the GM's office, rather then Teddy announcing it, as he often used to do.

It seemed when Teddy was on probation he was most proactive as GM. One could argue that he was responsible for the brief resurgence of the tag team decision as he interrupted the Colons/Legacy match and inserted Jericho and Edge to bring stars from the Smackdown side in on the Unified Tag Team Title match. He was the catalyst for the slight re-birth that gave us Jeri-Show and Show-Miz, but his directives have been few other then at Extreme Rules of this past year when he made Miz and Show face a gauntlet match due to Miz running his mouth at Long. Its the last time he's really "asserted control" over the Unified Tag Team division, and the Divas have mostly been handled by Vickie or the Anonymous GM on Raw.

As for Long as the Anonymous GM, I really don't see it. He did more then anyone this past year to hype the Bragging Rights match on Raw by "invading Raw" and unplugging the GM computer, and asserting himself as the authority figure for the rest of the night. It would defy logic for him to then be revealed as the Raw GM as he was very proactive in the decision making regarding captains and team members for Smackdown. Stranger things have happened, and WWE's revisionist history is bothersome, but Long is such a Smackdown staple that I have a hard time buying him as the Raw GM. The reason I believe we've seen less of him is that Raw is the angles driven show, Smackdown the wrestling show. Obviously, when there are more angles, the more involved the GM needs to be. When it comes to wrestling, you'ld rather the GM NOT be involved, and let the talent go out and decide whose best rather then the GM making a decree. But Long is certainly needed, and while Vickie's last reign as GM was momentful, it's not one that needs to be revisited in any way.

 

[Funkydr79]

I think the whole GM thing is just played out anyway. If you aren't going to have the general manager actually be in charge of the show, then you shouldn't have a GM character at all. I would rather them go with the fictitious "championship comittee" or "board of directors" rather than have an on-screen character.

Each and every week, the opening promo of the show is two ME performers coming to the ring and challenging each other to a match.....wait.......wait....wait for it......TONIGHT!" It's rediculous, in what other athletic competition would you show up to the arena NOT knowing who or even IF you are going to peform that evening? If you are not going to have the general manager even making a feign attempt to control the show than it's pointless.

Right now the Raw GM is just a vehicle to get Cole over with the audience. It takes away TV time from the guys that are putting their health on the line in the ring and it doesn't really help to promote any storylines.

If we're going to persist with a bogus GM character, than have him/her come out....cut a promo on all the boys in the back about how the chickens aren't going to control the coop anymore and have matches be predetermined each week. OCCASIONALLY have a match set that takes place later than show (like once a month at most) so that it seems fresh when it happens.

When the whole GM thing started it was a change of pace from how shows were produced up til that point. Now it's just formulaic.

 

[OmegaWWE]

As a few of you have said, the whole Anonymous Raw General Manager thing is stale. I've said this on the Brand Extension thread, but I do think it needs to come to an end.

As for Long, The purpose of the General Manager is to run the show. Albeit, the WWE Tag Team Champions are Raw Superstars, the title itself is cross-branded, which means he can (and should) exercise some authority over it, as well as the Divas Championship. Since when do "consultants" run the show? Vince might as well have named her as the Co-General Manager for SmackDown.