Why we need more Mick Foley and much less Stephanie McMahon on Raw

Any wrestling fan worth their salt will have tremendous respect for Mick Foley. Even when you isolate the years outside of WWE, you can witness the huge contribution to the Wrestling industry he has made, as well as the emotional and physical sacrifice he has endured. He is one of those talents that can’t put a foot wrong anymore. Apart from maybe doing something illegal and immoral outside of the ring, Foley will always have the respect of the fans.

One of my favourite characters during the attitude era was Dude Love. He doesn’t get the recognition of a Cactus Jack or Mankind, but I personally loved how he fitted in with the other talents around him like Stone Cold and the Rock, despite coming across as counter to the spirit of the era. Anyone else attempting to do the Dude Love persona would have failed miserably to keep it relevant in such a time, but the way Mick portrayed it actually turned the character into a significant accelerator of the McMahon, Stone Cold feud we all love today.

Ironically, his new role has become grounded in another McMahon rivalry storyline, albeit one with none of the intrigue or talent of the aforementioned. In a way, Foley has been the perfect Raw General Manager recently. He embodies the disgruntled voice of the wrestling fan that wants to see less of the authority and more of the in-ring talent. Even speaking as his kayfabe GM character, he wanted to take the show in exciting new directions, giving talent their opportunities and making the product fun again.

Instead, he has had to deal with the cancerous Stephanie McMahon everywhere he turned. Stephanie is probably deluded enough to think that her presence is creating a brilliantly told story about authority vs. the little man. In fact, she has become the modern day receptacle of the infamous ‘X-Pac’ heat. She is not an effective heel because effective heels present themselves in ways that mean we want to see them every week. We may want to see them get their comeuppance every week, but we still want to see them. Stephanie is a heel that we just don’t want to see anymore, full stop. It is genuinely baffling that the WWE, in turn, cannot see this.

I’m sure Stephanie is an integral part of the WWE behind the scenes. She is a great ambassador for women in high profile positions and undoubtedly does a lot for charity. This does not mean she has to be in front of the cameras on such a consistent basis.

When the brand split happened, and Daniel Bryan was chosen to accompany Shane McMahon at the head of Smackdown, fans were excited and could see where the two popular babyfaces might potentially take the show. When Stephanie McMahon chose Mick Foley as her GM, alarm bells started to ring. Not because it was Foley himself, but because we already knew how the babyface General Manager and heel Commissioner dynamic was inevitably going to end. Fans were genuinely concerned that the ‘Authority’ storyline, which the company seemed to promise would make way for the ‘new era’, would remain a staple Raw storyline regardless.

Less than ten minutes into Raw this week (03/20/17) there was already a temptation to either skip ahead (if you were lucky enough to be watching it the next day) or turn off altogether. Not only did the show start with Foley looking dejected and Stephanie doing her all too familiar authoritative stomp down to the ring, but the entire video package that preceded the show was solely focused on this General Manager storyline.

Roman Reign’s altercation with Taker was not in it. Neither was the Jericho vs. KO match. Instead of an emphasis on the in-ring talent and matches that fans are looking forward to, come Wrestlemania season, we instead focus on Stephanie and Foley’s rivalry and a match between HHH and Seth Rollins that we’re not even sure is happening. How is this in anyway part of the new era?

The WWE can do one of two things from here, now that Foley is taking his ‘leave of absence’. If the company is so insistent on continuing this authority story line, they need to install a heel General Manager that can replace both Stephanie and Mick Foley. I wouldn’t personally welcome this move, but at least they can do an old story in a fresh way. If Kurt Angle does indeed take Foley’s place, for example, at the very least this is something we haven’t seen in quite some time. Having a strong, heel GM on Raw would thankfully reduce the need to have Stephanie on TV on such a consistent basis.

The second option is to follow the example of Smackdown, having a babyface GM and a babyface Commissioner working together. This just makes the show run better. You can still incorporate story lines involving the authority, but have the wrestlers play the heels – a bit like the Miz and Daniel Bryan rivalry we’ve had this year. In essence, there will always be real life tension between the talent and management. This is something everyone who has ever been employed will know.

In terms of wrestling storylines, the idea is to acknowledge the tension, have it play a subtle but effective role in your product, and remember to keep the faces fresh. WWE at the moment is doing none of these things. Instead, we are witnessing a continuation of a storyline that may have been somewhat enjoyable back in 2013 but has since lost its appeal. We see the same faces in the same positions every week, and we unfortunately still have to sit there and watch somebody as arrogant and misguided as Stephanie McMahon insert herself into any story line she wishes, and remind us all that when it comes to the WWE, no talent is more important than the McMahons.

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