Before I begin, I was thinking of something different. I would think that every now and again I would do a retro review of WWE PPV’s in the past. Hell even WCW. For me, I wouldn’t go any farther than, say, 1999 and for the WWF. So if you guys would like to me to review some shows in the past, please tell me and if you’d like comment which shows you’d like me to do. I have some more free time on my hands so I’ll be able to do them as I go along. Thanks guys, now onto the main event.
What’s that saying? All good things must come to an end. The only issue when it comes to The Authority is that it never really was a satisfying endeavor. As you all can probably tell from the title of this piece, I am anti-Authority. To some of you, this will only echo the sentiments you have had for the past year and to others this just may be a sign of yet another loser behind a keyboard complaining about a major viewing point of Monday night programming that I watch every week. Whatever side of the spectrum you lie, one thing can be deduced and that’s The Authority must die.
If you have watched any episode of WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW, over the course of the past 1 and a half years, the planets would align in a situation where the opening segment would not be a serenading from Triple H’s “King of Kings” music. The Authority has had many shapes and forms throughout the course of its existence, ranging from instruments of The Authority’s purposes (Randy Orton or Seth Rollins), tired out veterans (Batista or Kane) or Hunter and Stephanie by themselves. What do you get after their grandiose entrance? You get endless recaps continuing from the ending of the previous week’s show, and somehow that goes on for the first 20 minutes. Of course, since we are all interested, the commercials won’t begin until the matches start. This futile shtick all builds up to the payoff for making you wait so long; the moment when Triple H or Stephanie announces a tag team main event featuring Seth Rollins or Kane teaming up at some capacity where they will inevitably lose and have the champion Seth get pinned, because we clearly need protection for that young upstart Kane. I guess I am sort of doing what The Authority has been doing eh? Oh the irony. So how about that Kane fellow?
I think any fan of WWE at heart has profound respect for Kane and his impact that he has had to the business. In my personal experience, I thought he was actually convincingly intimidating. I actually first saw Kane in Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 and I initially thought he was a fictional character. He looked like something gone awry in a science project. His music? Slow Chemical? One of my favorites. His in-ring work was always suspect but I didn’t think he was terrible unlike some other big men. However, in 2015, he should not be getting extended segments and be in extended matches. Uppercut after side slam after big boot. The way he is wrestling and going about anything involving a match is just too sluggish for him. Not to mention in 2015, out of the 1,325 tag team matches he’s had with Seth, he should always be taking the pin. Always. The fact that Seth Rollins as a champion is still getting pinned to this day really boggles my mind to be honest with you. I suppose the biggest reason for why I want The Authority to die is what they have done to Seth Rollins.
On the active roster, next to Brock Lesnar, there is none more gifted in the ring than Seth Rollins if you ask me. Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler are up there, but in terms of consistency and the ability to adapt, Rollins should be your man. We’re seeing Seth grow up right before our very eyes. He’s become less of a spot monkey and more like a bonafide heel. You won’t see him do anything spectacular in the ring anymore that will make you say “WOW SETH, YOU ARE AMAZING”. Now we have more stomping in the corner, more headlocks, and the removal of his signature Curb Stomp finishing maneuver was the proverbial nail in the coffin. If I am being candid, based on all of Seth’s matches this year, I only saw him wrestle one match that stood out to me and got me hooked on him. That was his singles bout with Dean Ambrose a couple of weeks ago on RAW. People will reference the triple threat between Brock Lesnar and John Cena and make no mistake about it, he was amazing and showed he can hang in there with the big boys. Yet, when you’re working with Brock Lesnar, excellence is more likely than not the standard. Not to mention a majority of the match was Rollins and Cena doing their typical reversals and sequences together until Lesnar came back for the finish. His performances on PPV have been less than impressive. His PPV bouts has been based on a throwaway six man tag team match in which he wasn’t even involved in the finish, a good but not great match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania, a disappointing and slow main event steel cage match against Orton at Extreme Rules, a fatal four way, and a match that had a Dusty finish, which was on a show that had Kevin Owens and John Cena steal the show.
When Seth first converted to The Authority, and when he was looking like a character from out of X-Men, he had a much better flow to his matches and his feud with Dean Ambrose was by far the best of his career and the best of that year. Over time, however, with the emergence of J+J and Kane being involved in almost every one of his matches since that point, he has become more lax and less of a crowd pleaser. I understand the purpose of a heel is to get jeered, so doing things to get the crowd to cheer you isn’t exactly something you should be doing. However, you can still put on a great match and the crowd can applaud in respect but not because they like you. The same anticipation for seeing Seth has just withered away ever so slowly. When Rollins ran down that aisle at WrestleMania 31 and became the first person to successfully win the WWE Championship at a WrestleMania via a Money In The Bank cash-in attempt, we all went bananas. So long as Roman did not walk out as champion, but Seth was a scenario that was possible as well, and we all were satisfied. Now, we are subjected to the same mundane routine each week and it’s a shame because Seth is a tremendous talent, and I feel as though as great he has been, there is more we can see from him. Which is why I propose he goes to the good side.
For me, when I first saw The Shield, I would imagine that when they would go their separate ways, Ambrose would be the heel and Seth would be the face. It hasn’t been a failure since they share opposite roles, but had they do that, I think it would have been much better. Think about it, if Seth Rollins was a face, think of all the comebacks he would do, not to mention we wouldn’t be subjected to the same old heel style of wrestling. Beyond the ring, this opens new room for Seth to have new feuds, and one that I am interested in is a Rollins/Triple H program. It probably wouldn’t have the same type of anticipation that Daniel Bryan brought to the table, but you can’t tell me that isn’t at least must-see television. The bottom line is that Rollins’ full potential will never be realized if he always has Kane, Noble and Mercury in the background. Rollins has been far from a failure. Perish the thought. But you can’t tell me a face turn would do wonders for him.
The Authority hasn’t been a complete abomination. They were the perfect foil to Daniel Bryan’s quest to the mountaintop, jumpstarted Rollins on his singles career and was comprised of an abundance of stars. However, we need to say goodbye to The Authority before the archaic style destroys us all. Please tell me if you’d like to see some reviews of shows in the past and I can do them. Thanks guys, until next time.
