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TIME FOR THE AUTHORITY FIGURES IN WRESTLING TO GO AWAY, MAURO, MURACO, WWE ROADBLOCKS THEIR OWN WRESTLEMANIA BUZZ? AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2016-03-17 10:00:00

What's the opinion within WWE on Mauro Ranallo? Fans rave about him, but what's the feeling on him in WWE? It's my understanding Michael Cole was the one that got him hired and is his producer on Smackdown. How do the higher-ups within WWE feel about Mauro Ranallo on Smackdown so far?

To the best of my knowledge, Mauro is extremely well liked.  We were told he was hired specifically to bring his own personality and knowledge of combat sports to the table and he's obviously done just that.  We haven't heard of any major issues or criticism of his work.  Michael Cole is said to be working closely with Ranallo to produce him and get him "on the same page" so to speak with what WWE expects from their announcers, but there's been no talk of anything but positives for him.

The Dean Ambrose/HHH match at Roadblock was very good, but how did that show do anything to make people want to watch Wrestlemania 32? I didn't see much of anything that affected or advanced storylines for the big show coming up in 3 weeks.

 Well, let's be honest, it didn't.  I think one could certainly make a case that they cooled off Ambrose with the loss and that they didn't do anything to create more of a buzz for the big show, and that's a huge disappoiintment for fans waiting for a new hook.  WWE just wanted another show to get fans to pay for the Network and in that sense, they achieved their goal as it was a very entertaining show.  Whether they hurt themselves long-term with the booking choices on the show, we'll have to wait and see but my feeling was they did more to hurt themselves in terms of the creative building to Mania.  Ambrose winning the belt, even for a short time, was an obvious move that would have generated a huge buzz and some excitement.  WWE chose not to capitalize on what I feel would have been a tremendous move. 

Do you think Vince would ever pull the plug on NXT? If it's essentially the feeder system for his main show and if he doesn't think it's producing results, I would think he'd have to be thinking of ways to restructure development right? Despite what much of his fan base sees as "the future".

I don't think they will ever pull the plug on developmental, but could NXT be shut down one day?  If it's not bringing in the results that WWE wants from it, absolutely.  They killed off the ECW brand.  They shut down the brand extension.   There's no reason WWE couldn't, one day, kill off NXT.  I don't see it happening.  The live shows will add to their bottom line.  If they get one star out of that system who can end up at the level of say a John Cena in terms of popularity or at the level of a Daniel Bryan in terms of working ability inside the ring, the system will have paid for itself.

I don't get it: They have Shane McMahon come out to tell the crowd that if he is in power the Authority stops, Vince control stops, pushing the wrong guys stops etc. etc. etc. and he is getting huge pops from the crowd. Then Vince hears those huge pops and goes "OK back to the Authority, me controlling everything and pushing the wrong guys...because that is what people want to see."  Why would the WWE seriously push the idea that they, The WWE, are heels and the polar opposite of of their ideals is a Babyface notion? Can you think of a single other company that would advertise that not only do they do the opposite of what the customer wants...but are happy they are doing it?  Who writes this stuff?

Vince McMahon and his creative team.  I totally get what you are saying.  I think the entire Authority figure, whether they be babyfaces or heels is beyond antiquated.  It creates situations where the heroes never get their wins (look at Dolph Ziggler losing whatever momentum that Survivor Series win gave him), it has personalities who will rarely wrestle taking up TV time and it's a tired mechanism.  The Shane storyline will give them the potential to get out of that "been there/done that" feel and we'll see in a few weeks if that happens.  I'd love to see someone revert back to the days where the only time you saw any sort of authority figure is when some major proclamation or announcement needs to be made.  Bring back the days of Jack Tunney...or use the Triple H management role in NXT as the model.  Cheerlead and make big announcements, but beyond that, stay out of the way and let the wrestlers be the focus.

Where is Don Muraco?

The last I've heard, Muraco is living in Hawaii.

 

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