Shane McMahon – WCW Owner/Smackdown Commissioner
‘I now own WCW’. What an iconic line. The start of a lacklustre WCW vs WWF storyline but it was fresh and new, something fans hadn’t seen before, stemming from Vince purchasing the failing WCW. Shane has had a weird history with WWE, becoming ‘owner’ of WCW in 2001, a sporadic competitor between 2001 and 2009 before leaving the company until 2016. He’d come back to WWE in 2016 to take control of Monday Night RAW, with Vince challenging him to beat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania, with Shane’s command of RAW on the line.
Despite losing the match, Shane controlled RAW before sharing the reins with Stephanie until the Brand Extension where Shane was appointed as the Commissioner of Smackdown with Shane appointing Daniel Bryan as the General Manager. McMahon would get physically involved defending his brand at Survivor Series as well as being a solid authority figure and sorting the out of line wrestlers, like Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. He would take the blue brand on his back and try and prove that Smackdown wasn’t the ‘B Show’, that the wrestlers were just as good, if not better than RAW.
Yes, his methods of dealing with some superstars weren’t brilliant but the superstars would ultimately respect him more, his feud with AJ Styles is a good example of this. AJ would become more and more irritated at Shane with his decisions before lashing out and attacking him, resulting in a match at Wrestlemania 33. Shane would lose but gain AJ’s respect, the following episode of Smackdown. Shane showed his heel abilities as well after his and The Miz’s storyline came to an end and he would lead a heel faction against Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens. Shane, despite his booking to take spots away from actual wrestlers, was a fantastic authority figure, heel or face
John Laurinaitis – RAW & Smackdown GM
The most annoying voice in WWE history, but a brilliant heel authority figure, Johnny Ace took the role of being the authority figure for both shows and ran with it. He came to our screens through the CM Punk contract saga as he would be shown as Vince McMahon’s right-hand man, attempting to recreate the Montreal Screwjob at Money in the Bank 2011. Laurinaitis would be shown as Triple H’s right-hand man following SummerSlam, trying to find out who texted Kevin Nash to cost CM Punk his WWE Championship, with it being revealed that John would send the text to undermine Triple H.
With the help of David Otunga, Triple H was relieved of his duties and Laurinaitis would take over RAW, with him gaining control of Smackdown at Wrestlemania XXVIII, winning a 12-man tag team match. Controlling both shows, he would be ingrained in crucial storylines, mainly against John Cena, a man he attacked first. Cena would face Johnny Ace at Over the Limit with the latter’s’ job on the line, only for the recently fired Big Show to turn heel (SHOCK) and assist the leader of People Power to victory.
Eventually, Cena would cost Laurinaitis his job, defeating Big Show in a cage match at No Way Out and Vince McMahon would fire John live on air. He would have a lasting impact on an important time in WWE, constantly being in storylines and being the sole heel authority figure in a land of babyfaces. ‘People Power’ was a horribly catchphrase from a class heel and the kind of heel you couldn’t wait to see them get their comeuppance
Mick Foley – WWE Commissioner
Mick Foley was embroiled in a feud with Triple H in 1999, originally taking him on as Mankind but would revert to Cactus Jack midway through. After losing at Wrestlemania 2000, Foley retired from in-ring competition and transitioned into the storyline commissioner under his real name. Foley is just so good at doing the comedy and getting the easy pops from crowds, turning this into his persona. He would just be portrayed as an absolute buffoon but a fantastic character, having his office in various locations that offices shouldn’t be in like a closet.
He’d also use the same catchphrase each week, saying he was ‘thrilled to be right here in’ and proceed to say the town RAW was emanating from, along with a cheesy thumbs up. He’d be in rivalries with typical heel competitors like Kurt Angle, Edge and Christian whilst also being in a feud with Vince McMahon. Vince would end up firing him in December 2000, about six months after he was appointed but he would return sporadically throughout the year of 2001 as a special guest referee for multiple matches.
He’d return as the commissioner in October and was allowed to speak about his dissatisfaction with the company and the number of titles they had, booking multiple unification matches at Survivor Series 2001. He’d leave the position and the company at the request of Vince just after Survivor Series, leaving a lasting impression with his comedy skits and the way he would compose himself
Eric Bischoff – WCW Executive Vice President
He went from an announcer to Executive Producer to Executive Vice President in three years, that is an impressive feat. Bischoff’s first port of call was to move the WCW filming to compete with WWF, moving it to Disney-MGM Studios where Hulk Hogan was filming a show. He would approach The Hulkster about signing for WCW whilst also investing money in the production, PPV’s and the weekly show of WCW Monday Nitro. He immediately changed the face of wrestling, he would stay on commentary for Nitro and regular ruin results for WWF, who wasn’t recorded live at the time. Bischoff signed Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, forming the nWo as well as joining the group as the manager. Between 1994 and 1999, Bischoff did fantastic things with WCW to rival WWF, beating them in the Monday Night Wars for 83 weeks in a row.
In a time where WWF was so dominant in the world of wrestling, to have WCW rival them at this capacity was unseen, Bischoff both on and off-screen was making WCW into the biggest company at the time. Unfortunately, the company began to lose about $5,000,000 per month and Bischoff was relieved of his duties which is not a brilliant thing to see considering what he did. Even as the manager of the nWo, he was the typical heel, making sure everything went the way of the group. Love him or hate him for some of the poor decisions he’s made or things he’s said but WCW wouldn’t have survived as long as it did if it wasn’t for Eric Bischoff