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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Richard Gardner
PWTorch.com Reader

William Regal's suspension could not have come at a worse time. He was outperforming the majority of the roster on the microphone whilst receiving the biggest push of his WWE career in the ring. Teddy Long and Ted DiBiase have already appeared on Raw, in an effort to create intrigue around who the next General Manager will be. However, Vince McMahon should resist the temptation to replace Regal and scrap the General Manager's role altogether.

Whomever the WWE decides to install as the next Raw General Manager, it would be almost impossible to replicate the negative sentiment that William Regal built up by taking Randy Orton vs. Triple H off the air. Having no G.M. would not only force renewed creativity, it would also mean that more time would be spent furthering the feuds between the wrestlers instead of on an authority figure who wrestles infrequently, if at all.

The role of General Manager stems from the phenomenally successful Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon feud that was a major factor in reviving TV ratings and propelling the WWE towards its most successful business of all time. The problem is that Austin vs. McMahon was ten years ago, and ever since WWE fans have been subjected to countless watered-down incarnations of the same feud. Not only has the rebel wrestler vs. authority figure been done to death, none of the wrestler's have played the role as well as Austin, and none of the authority figures have been as despicable as McMahon.

This is part of the reason that WWE TV has become so formulaic over recent years; how many times has Raw opened with four wrestlers interrupting each other in the ring resulting in the G.M. making a tag team match for the main event? There is also the obvious logic hole in that the G.M.'s complete control over Raw come with the power to fire their hated rival instead of putting them in an endless sequence of handicap matches.

The General Manager's involvement on TV feels like a plot device that is the product of lazy storytelling. The old fashioned way was that the conflict between wrestlers was the driving force behind the matches that were promoted, and therefore a detailed explanation of why two wrestlers were meeting in a big match was not required. The General Manager is to the fan with a short attention span what subtitles are to the hard of hearing. Instead of the G.M. spelling out word for word why a certain match is taking place, the WWE should give its fans some credit by letting the conflict between the wrestlers drive the storylines, which in turn provide the reasons for matches taking place.

Make no mistake, scrapping the Raw G.M. role would be a brave move. The General Manager has become a staple part of WWE programming, and fans will expect a new G.M. to be announced in the coming weeks. But when you consider that William Regal, Armando Estrada, and Vickie Guerrero have all been playing variations on the same character, it is obvious that it is time for a change. Instead of going on yet another nostalgia trip, Vince McMahon's character could take control of Raw, but only show up when a storyline requires his presence. The result would be a greater focus upon the conflict between the wrestlers, and a step away from the same tired formula that most episodes of Raw have followed for the past ten years.

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