By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

-- Stephanie McMahon to ChicagoNow.com on playing a lead heel in "The Authority" with Triple H: "I wouldn’t say I am taking over for my dad (Vince McMahon). My husband and I are involved in a fun storyline where we represent the 'evil owners.' Playing the bad guy is so much fun for me and I’m not sure why. But it’s very impactful when I do the community service such as the anti-bully campaign. I have the opportunity to tell these kids about entertainment versus reality. Are whole goal is to give these kids tools to stand up to bullying.

"It’s funny when I get to show footage during a speaking engagement such as Hijack Raw that happened in Chicago. I will often to show footage that features my character in villainous light and people laugh. The speech I’m giving is in my executive voice and me as a person. Seeing me in character is a complete opposite take of who I am outside of the ring. It’s fun and enjoyable and at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about." [ LINK: Full Interview with reporter Ted Gruber HERE ]

-- Bray Wyatt to Brian Fritz for SportingNews.com about his character: "I don’t think I’m a category. I can’t be put in a category just because I don’t feel like there’s good people and bad people in real life. I think there’s good people who do bad things and bad people who do good things. There’s no such thing as good and bad. There’s just this collage of humanity that society has portrayed. You dress like this when you’re in front of people but behind closed doors, who knows who you really are." [ LINK: Full Interview with Brian Fritz HERE ]

Caldwell's Analysis: It's concerning to see these two quotes. If Raw were just a stand-alone, three-hour sitcom (yikes) with no house shows, no PPVs, no merchandising, no other lines of business, it would just be a poorly-written sitcom, but it wouldn't be as alarming for Stephanie and Bray to make these comments. But, it's a business that is supposed to make money. The Authority can't be just a "fun storyline" at the end of the day and Bray's character has to be more clearly defined to make money for WWE. WWE sets the fictional environment of clearly-defined heels and clearly-defined faces, which is independent of the "real world" through Bray's eyes of bad people doing good things and good people doing good things. The idea is to get all of the audience either hating or loving a particular character to really make money. But, WWE's current booking philosophy of "cheer for who you want" or heels doing cool things or babyfaces cheating to win or wishy-washy characters sets up the audience to go into business for themselves. Why did Daniel Bryan work? Clearly defined babyface who united the fanbase. But, when the audience is divided up into individual preferences because there is not a united message and not a consistent booking approach, the audience is not collectively engaged in hating a heel and rooting for a face. It's a money-losing philosophy that starts at the top and trickles down to the talent.

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