McGuire’s Mondays: Five reasons AEW needs an on-screen authority figure

By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@McGMondays)

Man, I’ll tell you what: Whenever WWF programming explained that a message was coming from the honorable Jack Tunney back in the 1980s, you knew some stuff was about to go down. Tunney, who served as the promotion’s on-air president for nearly eleven years, was no-nonsense. If he had an announcement to make, it was special. Things were going to change. Something big was about to happen. A gigantic match was on the verge of being booked. Perhaps a suspension was coming down the line. We didn’t see Tunney a lot. But when we did, the proceedings were immediately granted a sense of levity that wasn’t often found on week-to-week television.

These days? Not so much. WWE’s penchant for on-screen general managers has been left by the wayside over the last few years and in its place has been … well, nothing. I guess having real-life scandals surround the real-life top officials in the company puts a damper on an authority figure hamming it up on FOX or USA Mondays and Fridays, but then again, it’s not like any of the shenanigans that have hovered over WWE throughout the last several months stopped Vince McMahon from waddling to the ring for reasons that were never entirely explained.

But that’s WWE. What’s AEW’s excuse? Having been a company for only about four years now, AEW could be forgiven if it didn’t initially want to wade into the authority figure trope – a trope, mind you, that doesn’t always necessarily work and isn’t always necessarily needed – because it could mirror the company’s largest competitor. But then again, this is pro wrestling, and there’s rarely such a thing as a new idea these days; instead, it’s a matter of finding an old one and tweaking it to work in the modern day.

Such is part of why I find myself wondering why AEW hasn’t given the presence of an on-air authority figure a shot. Such is also why I found myself coming up with five reasons why having an on-air authority figure in AEW might just be a good idea, despite the baggage that could come along with it. And so, here they are:

1. Too many announcements. We’ve beaten it to death already, but it bears repeating for something like this: If we keep seeing that “Tony Khan makes a huge announcement” graphic on Dynamite or Rampage every other week, it sure does take the piss out of whatever “a huge announcement” means. In short, for these announcements to hold any weight, they need to receive special treatment. Imagine if we only saw Tony Khan once or twice a year on TV. Meanwhile, all the other developments – like, say, the parameters of the Owen Hart Cup – would be handled by the person playing the person in charge. This way, it’d all but force Khan’s sparse appearances to feel more important while also not exposing the guy more than he probably should be exposed (we’ll get back to that in a minute).

Remember: Being an authority figure doesn’t always mean you have to be a babyface or a heel. You could simply just be an authority figure – someone who makes matches, sets up tournaments, and drives angles whenever needed. Yes, the person would have to be charismatic, and yes, whomever it would be would have to earn the same type of fun reputation Mark Henry earned when he started the Rampage main event call, but in pro wrestling, the amount of people with character runs deep. Finding someone to entertain the audience while also providing a sense of gravity shouldn’t be too difficult. Putting someone in that position would not only eliminate the silliness of all these announcements that Khan feels he has to make personally, but it’d also add some much-needed intrigue to the announcements that count the most.

2. Too much pride. For the life of me, I can’t figure out if Khan has some subconscious desire to be on television or if he just can’t stand the idea of it appearing as though someone else is in charge. The latter seems ridiculous to me because … man, if that’s the case, we have a completely different box of issues to unpack, but the former feels like it’s more and more true each time we see his name in big letters as the company hypes up his next appearance. It’s become unbecoming. With all the things he has on his plate, why does he feel it imperative to show up on TV every third week to reinsert his position and/or power?

If nothing else, having an on-screen authority figure could take some of the stench off the notion that Khan might just be an attention-seeker. There’s no practical reason for him to be on television as much as he is, but the more he inserts himself on the screen, the more it feels like he kind of/sort of enjoys his moments in the spotlight. On some level, that’s fine, of course – he owns the company, so he makes the rules – but I’m a firm believer in the less-is-more approach when it comes to these types of things. The less we see Khan, the more respect Khan commands when we do see him. I can understand throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at something and wanting to enjoy some of the fruits of those labors by getting your face on television screens across the world; at some point, though, you have to wonder how much vanity plays into all this. And that point, four years into the company, feels like it’s closer than ever.

3. Too many questions. A lot has been made of the way AEW announces matches with little-to-no-build week after week. “Oh, Wrestler A walked into an interview being conducted with Wrestler B. Tune in to Rampage on Friday,” is something that happens far too much on these shows. One thing that an authority figure can fix fairly easily and fairly quickly is the lack of heat on at least some of these thrown-together matches. Do you have some questions about why these two are wrestling? Do those questions go beyond, “He was interrupted?” Throw the on-screen leader out there to explain the randomness away.

Maybe there’s been some behind-the-scenes developments we don’t know about. Maybe said authority figure was approached by one of the wrestlers involved about said match, but it was off-camera. Maybe the authority figure just plain wants to see these two wrestlers fight. Whatever it is, the presence of such a character would give AEW another out when it comes to making sense of some of these things. Right now, the company over-utilizes a handful of approaches. There’s the aforementioned promo interruption. There’s the occasional “message from Tony Khan” that Tony Schiavone announces over the house mic. There’s a random attack. And then that’s about it. Having a designated match-maker/authority figure would make some of these decisions feel just a little less sporadic and potentially a lot more meaningful.

4. Too much nonsense. While AEW has a larger nonsense problem that needs more space and time to be examined properly, one of the most notable pieces of nonsensical nonsense that AEW leans on too heavily is The Attack. And by The Attack, I mean, a match is over and people get attacked. Schiavone trots down to the ring for an interview and 20 seconds into it, bam, an attack. We throw to Renee Paquette backstage to hear from Britt Baker and whoops, an attack. Not only is this move leaned on too heavily when it comes to setting up next week’s matches, but it also comes without consequence. At some point, if a wrestler or a group of wrestlers are constantly attacking others, shouldn’t there be consequences for that?

Insert an authority figure. Storyline suspensions (as opposed to real life suspensions … cough, Brawl Out, cough) are hit or miss in pro wrestling, this much we all understand. But when done effectively and intelligently, they can serve as solid plot points to stories that call for them. Shoot, even if you don’t want to storyline-suspend anyone, an authority figure could at least install ramifications for dastardly deeds done by dastardly individuals. Ban people from ringside. Raise the stakes for grudge matches. Coming from an authority figure, those stipulations would carry more weight and they wouldn’t just be seemingly decided on the fly by the wrestlers themselves. Purpose is valuable in pro wrestling. AEW could benefit from a central figure establishing it on a more consistent basis.

5. Too many jobs. Remember Jack Tunney? He was “President of WWF” from 1984 to 1995. You know what Vince McMahon was during that time? A play-by-play voice. I watched that company for years as a child without ever knowing Vince actually ran the place. It wasn’t until WWF pulled the trigger on making McMahon the biggest on screen heel in all of wrestling that the company consistently and openly acknowledged him on its weekly TV shows as its owner. Until then, he was just the guy who yelled a lot during Hulk Hogan matches. Running the show, as it went, was his priority. The company was his vision. He didn’t feel the need to be known as The Boss both on and off screen.

Tony Khan could benefit from doing the same thing. He started AEW and bought Ring Of Honor, and through it all, he’s made it very apparent that he’s going to run the book for both companies. He might have advisers and he might take advice, but has been adamant that these are his shows. OK, then. So go work on those shows. Forget having to make media appearances. Forget about making sure any announcement the company makes has to come from your mouth. Go work on and run those shows. Everyone and everything will be better off for it.

Why? A lot of reasons. One, Khan isn’t the best on-screen personality anyway. He might exude a lot of things, but one of those things isn’t authority. If the buck stops with him (and we all know it does), I believe that less and less each time I see him gaze into a camera with that weird half-smile. He often seems a little unsure and a lot too excited. He’s not someone who demands respect. We all know how beloved he is by the majority of people who work there (or at least so they say), but that doesn’t necessarily translate into power, strength and attention. Having a stand-in for him in that role for television purposes could do wonders for the end product. Perhaps the stories will be longer. Perhaps the shows will be tighter. Perhaps the nonsense would dissipate. Perhaps any supposed ego-trips would be eliminated.

Or maybe not. No one could ever know if no one tries. Nearly half a decade into existence, though, it might be time to give serious thought to giving an authority figure a serious try. Until then, I, for one, will continue to long for the days of Jack Tunney and the way pro wrestling power on television used to matter.