Mike Adamle, your new Raw General Manager.
Let the naysayers nay. Let the Tuesday morning quarterbacks bemoan the decision. Poor choice? Yes. Anticlimactic? Certainly. Iâve heard it referred to laying a big turd in the middle of the ring. Nah. A turd has substance. I see the decision to make Adamle GM going over like a fart in church.
Enough with the scatological metaphors. This issue is bigger than Mike Adamle.
The General Manager character is becoming a tired and antiquated concept. A promotion cannot be a promotion anymore without some figurehead making matches and calling the shots. Remember when there werenât General Managers? Hard to imagine, but it wasnât all that long ago.
It started when Mr. McMahon came of age. It was a classic concept. The overbearing, controlling boss versus the renegade employee, portrayed masterfully (pardon the pun) by âStone Coldâ Steve Austin. Fans could relate to that storyline. How many of us have dreamed of doing what Austin did to his own boss and still keeping his job? The concept was executed to perfection and the right performers were in place.
Since that time, the General Manager concept has been bastardized. The minute that WWE split into brands, there became an obsession with a figurehead boss. It worked at first because there was a true delineation between the brands. There was a sense of competition and one-upmanship.
Eric Bischoff, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Heyman, Teddy Long, William Regal, Vickie Guerrero, Armando Estrada, Mick Foley and the aforementioned Steve Austin have all played the part.
Not to be outdone, WCW had Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash and others play the role of boss or president or whatever they wanted to call it. TNA has Jim Cornette ruling the roost.
Enough!
When the WWE selected Mike Adamle, my first reaction was not shock or anger. My first reaction was they were simply out of ideas. Letâs see if I understand the thought process here. Letâs take the guy who is struggling to think on his feet and speak extemporaneously about professional wrestling, a subject he seems to know little about.
Cripes, this guy could not even conjure up the word âtableâ at Night of Champions. He called it a âthing.â Then, he tried to justify it by saying a table is an inanimate object. Therefore, itâs a thing.
Sheesh.
Look, the GM concept has had a ten-year run now. Let us let it die. Let the matchmakers resume their invisibility, only to emerge from time to time. WWE is going in a new âfamily friendlyâ direction. Itâs a perfect time to start. Besides, McMahon-Austin was lightning in a bottle. Weâll never get that era back. Just because it worked with those two talented performers does not mean it works with just anyone.
Iâm looking at you, Mike Adamle.
For now, Teddy Long will run ECW. Vickie Guerrero will lead Smackdown. And Adamle will take his seat behind the large desk designated for Rawâs General Manager.
Or would it be a thing?
