I’m not surprised. The current product is abysmal and this year’s WrestleMania card is the most lacklustre since 1995. If anything, WWE should be ecstatic that three million people tuned in.

Yikes, that sounds terrible. I guess people are getting sick and tired of seeing Stephanie McMahon and Triple H fill in the "Mr. McMahon" role. Seriously, this story of wrestler vs authority figure has been going since 1997. It's been 20 years of the same thing and the story still doesn't make any sense - if you hate your boss or your job, then leave. Mind you, Smackdown seems to be doing the same albeit on a lighter note.

I think the problem with the wrestler vs. authority angle is that fans are smart enough to see through it, WWE has miscast the roles, and there’s no realness to it anymore.

Austin was a conceivable outsider because he didn’t fit the mould; a man who languished in WCW’s mid-card, a face more vicious than most heels, one who clearly didn’t meet the ‘all American’ criteria like Hogan or Luger.

Rock was a conceivable chosen one because he was a third gen wrestler; fast tracked to the main event, always destined for greatness, and someone who hadn’t ‘paid his dues’ (which seems to be an issue for a lot of wrestling fans).

McMahon was a conceivable authority figure because he was fundamentally loathsome and played his part to perfection; you couldn’t even mistake him for a ‘cool’ heel; he cried and wet himself on national television.

In recent years, it’s been Cena or Reigns in the Austin role, when they’re more akin to Rock. Cena and Reigns aren’t outsiders; they’re number one draft picks. Their struggle isn’t real; you knew they were destined for greatness from the moment they arrived.

Rollins in the chosen one role was equally flawed; he may have been the best wrestler in the Shield, however he was the outsider whilst the camera zoomed in on Reigns. A moderately sized wrestler who didn’t fit the mould, Rollins had to scratch and claw his way up the ladder. He’s more Austin than Rock.

Then there’s HHH and Stephanie, who lack the humility for the Mr. McMahon role. Sure, Stephanie got speared at WrestleMania, however she always has the last word, HHH always has the coolest entrances, plays to the crowd.

The wrestler vs. authority angle could work, however it needs the right elements.

Wyatt, Owens, those men would’ve been great in the Austin role because you can believe they’d be overlooked in favour of other, more marketable wrestlers.

Jericho would be an exceptional authority figure because he understands his role. The monotone personality he adopted in 2008 (which, incidentally, was inspired by the Anton Chigurh character from No Country for Old Men) was him stripping away any semblance of what made him popular. Jericho didn’t want to be a ‘cool heel’ who effectively steals the face pop, he wanted to be a heel. He’d allow himself to be humiliated on national television because he’ll do what’s best for business . You won’t see HHH doing that.

Nathan beat me to some of my best points in this discussion! lol. He's spot on. I do want to add a couple things though:

Arguably the two greatest wrestler vs authority angles in wrestling history were Austin vs McMahon and Daniel Bryan vs the Authority. The fact that they aren't replicating that success, aside from the fact that it's a story that's been done to death now, is a case of ignorance **and **arrogance, respectively.

Arguably the thing that made Austin vs. McMahon so successful is the fact that viewers felt like they got to live vicariously through Steve Austin. So many people go to work every day and "suffer" (for lack of a better word) under an overbearing boss and would love to give him/her a piece of their mind or punch them and can't. So to a lot of people it was therapeutic in some senses that they got to turn on WWF television and see Austin say and do to Vince McMahon what they want so badly to say and do to their own bosses. Austin vs. McMahon was a very back and forth feud. One week could end with Austin laid out in his own blood, and the next week could just as easily see McMahon in that spot or some sort of humiliating equivalent. Whoever is writing today's Authority storylines are ignorant of that fact. Part of the problem of course is that the male wrestlers can't get physical with the female Stephanie McMahon, but most of the time they don't even talk back to her. Nobody who goes to work with an overbearing boss is going to want to come home and watch a television show about an overbearing boss who mistreats all their workers. I understand that they're probably building to Rollins getting his big revenge at 'Mania, but there's something to be said for the fact that in six months he hasn't had a single moment of triumph. He hasn't gotten over on Steph or Hunter verbally, physically, or psychologically. I have serious questions about whether or not anything they do at 'Mania can overcome that. I hope I'm wrong though.

WWE has also convinced themselves (and unfortunately some of the fans, judging from comments I've read on other sites) that they were solely responsible for Daniel Bryan's rise in 2013, and they are at best slightly mistaken about that. Bryan had built a tremendous reputation based on exceptional work in independent promotions, and yet upon his WWE arrival was placed as an understudy to Miz (not a bad decision alone, but I'll elaborate on this further soon). Then he was legit fired for choking Justin Roberts with a tie and rehired a few months later. He languished in the midcard before eventually cashing in MITB and becoming champion, only to have to drop it to Sheamus in a 20 second squash match at the biggest show of the year. He was then stuck in a tag team with Kane (also not necessarily a bad decision alone) and languished in that for the next year, but he was talented enough to make it work even though it's not at all where the fans wanted to see him. I'm aware that everyong here knows DB's history, but I needed to lay this all out for my next point: Daniel Bryan caught fire in 2013 because (in addition to the addictive Yes! chants) the fans felt like he had been legititimately overlooked and underutilized in all of those multliple ways over the previous years. Not all of the decisions that were made with him were necessarily bad, but all of them added together painted a pretty bleak picture of how the company viewed him, which ran counter to the picture the fans had of him. They did misuse him, but in doing so they inadvertently created conditions wherein he was able to get extremely over. Add these factors to consistent excellent performances from Bryan and you have a budding superstar. The Authority was then created_ in response_ to Daniel Bryan, not the other way around. Daniel Bryan was not meant to stay over and was never meant to main event Wrestlemania, and yet the WWE (specifically Hunter and Steph) speak as though DB was meant to be there all along. Daniel Bryan was booked basically to get the Authority over for their defeat to the returning Batista, who was rejected by fans annoyed at a part timer coming in to take another Wrestlemania main event (The Rock had done this the previous two years - creating another condition that couldn't be replicated). They booked Bryan like a chump throughout the fall, which in normal conditions would cause a top babyface to fail, but because of the conditions they had created previously, the opposite ended up occuring. Also, and this is a minor factor, but CM Punk abruptly leaving also helped rally the fans behind Bryan. This is another condition that could never be replicated. They look back and think that Bryan got to that point because of their efforts and their efforts alone. They also believe that they can replicate all of those conditions that led to Bryan catching fire and have tried to do so with Roman Reigns, and to lesser degrees, Bayley and Sami Zayn. All three of these individuals are talented, and I mean them no disrespect, but WWE thinking they could just put them in Daniel Bryan's spot and get the same response shows their lack of respect for Daniel Bryan's talent and ability to connect with the crowd. The WWE are **arrogant **enough to believe that they were the real reason Bryan got over and that they could replicate that with anyone. Their arrogance does not allow them to look at the situation and see that Daniel Bryan got over in spite of their booking, not because of it.

TL;DR: WWE is ignorant of why Austin/McMahon worked, and too arrogant to admit why Bryan/Authority worked, and this is a major factor in why their current attempts at a wrestler vs authority figure storyline are falling flat.