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Now that WWE Survivor Series 2014 is in the books and the Authority is no longer in charge (for now), it's time to legitimately question whether the Authority storyline was legitimately successful or not. Through SummerSlam 2013 and at a much stronger rate once Triple H turned heel as "special guest referee" at that event, WWE shows have been dominated with HHH and Stephanie McMahon's presence. After many many General Managers before them, Stephanie and Triple H took charge and were one of the strongest booked authority figures ever. The meddled with many wrestlers and tried to control the WWE Title. Meanwhile, they had a stable of wrestlers for babyfaces to wrestle concluding with the Team Authority vs. Team Cena match at Survivor Series. Did it draw? For my sample, I am analyzing the periods between SummerSlam events. In other words, I'm measuring data between SummerSlam 2012 and SummerSlam 2013 for the calendar year before the Authority took over and then from SummerSlam 2013 to SummerSlam 2014 after the Authority took charge. Data wise, I measured television ratings and Pay Per View data. However, that dreaded WWE Network hurt my sample after Elimination Chamber 2014. I have no basis for comparison on Wrestlemania 29 without a WWE Network in place and Wrestlemania 30 that had Pay Per View buys substituted for WWE Network subscriptions. No basis for comparison. I have to also exclude WWE Battleground 2013 from my analysis, as that appeared to be an extra Pay Per View for 2013 or at least for my sample. The results may surprise you... They did me. - For Monday Night RAW ratings... For this, I measured the RAW following SummerSlam 2012 through the RAW before SummerSlam 2013. Then, I measured the RAW following SummerSlam 2013 through the RAW before SummerSlam 2014. Taking simple averages of both time periods, I found that the 2012-2013 timeframe without the Authority drew an average of a 2.96 rating while 2013-2014 with the Authority in charge drew a higher 2.98 rating. That's a lean, mean, buffed, and JACKED 0.02 ratings increase. In other words, not statistically significant as its virtually the same as the previous timeframe, but it clearly didn't go down. Thus, in terms of RAW viewership, the Authority did NOT lose viewers. As much as many fans, myself included, HATE the timeframe between SummerSlam 2013 and Royal Rumble 2014 where Daniel Bryan was buried and Randy Orton was overpushed (again), the last 4 months of 2012 were awful for WWE business. I computed an average of 2.7 from SummerSlam 2012 to the end of 2012. That appeared to be the real difference maker in my averages computed. Doesn't bode well for CM Punk as WWE Champion, but in fairness to him, he was injured and missed the TLC event and just about everybody knew that Dolph Ziggler then as a heel had no shot in heel to overcome John Cena in a feud. WWE was just keeping the WWE Title warm until the Rock was able to return at Royal Rumble 2013 and win the WWE Title to later drop it to John Cena at Wrestlemania 29. - For Pay Per Views, here's a bigger surprise... If you compare the same SummerSlam to SummerSlam 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 time periods of Pay Per Views (Night of Champions, Hell in a Cell, Survivor Series, TLC, Royal Rumble, and Elimination Chamber), I'm seeing 66,000 Pay Per View buyers during 2013-2014 or when the Authority was around than not. Authority led Pay Per Views actually increased 4.7% in comparison to the same Pay Per Views without the Authority. To my surprise, Royal Rumble 2014 and Elimination Chamber 2014 actually outdrew their 2013 counterparts and the 2013 shows BOTH had the Rock featured on both shows. I would say that the only true example of where the Authority was a disaster was with the Survivor Series 2013 show which lost about 30,000 buys compared to Survivor Series 2012. Randy Orton vs. Big Show is just a bad idea to headline any Pay Per View. Give credit where credit is due... The Authority helped draw on Pay Per Views. Creating the simple conflict between "good vs. evil" seemed to have worked. To my surprise, John Cena vs. Randy Orton for TLC and Royal Rumble drew quite well for combining the 2 World Titles and then having a rematch. Goes to show you why both guys have been on top of the WWE for the last 10 years. The Pay Per View buying trend has been downward since 2000, as I proved earlier this year with this 7/14/2014 Column about how WWE priced its Pay Per Views too high with time. The Authority helped sell Pay Per Views. Total Revenues are up... Houseshow business is steady, as is merchandise. Expenses are higher, but that's due to WWE Network set-up. Now, did that momentum carry on into the WWE Network following Elimination Chamber 2014? I don't know... 1,000,000 buys is the "break-even" point, so thus the WWE Network is not turning a profit and the Satellite carriers have ignored most WWE events for 2014 since. Even though it has a cheap price of JUST $9.99, it still has over 700,000 subscribers consuming more WWE product than ever before. Ditto for the NBC/Universal/Comcast television deal. OK, it didn't double or triple deal, but it still increased significantly over the current deal. If the current WWE product, which was dominated by the Authority, was so bad, then maybe NBC/Universal could have lowballed them. Instead, they increased the deal by millions. I don't personally like the Authority because Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are too condescending as heel authority figures towards talent. Instead of acting like heels and then getting it in the end, the Authority kept themselves strong for much of this period of time with the exception of that 3 Pay Per View string where Evolution got theres against Daniel Bryan and then the Shield. Calling Daniel Bryan a "B+ Player" was particularly insulting. It's one thing if you do it a few times and then get yours, but we almost heard it for a year even after Bryan won the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 30. However, I'll give them credit for putting over the Shield members strong and giving those 3 wrestlers a platform for legitimately becoming big wrestlers in their own right. Booking wise, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan could have been used as legitimate wrestling assets but instead, they were torn down by the backstage version of the Authority. BUT... Look at the period between SummerSlam 2012 and SummerSlam 2013... AWFUL stuff! The Authority actually helped to stabilized the disorganized booking of that time and gave a very simple "good vs. evil" storyline. Better yet, how about comparing the Authority era to the timeframe between SummerSlam 2011 and SummerSlam 2012. Just awful booking after the "Summer of Punk" ended with a burial. I guess that I have to conclude that the Authority was a GOOD thing to WWE programming. Numbers don't lie and the product has improved over the past year compared to years before it. Nice developmental call-ups (Shield, Wyatts), improved tag wrestling, better booking for Brock Lesnar, and the break-up of the Shield has been more successful than I ever imagined. Without the Authority, how would Seth Rollins do as a heel and how would Dean Ambrose do chasing him? Things could be much worse right now... -------------------------------------- Some WWE RAW thoughts... - I enjoyed the opening segment of Stephanie/HHH crying over last night and then Daniel Bryan coming out to rub it in their faces. Loved that! Then, Bryan did a damn good job as the RAW authority figure and cut a nice promo as he assessed the former Team Authority members. I could enjoy that as a permanent role... - And there you go... Vince McMahon is already setting up Stephanie/HHH's returns. Where I struggle with the Authority's loss at Survivor Series is for the simple fact that in reality, both Triple H and Stephanie are both Executive Vice Presidents of the WWE Corporation. That's well known information by now... - I had no problems with Sting not being on RAW tonight. "Less is more" and it's better to push the element of surprise for his appearances rather than going to well too much, too soon. Plus, I'll be honest... With that bald spot on the top of his head, Sting could be a hard sell to the younger WWE fanbase. I'm sure many already saw Sting in TNA and with the way it held consistent 1.0 ratings, they saw enough. - Disappointing reaction to the first half of Luke Harper vs. Dean Ambrose, but including Harper and his former Wyatt tag partner into the Survivor Series match wasn't exactly the best recipe for getting heat. Harper went from the mysterious Wyatt family to being a member of the Authority. Just not the best booking to do in the short term. Harper should have been repackaged and kept away from any big match until he had heat on his own. But instead, they have him join Team Authority and to also become Intercontinental Champion instantly. Come on, WWE! It's the booking, stupid! - Damien Sandow is carrying this Mizdow gimmick through comedy. It has no right to succeed, but he's selling it like a champion. Love those toy title belts! Almost a shame that Goldust and Stardust are built up as Tag Champions and then immediately torn down because Mizdow has a little comedic momentum. WWE Management loves Miz, what can I say? - I'm curious to see the New Day next week on RAW. Repackaging wrestlers can work... - But where repackaging doesn't work is Fandango. Problem with him is simple: his character is too focused on being a stupid dancer and yet isn't impressing in the ring. We've had many matches to watch and he has yet to fully impress. You can change up his gimmick many times but if the wrestler, himself, isn't willing to differentiate himself from other talent, he'll fail. Just look at Damien Sandow right now. That Miz "stuntman" gimmick should have been a failure but he sold it and made it his own. Ditto for Wade Barrett's "Bad News" gimmick. Fandango needs to change it up and not rely on a new valet, new music, and new look to carry him somewhere. - How many times has Big Show turned heel? Has anybody actually kept count? - "Talent is not a sexually transmitted disease!" What? Can someone explain to me what AJ Lee meant by that catchphrase? Some dumbass Hollywood writer that the WWE hired probably came up with it and thought it was clever. If it's not, then explain how being with CM Punk hasn't improved you as an in-ring performer? Hmmm... AJ Lee has lost to both Bella Twins in about 24 hours. Ouch. - I just zoned out for Adam Rose/Bunny vs. Tyson Kidd/Natalya. Checked out on that one... - Main event was John Cena/Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins/Jamie Noble/Joey Mercury. I'm really happy for Dolph Ziggler, by the way. Great moment for him last night and it has been long deserved. The guy has serious in-ring talent that cannot be denied. If Ziggler and Rollins feud over the next few months, I'm completely fine with that. LOL @ the 93% WWE App voting for Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury, now named "J&J Security". That's awesome... Better yet, Noble called themselves "Shield 2.0". I actually miss Noble's redneck gimmick from back in the day. Highly entertaining and the guy was a good wrestler in his day. Some struggles for Cena and Ziggler, but in the end, J&J Security were no match for Ziggler/Cena as Rollins left the ring. After the match, Daniel Bryan tossed Seth Rollins into the ring and Cena/Ziggler could get in a few shots. Ziggler, Bryan, and Cena celebrated BUT the Anonymous RAW General Manager returned... Oh god... Can we have the Authority back, please? LAST WORD: Very refreshing RAW this week that wasn't dominated by Stephanie and Triple H. They ran their course as authority figures and it was time to change things up if they refused to evolve. Now, just let the in-ring performers speak for the WWE product. Pro wrestling should be about the athletic competition over titles and not male version of a soap opera that has become very stale. Start building up the competition over titles and the heated rivalries... You know, how the pro wrestling business used to work. B+ SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2014
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