Authority Figures
From the 1990s onwards, wrestling’s obsession with authority figures took on a surrogate role of the American public’s attitude towards government and those in positions of power. The NWO presented itself as an anti-corporate factor. Ironically, their takeover mirrored not just wrestling politics in the ring and backstage. Like many political regime changes, the only shift in power is related to those with power and little else.
Consider also that the central dynamic underpinning much of the Attitude Era is the politically charged feuds between employers and employees. Stone Cold Steve Austin, the American everyman, could vicariously do what fans could only dream of. Beat up the boss. Yet it wasn’t just Austin.
For decades, clashes between WWE’s top face and their boss, Vince McMahon, or another symbolic on-screen representative, from various GMs to The Authority, eventually created resentment. Fan perceptions of behind-the-scenes, political power playing, and those in power always win in the end, wear thin from Austin to D-Generation X, to The Undertaker, to even John Cena. Eventually, every hero sells their soul to the corporate entity.
The exception is the company’s chosen one at the moment. In the 2010s, fans began to reject John Cena and then Roman Reigns because they felt ignored and dictated to by a company refusing to listen. Crowd disengagement and lack of investment were as much political as an economic choice.
