10 Best Picks For New WWE Raw & Smackdown General Managers

Who will work with Stephanie and Shane?

Edge and Christian 2015
WWE.com

On this week's Raw, Vince McMahon promised to finally reveal who would be running Smackdown once the show goes live next week.

He delivered on his guarantee, but it was a bit underwhelming - no old stars were coming back to the company to give the show a fresh feel. Instead, Shane McMahon - who had been running Raw in tandem with Stephanie - would get the honour, leaving his sister to lead the red brand by herself.

Then, though, the WWE Chairman dropped a bombshell - even though his children would be running Raw and Smackdown as Commissioners, each one would have to appoint a General Manager to oversee the "day-to-day affairs" of the shows. Once again, fans' imaginations started to wander, and hopes that major names from the past would once again becoming television regulars started to surge.

Who will get the nods? Fans will find out next week since Vince gave his children until the next episode of Raw to select their GMs or else he'd do it for them. Shane McMahon tweeted on Tuesday that he had already made his choice and would reveal it on the show.

This is a list of ten stars and personalities who could potentially be named General Manager of Raw or Smackdown - five for each show. I've suggested babyfaces to work with Shane McMahon on Smackdown, and heels to work with Stephanie on Raw.

10. Raw - Triple H

Edge and Christian 2015
WWE.com

Triple H has been absent from WWE television since WrestleMania, but it's only a matter of time until he comes back, and it's only a matter of time until he's put in a position of kayfabe authority again. Perhaps this is the most graceful way to return him to that role.

Granted, fans would groan - after all, he and Stephanie spent two-and-a-half years running Raw (into the ground, some would say) as The Authority. What started as a clever angle quickly got old, lingering on far longer than it should have. By the time it was blown off at WrestleMania 32, it was almost too late.

Is there a way to use Triple H in this position without resorting to the same tired dynamic? It's possible he could be introduced as a heel, then turn face, but that's pretty much guaranteed to play out in particularly sexist fashion (HHH becoming a good guy by refusing to listen to his female boss - who also happens to be his wife - is troubling, to say the least).

It's probably better for all parties if Triple H sits this one out, but the possibly that he'll be Raw's General Manager can't be discounted.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013