10 Times WWE Introduced Something Cool (Then Panicked And Took It Away)

Now, WWE often get rightly lambasted for overloading their product with way too many authority figures which are hell bent on chastising their rosters, to the point where those talents start resembling naughty school kids rather than, you know, professional wrestlers.

Yet, that doesn't mean that WWE are incapable of creating figures who can effectively lead a brand without over-stepping their boundaries.

Case in point, Shane McMahon (pre-Best in the World) and Daniel Bryan struck up a legitimately fantastic partnership as the ship-steerers of SmackDown Live from 2016 to 2018. The Commissioner/General Manager positions meant that Bryan would be given a more hands on role in setting up matches and overseeing the day-to-day (or show-to-show) aspects that went into keeping the show from capitulating. Meanwhile, McMahon only popped up when an important situation needed dealing with and felt like a bit of a big deal when he reared his head on the show... those were the days.

Paige was given the GM mantle for an extended spell (after Bryan remarkably came out of retirement) before the concept was scrapped completely, with Paige and Kurt Angle acting as the last GM's on either brand...for now.

WWE obviously felt that fans were rebelling against the idea of having these figures in such positions of prominence on weekly television. However, instead of trying to rediscover what made the Commissioner/GM partnership work so well on SmackDown (let's not mention Raw) WWE opted to quickly scrap the entire format and head in a completely new direction after WrestleMania 35.