10 Ways WWE Completely Buries Babyfaces In 2017
8. They're Slaves To Authority
When Hulk Hogan was wrestling's biggest ever star in the mid-1980s, few fans enquired as to who his boss was, how his matches were booked for television tapings and pay-per-views, or if all his admin and human resource paperwork was in order. Hogan fought bad guys because, bizarrely, it was his job. That was enough.
A decade later, Steve Austin had those hurdles, but that was because management (Vince) didn't want him as the guy fighting the bad guys. Nor did he want to accept that he actually was the bad guy. The need for the anti-establishment bent was embedded in the angle.
Daniel Bryan, as this era's last modern equivalent, was the perfect employee. He gave no earthly reason for top brass to trample on his success, other than because the bosses are now a wrestling trope, entirely losing sight of what their purpose was originally supposed to be.
Thus, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon (and in very different, cynical ways, her brother Shane) go out of their way to castrate babyfaces just because. If wrestling were real, this would be insane. Giddily hijacking your own business just for cheap thrills is not remotely understandable, but the message was completely lost over two decades of General Managers, Commissioners, Directors of Authority or whatever mundane title an ex-wrestler was hastily given.