Why AEW Will Never Have An Authority Figure
"The audience isn't dumb..."
WWE loves an authority figure. In fact, WWE loves an authority figure angle and it's one of those story elements that they'll return to the well for periodically, despite inevitably diminishing returns. Hey, if it was successful once, why can't it be again?
AEW, on the other hand, have avoided the gimmick and while there was some talk back in December of Taz being the candidate for AEW's first new authority figure, that turned out not to be true. And now Cody Rhodes has clarified that it's unlikely to happen at all. At least not if he has any say.
The founding member of AEW took to Twitter to talk about his current angle on AEW programming, to clarify that he definitely won't go back on his vow not to get another shot at the World Championship title and to say why he doesn't see an authority figure in his present company.
He says the issue with them is that they're outdated and they insult the intelligence of the audience...
The caveat at the end there clearly saves it from being an outright shoot on WWE, but you know that's what most will take from it. After all, it almost feels like WWE's model IS the authority figure model (even when they're booking anti-authority angles).
So yeah, maybe don't hold your breath to see someone come in and start running things on TV.