Dario Cueto – Lucha Underground
Dario was introduced to Lucha Underground as the on-screen authority, owner and promoter for the company. Lucha Underground is such a different company to any wrestling company around, mainly because they proceed with their shows like a soap opera would, booking ridiculous skits and segments. Dario was described as the company’s proprietor with characteristics of bloodlust and having endless amounts of money making him instantly a heel off the bat because who likes someone who has so much money? He would introduce championships to the promotion, doing some good things for the company but he’d ultimately play a dictator style character.
He ordered one of The Crew to be sacrificed to Cueto’s brother, Cortez Castro, for their failings as well as imprisoning Black Lotus for trying to kill his brother. He was a Mexican cartel boss, wrestlers would pay him for protection from Mexican enemies, specifically Chavo Guerrero, who would capture Black Lotus but handed him over to Cueto. Cueto would leave the company after Black Lotus would kill El Dragon Azteca, in revenge for Azteca seemingly killing Lotus’ parents. This would all lead to Lotus, Cueto and Matanza fleeing the company after the death of Azteca put them in danger. He would say he’s been hiding out in a warehouse before returning to TV and assuming his previous role until he was shot dead.
He’d call for his father as he would die, someone he would also portray. Lucha Underground is a completely out there promotion and this heel, final boss-like character fitted so well and the man behind it, Luis Fernandez Gil, portrayed him fantastically
Theodore Long – Smackdown
Possibly, the most iconic authority figure in all of wrestling; from his oversized suits to making a heel going one on one with ‘da Undertaker’. Teddy Long started in WWE as a referee, before becoming a manager until 2004 when he was awarded the position of Smackdown GM, replacing Kurt Angle. He would turn face, previously being a heel manager, and stayed face for the rest of his WWE tenure. He would remain on Smackdown for almost his whole term, briefly managing ECW for just under a year between 2008 and 2009. Teddy would be the best fan favourite authority figure of all time, always giving the fans something to cheer about. Whether that being an appearance from The Undertaker or turning a singles match into a tag team match, he just knew how to send the fans home happy.
Teddy would be on the wrong end of Taker after restarting his match against CM Punk due to Taker using the banned Hells Gate. He would essentially recreate the Montreal Screwjob which did give us the beautiful segment of Long getting into his limo, Undertaker being the driver and the line ‘where to, Teddy?’. Long would be the first major babyface authority figure, favouring the babyface wrestlers, a contrast to people like Eric Bischoff and Mr McMahon. Long would lose his position to John Laurinaitis at Wrestlemania XXVIII and be forced into being his assistant, John threatening to cancel a trust fund for Teddy’s grandchildren. Rightfully so, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017 for his tenure as the most popular authority figure. Holla, holla, playa, playa
The Authority – WWE
If you didn’t spend the entire time hating The Authority, are you even a wrestling fan? It harkened back to the fantastic Corporation and McMahon-Helmsley faction, just with even more power. Triple H is just the king of factions and any he’s been involved with, the above three as well as D-Generation X and Evolution, have succeeded in its unique way. The three members of the McMahon family; Vince, Stephanie and Triple H, began to take over various aspects of the weekly shows and decided on fates of certain wrestlers. They shattered The Shield, made Seth Rollins the superstar we all knew he would be and victimised our favourite wrestlers.
I said above, in the Dixie Carter point, that she believed she was power-hungry, that is nothing on what The Authority did during their three-year reign of tyranny. After Seth got injured, they handpicked another golden boy in Sheamus who they made sure won the Money in the Bank and then the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It was great to see the more ‘under-utilised’ heels, Sheamus and Kevin Owens to name two, be given more exposure as allies of The Authority but it was also great to see the baby faces coming together to fight against them. The Authority would disband after Survivor Series 2014 when they lost their 5-on-5 traditional match, thanks to the debuting Sting.
They would regain power when John Cena, the team captain against them, brought them back to save Edge from an attack by Seth Rollins. They would lose Randy Orton and Seth Rollins through various means and would still feud with major stars throughout 2015 and 2016, mainly Roman Reigns, who was the subject of The Authority for a very long time, The faction felt new despite us seeing it before, Triple H and Stephanie just performed perfectly as the entitled and dominating leaders.
With the modern era of WWE specifically and no on-screen authority figure, seems like things are running a bit mad and the inmates run the asylum. An authority figure can make the product seem even more realistic because there’s law and order in the world of wrestling, as proven by this list.