5 people who could replace Triple H & the McMahons as WWE authority figures

The 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up will take place on the April 15-16 episodes of Raw and SmackDown Live in Montreal, Quebec.

Unlike previous years, the red and blue brands do not have designated Commissioners and General Managers who can negotiate roster changes between the two shows.

Last year, for example, Stephanie McMahon and Kurt Angle were in charge of Raw at the time of the Shake-Up, so they were responsible for the additions of Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre & Co. to Monday nights. Over on SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon and Paige boosted their roster with star names including Asuka and The Miz.

The 2019 roster moves are bound to produce some exciting headlines and storylines, but it would definitely make more sense if new Raw and SmackDown Live authority figures were put in place before the Shake-Up. If not, Triple H and the McMahons will be moving Superstars around with little-to-no logic involved.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five people who WWE should seriously consider as possible authority figures ahead of the Shake-Up.

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#5 Paige

Paige returned to WWE programming on the SmackDown Live after WrestleMania 35. She congratulated The IIconics on their victory against The Brooklyn Belles and then cryptically revealed that she will “bring a tag team of my own” to next week’s Superstar Shake-Up.

Of course, that has led to plenty of speculation about who she could be bringing to Raw or SmackDown Live, and whether she will be managing a duo on the main roster, but could she also have been hinting that she will return to her role as SmackDown General Manager?

After all, unlike Kurt Angle on Raw, Paige was well received as an authority figure by Triple H and the McMahons – so much so that Shane McMahon sincerely thanked her for her hard work as GM when she was relieved of her duties in December 2018.

In reality, the former Divas champion only left her GM role because she needed to take time off to promote “Fighting With My Family”. Now that she is back, it would certainly make sense if she returned to her previous position.

#4 Paul Heyman

Another WrestleMania, another post-WrestleMania full of uncertainty regarding Brock Lesnar’s WWE career. “The Beast” lost the Universal Championship against Seth Rollins in the opening match of the main show at WrestleMania 35, so what now?

For Lesnar, a return to UFC appears to be on the cards (granted, we’ve heard that before). For his advocate, Paul Heyman, it remains to be seen whether he will stick around on WWE programming, help out behind the scenes, or return to our screens when his client next shows up.

The former ECW owner has mentioned in media interviews that, with the exception of CM Punk, his alliances with other Superstars (Curtis Axel, Cesaro, Ryback etc) have not worked in recent years because they were all overshadowed by Lesnar.

So, instead of taking on board another client, is it too far-fetched to think that Heyman could potentially take on a role as a General Manager on Raw or SmackDown Live? He would certainly do a great job.

#3 Aiden English

The best run of Aiden English’s WWE career so far came when he aligned with Rusev in September 2017 and kick-started the year-long phenomenon known as “Rusev Day”. Sadly for the duo, Rusev did not win any matches on pay-per-view during their alliance and they split up in September 2018.

Since then, English has hardly featured on SmackDown Live and he recently took up a position on the 205 Live commentary team, which presumably means that WWE is happy with his promo work and his ability to sell fans on matches. Both of those qualities are well suited to authority figures, so could we one day see English as a General Manager on one of WWE’s top brands?

This time last year, very few people would have predicted that we would end up seeing the stale Baron Corbin character as an authority figure. One year on, he has just defeated Kurt Angle at WrestleMania and he is arguably WWE’s biggest heel.

Maybe, just maybe, English’s career could take a similar route to Corbin’s.

#2 Lio Rush

Lio Rush burst onto the main-roster scene in September 2018 when he surprisingly became a ‘hype man’ for Bobby Lashley. Within a couple of weeks, his babyface promos turned more villainous and the duo have since formed one of the biggest heel alliances on Raw over the last six months.

As the months have gone on, tensions have mounted between the two men and it would not be a surprise if WWE decided to split them up in the Superstar Shake-Up. After all, Rush has now overseen Lashley losing the Intercontinental Championship to Finn Balor on two occasions, with Balor even pinning Rush to win the title back in February.

Moving forward, “The Man of the Hour” is destined to become a breakout star on his own, without Lashley, in WWE one day, and a General Manager role would certainly help his character grow even more. The question is whether now is too early in his career to take on that position.

#1 Rusev & Lana

Rusev and Lana would hardly be many people’s first choice to be General Managers on Raw or SmackDown Live, but what have they got to lose? Baron Corbin was in a similar position to “The Bulgarian Brute” after the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up and look at him now.

In fact, Rusev is in an even worse position now than Corbin was then. Not only has his character lost believability since turning heel in January 2019, but his loss in the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania 35 was his 18th defeat in a row on pay-per-view, breaking the record of 17 that he jointly held with The Great Khali.

As for Lana, she is a better wrestler than people give her credit for but it will always be difficult for her to make it to the next level as an in-ring competitor, especially when there is a never-ending conveyor belt of talent making its way through the NXT system.

Both Superstars are superb on the mic, so why not try to revitalise their careers by giving them a shot as authority figures?