Who will be SmackDown Live's Next General Manager?
We are one week from WrestleMania and in the eye of the upcoming Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn Match SmackDown Live sees itself without an Authority figure.
With the WWE Draft in 2016 the WWE introduced a new two-person Authority strategy. While a McMahon would recieve the Commissioner role to be the link between WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and the Board of Directors, a second role of the General Manager was introduced back again to be responsilbe for the matchcard of each show and to be the link between talent and office (in storyline). Shane McMahon would eventually become SmackDown's Comissioner and he picked Daniel Bryan as his General Manager. On RAW Stephanie McMahon introduced Mick Foley as her GM. He was later replaced by Kurt Angle. On WWE's 3rd (developmental) brand William Regal already served as the General Manager since 2014, but Triple H sometimes acts in a comparable way on NXT as Shane and Stephanie do on the two Main Roster shows. 205live also introduced an Authority figure this year as the brand got a relaunched, welcoming Drake Maverick as their General Manager. Other shows like the Mixed Match Challenge, Pay-Per-Views (as of April 2018) and Main Event are a shared venture between SmackDown and RAW.
As you see: WWE developed quite a system for their Authority Figures, but with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan leaving their positions on SmackDown will WWE search for a new Comissioner AND a new General Manager or will morph both positions into one? Will General Managers from different brands move around to close the gap? All these are questions that need to be answered after WrestleMania, but let's take a look on who would be the best fit for the open position:
Hulk Hogan
Rumours are saying that Hogan might return at WrestleMania and now another rumour is floating around, that Hogan might even become a WWE regular again as SmackDown's new General Manger. It would be odd to see Hogan back with a permanent TV-role, but stranger things have happened and the Hulkster would obviously do a fantastic job.
Drake Maverick
Just like 205live SmackDown Live airs on Tuesday Night. The new 205live GM Drake Maverick is doing an incredible job and since he's there anyway, why not give the man double-duty?
William Regal
The current NXT General Manager is also a trainer at WWE's performance center and Road Agent/Talent Scout for the WWE. Another role as a Main Roster Roster General Manager might to much and this would probably result in him leaving NXT, this would be unfortunate because Regal is part of the reason why NXT became the great success it is now. But Regal's amazing talents would help SmackDown Live for sure.
Do you have other suggestions? Let me know!
