I know I've ripped into Vince McMahon a zillion times in this space over the years, and there's always been a good reason. Payback provided two more examples of how the WWE CEO/Chairman is out of touch with the very fabric of reality.
First, while everyone assumed Shane & Stephanie would each run one of the shows, as would've been the case in 2002 had Eric Bischoff not become available and bumped Shane out of the Raw GM gig, instead, Vince decides to have the warring siblings share Raw. That actually isn't new, either. In the aftermath of Mike Adamle's resignation in October 2008, the McSibs took over Raw on an interim basis, which lasted nearly 4 months before both were taken down by Randy Orton, setting up the McMahon/DX vs. Legacy storyline AND allowing no one's favorite GM, Vickie Guerrero, to try to ruin Raw & Smackdown at the same time. She ended up moving full-time to Raw in April '09, but couldn't handle the pressure of live TV on a weekly basis, and resigned two months later. In 2008-9, Shane & Stephanie were both faces. Vince is insisting on keeping Steph a heel, and in this writer's opinion, that isn't the way to go. The heel boss gimmick is dead. Let it be that way.
Then, of course, was the revisiting---for no other reason than to stick it to Bret Hart and the Chicago crowd---of the darkest night in WWF/E history. You take a reputable referee like Charles Robinson, long time friend of the Flair family, and have him play Earl Hebner, with Charlotte as Shawn Michaels, and Natalya, of course, as Bret. Stupid idea, and it's not just McMahon's obsession with ruining WCW's legacy as much as possible, but rather the fact that he's a sad old man who can't let go of the Attitude Era and its genesis. Ric Flair should've known better than to sign off on a finish like this, because it cheapens the efforts of Charlotte & Natalya, based on past meetings between the two women. Sorry, Ric, but you just lost the title of "dirtiest player in the game", not to Charlotte, but to Vince.
This particular act of heinous misbooking would be enough to galvanize the sibs to work together and put the past behind them once and for all, but it won't.
This is how I'd book it tonight.
Michael Cole is asked to interview Charles Robinson, who is evasive in regards to the Payback match. Shane & Stephanie come down, and they start arguing. In a shocker, William Regal, the NXT GM, comes down, and, after cutting a promo on Robinson, citing the Bayley-Eva Marie NXT women's title match from a couple of months back, it is decided that there will be a rematch on the Raw card, but Robinson, due to his ties to the Flair family, is prohibited from officiating, and newly minted Hall of Famer Jacqueline, who has referee experience, will wear the stripes. By the way, the decision from Payback is reversed, with Charlotte disqualified for "referee malfeasance". Ric Flair is banned as well for the rematch, and all of Charlotte's title defenses going forward, as punishment for past violations.
Left all alone, Charlotte goes over clean with the figure 8.
As I've noted previously, Vince won't teach his writers the basics of wrestling 101, believing they don't need it. Guess what? They certainly do, and he needs a refresher course. As the saying goes, the mind is a terrible thing to waste, and Vince wasted his a long time ago.
