It was one of the strangest angles in the history of wrestling, and many fans have referred to it as one of the most annoying as well. The anonymous Monday Night Raw general manager didn’t even really have a voice, but it did have a sound and often made decisions that fans didn’t care for at all. When the identity of the person behind the computer was revealed, it was not who anyone had hoped, but that wasn’t even the original plan.
From June 2010 through July 2011, the anonymous Raw GM controlled the show by sending emails to a laptop on a podium. Each time there was something new to reveal or an order to make, a sound echoed throughout the arena, and one of the announcers would read the email to the crowd.
After that year, the storyline was dropped, but it showed up again a year later. On July 9, 2012, the anonymous Raw GM was brought into existence once again and this time, his identity was revealed to be none other than Hornswoggle.
As disappointed as fans were about this reveal, there was nothing they could do about it. Now, it has been revealed that Hornswoggle was not the original plan for the identity of the person behind the Monday Night Raw laptop.
It’s quite a shame that the original plans were not carried out.
WreztleZone is reporting that former WWE writer Kevin Eck has finally brought forth one of the ideas that was suggested for the identity of the anonymous Raw GM. It was actually Eck’s idea, and he had thought of the final reveal being WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash.
Eck said that Nash was under contract with TNA Impact Wrestling at the time, and that was going to be the reasoning for him staying anonymous for years. Once his contract was up, WWE would sign Nash, bring him in, and then unveil him as the man behind the laptop.
Unfortunately, the angle with the anonymous Raw GM was dropped before Eck was officially signed with WWE, and his idea never came to be.
Moving ahead to mid-2012 and the angle was brought back for one night only and it was to make the long-awaited reveal. Eck said that other writers pitched the Hornswoggle idea, but they meant it as more of a joke than anything else.
Unfortunately, Vince McMahon took it seriously and really like it.
After the reveal of Hornswoggle as the GM, it was actually meant to be taken further.
Eck said that Hornswoggle was going to end up saying his true identity was that of “Lou Manfredini” who would have been a W.C. Fields type of character. Hornswoggle/Manfredini would seek revenge on the entire WWE roster for laughing at his small stature.
This ended up being a plan that never took place because Hornswoggle didn’t do well with the character during rehearsals. From that point, the storyline ended.
At 2014’s Survivor Series , The Authority were taken out of power by Team Cena, and the next night on Raw , the anonymous GM returned. The familiar noise chimed, and Michael Cole read an email saying that “order” was going to be brought back to Raw .
After that, the anonymous GM has not been heard from again, and no one knows the identity of whoever sent that email.
The anonymous Monday Night Raw general manager is one of those angles that just never needs to be spoken of again. It was so disliked that many fans actually feel it is worse than some storylines that were never even resolved. Kevin Nash emerging as the anonymous person behind the laptop would have been a much better payoff, but for some reason, Vince McMahon was alright with Hornswoggle being the culprit.
[Image via WWE]