Adam Pearce has become the most respectable authority figure on WWE television since the days of Paige in 2018.
Over the past couple of decades, fans have become used to the "evil" authority figure who sides with the heels or gets too involved in the action. Pearce has been a break from that, typically making decisions based on the situation.
Speaking on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated podcast, Pearce explained his role as the authority figure and why it works on television.
"From a personal standpoint, it's a departure from [past authority figures]. Largely, the authority figure role in recent years is the establishment and overarching controller of everything that has their foot on the throats of everyone under them. I'm the opposite of that. I'm a WWE official, I'm not a general manager. There are no general managers. I don't have the power that would be 'absolute' as it has been in the past. Perhaps because of that, I'm not as corrupted by that power. I've always tried to [execute] the marching orders and play it as straight as I can and be as impartial as I can. That is so different from an attitude standpoint from what people are used to from this character. It allows me to take this wherever it goes organically as opposed to be driven by what might be on paper. We'll see where it goes. It's fun and fresh and hopefully, it continues that way for everyone," he said.
Pearce continued, saying he isn't sure if a live crowd would have accepted him as the authority figure because they are so used to one style in WWE.
"I have the impression that if there were live human-beings in the seats, especially those conditioned to the WWE product, I don't know if WWE official Adam Pearce would have gotten the chance to get as far as it has. You're used to a typecast that you want to boo immediately. If there were real human-beings in seats, I think that would have happened. I think the intention was to have a respectful authority that can make reasonable decisions on the show. You don't want that person to be good or bad, you just want them to make the right choice. I don't know if there were real fans that we would be given that chance," he explained.
Pearce noted that he took inspiration from Jack Tunney and Gorilla Monsoon as impartial authority figures.
Pearce made a major decision last Friday on WWE SmackDown when he added Daniel Bryan to the WWE Universal Title match at WrestleMania 37.
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