Stephanie McMahon Proved She Could Be A Great Babyface As Smackdown General Manager

Stephanie McMahon's WWE career has seen her primarily finding success as a heel. Stephanie is easily a more natural heel and has a lot of similarities to her father Vince McMahon both on-screen and backstage. However, there was a strong success for Stephanie during one babyface run of her career in the early 2000s of the brand split.

Vince named Stephanie as the Smackdown General Manager to play a babyface for the first time since her early months on television that never came off as natural. Stephanie seemed more comfortable as a heel and helped the overall product when getting heat. The new character in an authority figure role was a huge gamble, but WWE witnessed the proof that Stephanie could thrive in a major face role.

Stephanie McMahon Needed A Change

WWE wrote Stephanie McMahon off television after the breakup with Triple H when he returned from an injury as a face. Stephanie losing a triple threat match for the WWE Championship against Triple H and Chris Jericho meant she was forced to leave. WWE kept Stephanie off television for a few months before bringing her back for the Smackdown General Manager role.

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Vince McMahon winning full ownership of WWE back from Ric Flair meant he would name two new General Managers to keep the brand split going. Eric Bischoff was named the Raw General Manager as a heel, so the move to have Stephanie play a face on the Smackdown side was made to even it out. The bigger story of them feuding would see Stephanie and Eric battling for talents to have the superior brand in WWE.

Stephanie needed a change as well after playing the hated heel for a few years. Fans loved to give Stephanie heat and it benefited babyface wrestlers like Chris Jericho and The Rock. However, the split from Triple H and the end of their feud ended that chapter of her career. WWE decided to make the necessary change of turning her face for the important authority figure position.

Stephanie Thrived In The Role

There was likely some doubt about Stephanie McMahon’s future success in the role when turning her face based on the 1999 run. Stephanie getting abducted by The Undertaker and then dating Test were her first major storylines playing a face character, but she came off generic and not ready for the on-screen role. The experience of success as a heel helped Stephanie play a great face character for Smackdown.

WWE deserves some credit for having a woman booked strong in an authority position for the first time in wrestling. Stephanie was a strong figure who didn’t back down from the heels and made the right decisions to have a fair show. WWE even booked Stephanie in matches involving Big Show, A-Train, and her father Vince McMahon to show how far she’d go to stand up for her beliefs.

Smackdown became a much better show than Raw during the early stages of the brand split. Eric Bischoff was thriving as a heel, but Stephanie’s work was more impressive since face authority figures have a tougher battle. Stephanie found a new version of her voice during the run leading the Smackdown brand.

Is Stephanie The Best WWE GM Ever?

The history of General Managers for Raw and Smackdown during the various brand splits has seen noteworthy names like Eric Bischoff, Paul Heyman, Teddy Long, Daniel Bryan, Mick Foley, and many other legendary talents trying their hand at it. However, an argument can be made for Stephanie McMahon outshining them all as Smackdown General Manager.

The product on Smackdown was among the best periods in WWE history during the time of Stephanie leading the on-screen portion. Stephanie is often criticized for making talents look weak compared to her in the heel promo battles. The exact opposite happened when she played the face authority figure on Smackdown. Stephanie took a backseat and never made the talent seem less important than her despite being the boss.

Even the storylines to feature Stephanie connected when standing up for Zach Gowen against Vince McMahon. WWE fans had a sad reaction to Stephanie losing the General Manager role when Vince defeated her in an uncomfortable “I Quit” match. Other variables backstage had more responsibility for this, but Smackdown took a small decline once she was replaced by Paul Heyman as the General Manager. Stephanie went from arguably the most hated personality of a likable and cool face authority figure the fans weren’t ready to lose.