The Authority was a villainous professional wrestling stable in WWE, which originated due to Triple H helping Randy Orton win the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan at the 2013 SummerSlam pay-per-view immediately after cashing in the Money in the Bank contract.|debut= August 19, 2013 The name of "The Authority" was introduced on October 7, 2013, on Raw during a match between The Shield vs Cody Rhodes, Goldust and Daniel Bryan. The Authority initially referred to only Triple H and Stephanie McMahon as a power couple. The Authority shared similarities with The Corporation and The McMahon-Helmsley Faction, and also had ties to Triple H's previous stables D-Generation X (DX) and Evolution, the latter of which existed alongside The Authority for a brief period in 2014.
The stable was led by company executives Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Many other wrestlers were a part of the group, most prominently including Randy Orton as The Authority's hand-picked champion and "Face of the WWE" until November 2014, Seth Rollins as "The Man" until suffering a knee injury in November 2015, and Kane as the "Director of Operations" until October 2015. The Shield (Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose) formerly acted as The Authority's main henchmen to offer protection or carry out attacks until March 2014.
The stable became inactive following WrestleMania 32, when Triple H was dethroned as WWE World Heavyweight Champion by Reigns, and Shane McMahon received authority to run Raw. Triple H and Stephanie reunited against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 33, where Rollins defeated Triple H, but the two were not referred to as The Authority again until February 2018, where Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were defeated by Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 34 in a mixed tag team match.
History 2013
From June 2013, members of the McMahon family began to dispute various elements of the control of WWE, such as the fates of Daniel Bryan, as well as Raw and SmackDown General Managers Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero, respectively. On the July 15 episode of Raw, John Cena chose Bryan as his opponent for his WWE Championship defense at SummerSlam. In the following weeks, Mr. McMahon repeatedly offered Bryan a corporate makeover, which Bryan constantly refused. Triple H subsequently announced himself as the special guest referee for the match.
At SummerSlam, Bryan defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship. After the match, Triple H gave Bryan a Pedigree, allowing Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank contract both turning heel for the first time since 2006 and 2010 respectively. The next night on Raw, Orton had a championship coronation along with Mr. McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, with Triple H inviting Bryan to the ring to clear the air from the night before. This was a ruse, as Orton attacked Bryan and cemented the formation of the group. That same night, The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins) began to work for Triple H as his enforcers. Kane also joined The Authority as the "Director of Operations".
During this time, The Authority were feuding with Big Show, who as well as Bryan, was voicing his displeasure of Triple H's regime. As punishment for this, Big Show was placed in a 3-on-1 tornado handicap match against The Shield, which Big Show lost. He was then forced to sit at ringside during his friends' matches and watch them being attacked by members of The Authority at the risk of being fired. The Authority later claimed that Big Show was broke (kayfabe) and forced him to knock out the likes of Bryan and The Miz, again at the risk of being "fired". At Battleground, Big Show interfered in the WWE Championship match between Bryan and Orton and knocked out both of them, sending a message to The Authority and causing the match to end in a no contest. The following night on Raw, Big Show was "fired" by The Authority after he announced he was ordered to only knock out Bryan the night before. Following this, Big Show knocked out Triple H before being escorted by officials out of the arena. After Stephanie McMahon took possession of Big Show's house and Triple H banned him from WWE for life (kayfabe), Big Show began to run-in and attack various superstars over the next several weeks until the November 4 episode of Raw, when The Authority was forced by the Board of Directors to give Big Show whatever he wanted in return for not suing the company. Big Show asked for his job back and a WWE Championship match against Orton at Survivor Series, which he received. At Survivor Series, Orton successfully retained his title.
The Authority were involved in a short feud with Cody Rhodes, after Rhodes also spoke out against Triple H's authoritarian rule. Rhodes was forced in a match against Orton on the September 2 episode of Raw, with his job on the line, which he lost and was fired after the match. Over the next few weeks, his brother Goldust tried to win his job back, losing to Orton on an episode of Raw, while his father Dusty Rhodes, after confronting Stephanie McMahon, was knocked out unwillingly by Big Show while pleading for his sons to get their jobs back. At Battleground, Rhodes won his job back after teaming up with Goldust by defeating Shield members Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in a non-title match. On the October 14 episode of Raw, The Rhodes Brothers defeated Rollins and Reigns again in a no disqualification match for the WWE Tag Team Championship after an attack by Big Show.
Orton continued to feud with Bryan over the WWE Championship. At Night of Champions, Bryan defeated Orton to win the title. However, the following night on Raw, Triple H stripped Bryan of the title due to a fast 3-count by referee Scott Armstrong. Orton and Bryan competed for the vacated WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell, where Orton won back the title after special guest referee Shawn Michaels superkicked Bryan. On the November 25 episode of Raw, Orton's long time rival, then World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, suggested that there should only be "one champion" in WWE. Triple H announced a unification match at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, where Orton defeated Cena in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to unify his WWE Championship with Cena's World Heavyweight Championship, which ultimately created the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
2014
Orton defeated Cena again in a rematch at Royal Rumble after interference by The Wyatt Family. At Elimination Chamber, Orton retained his title in the Elimination Chamber match by defeating Cena, Sheamus, Bryan, Christian and Cesaro. Bryan's feud with The Authority intensified due to Authority members getting involved in Bryan's matches. This led to Bryan challenging Triple H to a match at WrestleMania XXX, with Triple H initially refusing. Triple H finally accepting the challenge on the March 10 episode of Raw, after Bryan rallied dozens of his fans to occupy the ring. Triple H later added a stipulation where the winner of their match would be placed in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship later that night, making it a triple threat match. At WrestleMania XXX, Bryan defeated Triple H, and later that night, he defeated Orton and Batista to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The next night on Raw, Triple H challenged Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but after Bryan was attacked by Orton, Batista, and Kane before the match, The Shield having interfered, betrayed and attacked The Authority. As punishment, the following week on Raw, The Shield competed in an 11-on-3 handicap match, and after they were assaulted by all eleven superstars, the match was declared a no contest. Following the match, Orton, Batista, and Triple H reunited as Evolution and attacked The Shield. Meanwhile, Stephanie McMahon and Kane continued to feud with Bryan, with Kane returning to his masked self and attacking Bryan on the April 21 episode of Raw. At Extreme Rules, The Shield defeated Evolution and Bryan defeated Kane to retain his title.
The following night on Raw, Triple H forced Dean Ambrose to defend his United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal, with Ambrose being eliminated last by Sheamus, losing his title. The Authority began pressuring Bryan to give up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as he suffered a legit neck injury and was not physically cleared to compete, but Bryan refused. At Payback, after threatening to "fire" Bryan's wife Brie Bella after Stephanie McMahon viewed Brie shoving her as "assault", Brie instead "quit" before slapping Stephanie. That same night, Evolution were once again defeated by The Shield in a No Holds Barred elimination six-man tag team match.
The following night on Raw, Batista, frustrated with not receiving a proper one-on-one match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, "quit" WWE in the process for a second time. Later in the night, before a match between Roman Reigns and Randy Orton, Rollins was revealed as Triple's H "Plan B" when he attacked both Ambrose and Reigns with steel chairs, thus turning on The Shield and rejoining The Authority. On the June 9 episode of Raw, Bryan's doctor stated Bryan was not clear to compete yet; therefore, The Authority stripped Bryan of the title. That same night, The Authority created a six-man ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank, with them adding Orton to the match. On the June 23 episode of Raw, The Authority also added Kane to the match. Meanwhile, Seth Rollins began to feud with former Shield teammate Dean Ambrose, and on the June 17 episode of Main Event, acting on behalf of The Authority, Rollins announced a traditional Money in the Bank ladder match, also naming himself as the first entrant. At the pay-per-view, Rollins won the Money in the Bank contract by defeating Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Rob Van Dam and Jack Swagger; however, both Orton and Kane were unsuccessful in winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Cena. At Battleground, Rollins defeated Ambrose by forfeit after Ambrose was ejected from the arena by Triple H and both Orton and Kane were once again unsuccessful in winning the title from Cena in a fatal four-way match, also involving Roman Reigns. On the August 11 episode of Raw, Kane resumed his role as Director of Operations after relinquishing his mask the previous week.
Bryan took time off from the WWE to recover from his injury, so Stephanie McMahon began feuding with The Bella Twins by constantly putting Nikki in handicap matches. Brie returned to WWE on the July 21 episode of Raw, appearing in the crowd as a fan, with Stephanie being arrested for battery after slapping Brie and for resisting arrest (kayfabe). That same night, Triple H chose Cena's opponent for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam; after seemingly choosing Orton, Orton was attacked by Reigns. Brock Lesnar then made his return to WWE to align with The Authority and Triple H chose Lesnar to face Cena instead. At SummerSlam, Orton was defeated by Reigns; however, Rollins defeated Ambrose in a lumberjack match, Stephanie defeated Brie after Nikki turned on her sister and aligned herself with Stephanie, and Lesnar defeated Cena to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.