Being the General Manager of the WWE flagship program seems to be a thankless position, usually signaling the performers days are numbered within the federation. With Vickie Guerrero quitting last night, she becomes the latest casualty of this high profile position.

Take a look at who has held the RAW GM position just in the past decade:

Eric Bischoff – Bischoff held the role of GM for the longest period of time, basically two and half years, July 2002 through December 2005. In that time he introduced Hot Lesbian Action (which everyone would like to forget), he was also responsible for “Three Minute Warning”, which like most current tag teams in the WWE fared poorly and were soon broken up. Bischoff did come up with one lasting innovation that the WWE still pulls out every year, The Elimination Chamber Match. So basically in his two year reign we got HLA, Katie Vick, Lita’s Pregnancy and a pretty cool new gimmick match. Bischoff’s reign ended in 2005 when he was put on “trial”, found guilty of past crimes, and promptly dumped into the back of a garbage truck by Vince McMahon. He would pop up again about a year later, but had his mic turned off while promoting his book “Controversy Creates Cash”, and escorted out of the arena by security. He appeared for the final time (so far) on RAW when he became GM for a single night on November 6, 2006, which ended with an assault by Big Dick Johnson and DX.

Jonathan Coachman – While coach really wasn’t given the title of General Manager, he was called Mr. McMahon’s “Executive Assistant”, a different title, but carrying the same responsibilities as General Manager. Coach filled this role for about 15 months, May of 2006 to August 2007. He also filled the role of GM for 1 additional month September of 2007, when William Regal had to recoup from injuries sustained at the hands of John Cena. The only notable thing about Coachman’s term as GM was that he was the focus of the pranks pulled by DX when a McMahon wasn’t around. He got to play the patsy role for just over a year until William Regal won a Battle Royal inheriting the GM role, and Coach was demoted to Regal’s assistant. Coachman left the WWE for a little cable channel called ESPN.

William Regal – Regal won the RAW GM position after winning a RAW Battle Royal in early August 2007. His initial reign only lasted about 1 month, when John Cena attacked Regal for giving Randy Orton a title shot after Orton kicked Cena’s father in the head. (Who knew Orton has been head kickin’ for two years now?). Regal was out for 1 month recuperating, and Coach filled in during his absence. When Regal returned in November he continued in the role until May of 2008, a total reign of nine months. Regal’s end as GM came when he was suspended by the WWE for failing a second drug test and was suspended for sixty days. The television explanation for Regal’s departure so soon after being crowned the “King of the Ring”, was that in a feud with Mr. Kennedy, Regal lost a “Loser Gets Fired” match.

Mike Adamle – Wow, where to start with this one? Okay, so Vince McMahon decided to give a “mainstream” announcer a shot on his premiere television program, and chose former NFL broadcaster, former Olympic announcer (and oh yea…former “American Gladiators” announcer) Mike Adamle. To Vince’s credit, the credentials were there. From all outward appearances Adamle was bringing something to the table. But things crashed and burned fairly quickly. Adamle was consistently making mistakes, getting names wrong; botching the names of standard moves…it was just a total mess. So McMahon tried to salvage the experiment, and moved Adamle to the RAW GM position. Adamle became RAW GM at the end of July 2008. We were given a series of matches called “Adamle Originals” which featured unusual pairings, or unique stipulations. Unfortunately, Adamle had no charisma, was booed incessantly by the fans even while portraying a “face” role, and getting what the IWC likes to call “bad heat”. In November of 2008, Adamle quit the GM position, but not before really laying into Stephanie McMahon, and running down the WWE and wrestling in general. Adamle’s tenure as GM lasted only 4 months, but his name will not be forgotten by wrestling fans for years to come. He is the yardstick by which other awful announcers will be measured for ages.

Vickie Guerrero – “Excuse Me!” actually became a catchphrase. Vickie had a successful run as Smackdown General Manager. Vickie acted as Smackdown GM for nearly two years after “stealing” the job from Teddy Long. Vickie managed to go from revered widow of a wrestling icon, to a genuine target of fan hatred in an amazingly short period of time. Unlike Adamle, Vickie was drawing the “right” kind of heat over on Smackdown, and created one of the greatest heel characters the WWE has produced in ages. With Smackdown considered the “B” show, WWE moved Guerrero over to RAW in April of 2009. During her reign as RAW GM she briefly won the title of “Miss Wrestlemania”. Despite portraying a fantastic heel character Vickie’s reign as RAW GM is the shortest of the decade. Losing her “Miss Wrestlemania” crown in a hog pen match, covered in pig feces and slop at the “Extreme Rules” PPV, Vickie finally tendered her resignation on RAW the next night, June 8th, 2009. But WWE being WWE, they did their best to rob Guerrero of any dignity she had remaining after the pig-poop fiasco, and proceeded to have everyone in attendance laugh as she was called a “pig” not only by the wrestlers, but also by the announce team. She was told by her “husband” Edge that he basically threw up after kissing her each week, and only “married” her because she was in a position of power. With this Edge announce he was leaving her and filing for divorce. Thus properly humiliated, Guerrero’s reign as RAW GM, which only lasted 3 months came to a sour end.

Now, before I get a ton of emails, yes, various McMahon family members have also held the title of RAW General Manager off and on over the past decade, but I’m not listing them here. I know Stephanie was acting GM between Adamle and Guerrero, but when a McMahon is filling the role, you know it’s just a whim until they get bored and move on. Once they get the desire to be in front of the cameras again, rest assured the RAW GM position will become available for them again. And I’m not going to count the time Stone Cold Steve Austin was “Sheriff” of RAW….I don’t even know what that was supposed to mean?????

So who will step into this role next? As you can see, whoever takes Vickie’s place will have a HUGE target painted on their back. RAW GM really is a thankless job, you are supposed to be hated by the fans, you are also supposed to be hated by wrestlers, its rare when a GM doesn’t draw the ire of both the “heels” and “faces” getting it from both ends. It’s also a high pressure position, as Vince and family seem to always have you on their McMahon radar, and when your reign draws to a close, they seem to take extreme pleasure in not only having you fired, but also humiliating you on national TV.

On a personal note, I truly hated the way Vickie Guerrero was treated last night. I loved her character, and respected her as a performer and talent. With everything the woman has gone through over the past few years, I really wish they had sent her off in proper fashion, maybe turning on Edge and having her go out on top. If you want to see the “real” Vickie Guerrero, watch her speech at Eddie’s introduction into the WWE Hall of Fame. Despite WWE’s best efforts last night, I will always think of Vickie as a class act and great performer.