Opinion: Why the "Wild Card Rule" is another nail in the brand split's coffin
On last night's episode of RAW, Vince McMahon made the announcement of a new “Wild Card Rule”. This rule states that 3 random RAW Superstars will appear on Smackdown and 3 random Smackdown Superstars will appear on RAW. This rule is just another nail in the brand split’s coffin.
The Superstar Shakeup was a few weeks ago, which was supposed to be a fresh start for everyone after WrestleMania and everyone would be slotted on one show. However, the exact opposite has happened since then, as mid carders and tag teams have been appearing on the opposite brand such as the B Team, Jinder Mahal, and a few others.
Even before the Superstar Shakeup people have been showing up on opposite brands, but it wasn’t as bad since the Superstar Shakeup had not happened yet. Since it has though, these random appearances are not needed and take away from the brand split.
Another issue with the Wild Card rule is that now storylines from one show will be overshadowed by the question “Who will be showing up on RAW/Smackdown this week?”. Take this week for example, AJ Styles and Seth Rollins’ Universal Championship was arguably overshadowed by Smackdown’s Kofi Kingston v. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.
Smackdown’s championship storylines should not be involved or defended on RAW and vice versa. While it might make people think “Oh look, a title match!”. At the end of the day, it just overshadows RAW’s actual main event feud, which is Styles v. Rollins not Kingston v. Bryan. With the new Wild Card rule, this might be a common occurrence now.
While it might be too early to declare this “new” idea a complete failure, there is no arguing that it is another nail in the brand split’s coffin and has more negatives than positives. What are your thoughts on the Wild Card rule? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.