I think one thing we can all safely agree on: The WWE Wild Card Rule is pretty stupid. It basically destroys the concept of a brand split, and seemingly has no structure to who goes where and when. It made absolutely no sense when it was announced and fans were so confused WWE had to write an article explaining it further:
WWE Wild Card Rule Explanation via WWE.com
The latest wrinkle in the ongoing Superstar Shake-up emerged this Monday on Raw when Mr. McMahon announced a new “Wild Card Rule” in which a limited number of Superstars from Raw or SmackDown would be invited to cross brand lines for one-night-only appearances, with unauthorized jumps to be penalized by fines or even potential firing. The number of crossover Superstars was initially capped at three — WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns started things off by appearing on Raw this Monday — though Lars Sullivan evidently persuaded The Chairman to expand the limit to four.
Death of the True Brand Split?
So there you have it. Four superstars from either RAW or Smackdown LIVE can cross the line to another brand. For one -night-only. Although, since it’s a wild card and supposed to be a surprise, how would we find out if a superstar that appears is unauthorized? Is there going to be a fun WWE Wild Card Rule Theme that plays before a Superstar makes their surprise appearance? Kind of like when WCW wrestlers would invade WWE back in the early 2000’s? Will the waters get so muddy that we will forget which Superstar is attached to which brand? Probably.
One thing is very, very clear: This is not going anywhere. The internet has let it be known that they do not enjoy this. But unlike this fiasco, the WWE Wild Card Rule is going to be around for a while. So here is a really simple way to make it feel less random, but still keep the true nature of the rule in place.
An Easy Wild Card Fix
Personally, I would like to see more structure. That can be established by dividing these Wild Cards among the divisions. One male superstar, one female superstar, a male tag team, and a female tag team. What would make the majority of fans care about this, is if being one of the four Wild Cards felt special. Traveling between two shows is a big deal. You aren’t tied to one brand (not that that’s a bad thing), and if you want to go mess with someone you are free to do so.
To do that, you would effectively make it like a championship. In that the superstar would defend their right to be a WWE Wild Card. If a superstar lost a match, they would lose the Wild Card rights and they would transfer over to the winner of said match. If a Wild Card superstar was to become a champion, they would forfeit their Wild Card rights. Because, in this writer’s opinion, you’d rather be WWE Champion than be able to travel between brands.
What do you think? Would this work better than the current Wild Card Rule WWE has in place? Let us know!