WWE Raw: Wild Card Rule confuses and blurs the current brand climate

The May 6 edition of WWE Raw saw the introduction of the Wild Card Rule. It’s a move that adds even more confusion to an already confusing Superstar Shake-Up that has seemingly resulted in more questions than answers.

Last night’s WWE Raw was dubbed as a “night you’ll never forget” early on by The Chairman and even though that really wasn’t the case at all, there were still a few big moments, starting with this new wild card rule implemented to open up the show courtesy of Mr. McMahon.

Rumors had been swirling around Twitter for days that new SmackDown Live superstar Roman Reigns would be coming on Raw this week, and The Big Dog didn’t waste any time when he quickly interrupted Mr. McMahon in the night’s opening segment.  That would soon be followed by the return of The New Daniel Bryan, another SmackDown superstar, after not being on TV since WrestleMania 35 last month.

His sights were set on Kofi Kingston and gaining back the WWE Championship he lost and wouldn’t you know, Kofi completed the hat trick by coming out on Raw even though he’s on SmackDown Live.  It wasn’t long after this that Mr. McMahon said that there will be a new Wild Card Rule in place. A rule in which three Raw and three SmackDown Superstars would be able to come on both shows at times, although it wasn’t clear when and how often.

Mr. McMahon also made two WrestleMania rematches last night when Reigns took on Drew McIntyre and Kingston defended the WWE Championship against Bryan.  Reigns vs. McIntyre ended abruptly after interference and Kingston successfully retained his title to close out the show, but the real issue surrounding this show was the wild card rule and what it means for the WWE moving forward.

The Superstar Shake-Up was less than a month ago and the argument can be made that this was the most confusing Superstar Shake-Up or Draft in WWE history.  It has been a total adventure trying to iron out just which Superstars are on which brands that’s it almost become comical at how much the WWE has actually changed their minds.  Just think about how much confusion has been surrounding this shake-up.

Andrade was sent to Raw and then back to SmackDown, NXT’s War Raiders have gone through two different name changes since coming on the main roster, Samoa Joe was sent to Raw with no official announcement and many other superstars suffered the same fate as Joe did.  It has been total chaos, in all honesty. It really puts into question how beneficial the superstar shake-up actually is.

And to top it all off, now we get this Wild Card Rule that is as confusing as the Shake-Up was.  Which Superstars will be part of the Wild Card?  It just feels like grasping at straws at this point with no clear direction in mind, not to mention it feels a bit of a desperation ploy for ratings purposes.  The fact of the matter is this new wild card rule blurs the lines of an already-confusing Superstar Shake-Up.

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Nobody quite knows what superstars are on what brands considering some just show up on both brands at any given time, so having a rule in play that allows this to happen makes things even more confusing.  It almost makes it feel like the entire Superstar Shake-Up was pointless given how poorly the WWE has handled it over the past few weeks.  It isn’t supposed to be a guessing game and a complex situation, you should just know who’s on what brand and that be the end.

However, it hasn’t been anywhere close to that simple and with a major lack of conviction in terms of what Superstars end up on what brands, it’s becoming insulting to the fans because it shows the powers that be truly don’t know what they were trying to do in the first place with the Shake-Up.  How many Superstars have switched brands multiple times since the Shake-Up?  Mr. McMahon probably doesn’t even know at this point.

Now, unless something clear is announced, we have to guess what Superstars are part of this wild card rule.  It’s hard to tell what will come out of this, but the confusion leading into it and the new confusion that came out of it is not a good look for the WWE.  It makes Vince and company look like they have no clear idea what they want and the fans see through that.

Wrestling shouldn’t be this confusing to the point where nobody knows what’s going on and with this new Wild Card Rule along with the erratic Superstar Shake-Up, the lines are being blurred to the point where almost nobody can see them.