Even though the unveiling of the new wild card rule on WWE TV left a lot to be desired, that doesn’t mean the rule itself lacks real potential benefits.
There’s a lot that could be said about WWE and their handling of the new wild card rule.
For starters, it’s unnecessarily confusing. The rules for wild card superstars are almost non-existent at this point.
Will there be any members of the women’s division added as wild card superstars? Do the wild card superstars ever change and if so, how frequently? Questions like that provide just a small taste of some of the basic guidelines WWE has left unexplained in their roll-out of the wild card rule.
What we do know for certain, however, is that this whole rule makes the entire Superstar Shake-Up feel a bit silly. Considering the fact that most of the big name brand switchers are now seemingly included in the wild card rule, it really makes you wonder why you sat through 2 weeks of semi-coherent brand switching drama.
Despite bad feelings like that though, it shouldn’t be forgotten that there are some real positives which could come from this new rule.
In fact, we’ve already seen some of those positives play out on WWE TV. Believe it or not, the entire unveiling of this new wild card rule wasn’t a complete disaster after all.
3. Exciting Matches
I have to imagine even the most ardent opponents of the new wild card rule would be willing to admit that we’ve seen some exciting matches on Raw and SmackDown this week.
Now that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have seen exciting matches regardless of the new rule per se, but it certainly seems like the new wild cards played a fairly heavy role in making these shows as thrilling as they were.
Kofi Kingston’s appearance on Raw led to a major WrestleMania rematch against Daniel Bryan, who also appeared on the red brand due to the rule, for the WWE Championship
On top of that, Roman Reigns squared off with Drew McIntyre in a seemingly well-received rematch from WrestleMania on Raw as well.
Back on SmackDown, Sami Zayn and A.J. Styles received their own shot at Kofi Kingston too, while The Usos were able to provide a stiff challenge for Daniel Bryan and Rowan in a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match.
None of those matches would have been possible without the wild card rule.
A strict brand split is certainly nice in theory, but if WWE can use this new rule to consistently be able to present high quality matches on TV, as opposed to time filler bouts or more 6-man tag matches, then count me in.
2. Storyline Flexibility
During the build to WrestleMania, WWE featured the feud between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey across both brands.
While some rivalries would suffer from that heightened level of exposure, that one didn’t. In fact, I would argue the build to the main event of WrestleMania was greatly enhanced because of the memorable moments and angles that had time to play out due to the storyline occurring on Raw and SmackDown.
With the new wild card rule in place, WWE now has a simple explanation if they feel a rivalry would benefit from stretching across 2 brands again.
Red-hot world title storylines could easily be presented on both shows under the new rule, especially considering Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan’s inclusion in its initial unveiling.
Beyond that, cross-brand feuds could build for those titles if WWE wanted too. That greatly expands the pool of worthy challengers for WWE’s major championships, meaning we should have no shortage of exciting feuds in the coming months.
Although it comes at the expense of ruining a fair amount of the Superstar Shake-Up, expanded access to the company’s top superstars could do wonders for the on-screen product.
1. More time for up-and-coming and established stars alike
The common thread that runs through these benefits of the new wild card rule is simple. There’s going to be more time for WWE’s biggest stars.
I would argue a lot of people would enjoy seeing more matches from high-level performers like A.J. Styles and Roman Reigns. Similarly, having access to both brands should give fans more opportunities to see Daniel Bryan’s great heel work, along with Kofi Kingston’s much-anticipated WWE Championship run.
In addition to just showcasing WWE’s established stars though, this new wild card rule could also prove crucial to building new top stars.
Lars Sullivan can now plow through 2 rosters worth of superstars, while the recently re-debuted Sami Zayn now has twice as many audiences to run down.
While admittedly that access to SmackDown and Raw could quickly turn into a negative if fans aren’t receptive of those new characters, or WWE simply can’t find a way to successfully book them, it still doesn’t mean we should view these superstars’ inclusion in the new rule pessimistically.
These up-and-coming stars now have ample opportunity to sink or swim. There should easily be far fewer concerns about a lack of on-screen time to build these competitors up with 5 hours of programming to work with.
It’s that potential across the board to provide fans with more superstars to cheer, along with exciting matches and rivalries, which should be weighed in any debate about the new wild card rule. While the initial presentation of the rule certainly leaves a lot to be desired, it definitely doesn’t mean the wild card rule is a bad change to WWE.