WWE: 3 possible ways to improve the new Wild Card Rule

Sagging ratings have plagued WWE as of late and there are rumors that the company’s network partners are none too happy. Last week, Vince McMahon instituted a Wild Card Rule to freshen things up, but it seems rushed and poorly thought out. Here’s how it could be made better.

When Vince McMahon announced the new “Wild Card Rule” on the May 6 episode of WWE Raw, it came across like many recent announcements from the company. Rather than a fun way to see superstars jump between Raw and SmackDown, the first week of the endeavor seemed to be improvised and tweaked as the shows went on.

The sad thing about this? At face value, the Wild Card Rule is actually a pretty good idea. No matter how many superstars are shaken up in a given year, there are always potentially interesting matches left on the table because of the brand split. But allowing superstars to cross over for “one night only” means there’s endless possibilities of ways to fill a card to entertain the WWE Universe.

But the nature of the rule as it currently stands makes it hard to take seriously as anything other than a gimmick that hasn’t fully been thought out. We went from three superstars allowed to cross over on a night to four, then a “limited number,” all in the first 24 hours the Wild Card Rule was even a thing. I guess locking literally one of the most important parts of the new rules down wasn’t a high priority?

So I got to thinking — and honestly, it wasn’t really a whole lot of thinking — about how to make some sense of this Wild Card Rule. Can a few tweaks ground the concept in logic and add some consistency? I think so — even if some of the changes would open up a whole new can of worms.

Without further ado, here’s three ways WWE can improve the new Wild Card Rule.