So we have another week where a McMahon family member comes out and imposes a random stipulation between the two brands, as Vince instituted the so-called “wildcard rule” whereby four random wrestlers from RAW and Smackdown appear on the other brand.
Roman Reigns, who was just drafted to the blue brand, along with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan and Elias made appearances on Monday and AJ Styles, Sami Zayn and the Usos made their presence felt on Tuesday. Kofi and Bryan had a Wrestlemania rematch for the title which Kofi retained, while Roman and Drew McIntyre had another rematch from Wrestlemania which ended in a no contest when Elias and Shane McMahon interfered.
As for Smackdown, the Usos showed up to compete for the vacated Smackdown tag team titles against Bryan and Erick Rowan, while Styles and Zayn took on Kofi in a Triple Threat match for the WWE title. Kofi retained while Bryan and Rowan became the new Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
Most commentators have referred to how this ‘wildcard rule’ was a direct result of slumping ratings of RAW and Smackdown in the preceding week, and with WWE’s big arrangement with the FOX network coming up this fall, it’s no surprise that this provision was being brought in. But most people can agree that the brand split, for better or for worse, has reinvigorated interest in RAW and Smackdown in the sense of giving fans choice as to what to watch on a weekly basis.
Introducing wrestlers from the other brand into the other show sounds like a slippery slope back into dissolving the brands and just having one giant roster. The downside is that the cream of the crop may get airtime but many others get left backstage due to time constraints. That kind of arrangement doesn’t help dissuade various talent from looking at organizations like AEW or other pastures, even with WWE attempting to lock down contracts recently.
If you’re going to do a wildcard rule, don’t just throw in three or four from the other brand and hopes a quality match would result. Roman Reigns should show up on RAW to do one thing that most fans probably do want to see: a Universal Championship rematch against his friend Seth Rollins. Likewise, Miz and Daniel Bryan should rekindle their long standing feud (even though the last attempt fizzled out poorly); it’s more interesting now that Bryan is the heel and Miz is the face.
Only by having substantial storylines steam from the ‘wildcard rule’ would the stipulation merit any relevance.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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