WWE Fans Confused by Vince McMahon's New Wild Card Rule
Vince McMahon opened Monday Night Raw with a new concept that would directly affect both of WWE's [...]
Vince McMahon opened Monday Night Raw with a new concept that would directly affect both of WWE's rosters going forward. Starting this week under "Wild Card Rules," McMahon declared that three SmackDown wrestlers and three Raw wrestlers would be free to appear on the opposite show, though he did not specify if this would be the case every week. Given that SmackDown's Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan were already in the ring and were booked for matches later that night, it made sense that they would be SmackDown's three "wild card" wrestlers for the week.
But then things got messy. Elias and Shane McMahon both appeared later in the show to attack Reigns during his match with Drew McIntyre, while Lars Sullivan appeared to beat down No Way Jose and his group of dancers late in the show. McMahon was later seen backstage on the phone, and after being briefly confronted by Sullivan, he changed the rule to allowing four wrestlers to switch brands (adding that Elias and Shane didn't count).
Wrestling fans were left scratching their heads during and after the show, given how quickly the "Wild Card Rule" was broken.
It took WWE *looks at wrist* 2 hours to break their own new rule that they literally just made. https://t.co/UAOjMRoOBQ
— James Darnell (@cmpuls3) May 7, 2019
"It took WWE *looks at wrist* 2 hours to break their own new rule that they literally just made," Twitter user James Darnell tweeted.
How about a WILDCARD RULE??? #RAW pic.twitter.com/yXUs7oPzeB
— Robert Foode (@2Sweet4Lyfe) May 7, 2019
"With the Undesignated call ups, the Superstar Shake Up, the Shake Back, and now the Wild Card Rule. Unless someone is carrying a Blue or Red Title Belt I have no idea what Brand anyone is on," former WWE Superstar Lance Storm wrote.
Vince at the start of the show: okay im gonna let 3 people come to #RAW and 3 people allowed to go to SD regularly.
Cole all night: 3, 3, you hear me say 3 right?
Vince by the end of the show: I meant 5 pic.twitter.com/FOhwINAd7N
— R.Dream (@WWERDream) May 7, 2019
"We don't need a wildcard rule, we need more unpredictability + excitement," Twitter user Hairy Wrestling Fan wrote. "Stop announcing big returns + debuts in advance. Bring back mystery vignettes + random debuts out of nowhere, don't try + boost ratings for one episode, build anticipation to make us watch regularly."
Wild card rules? Where we’re going there are no rules! #RAW pic.twitter.com/fFtQNIQykl
— Brian Fritz (@BrianFritz) May 7, 2019
But amidst the confusion there was an upside to the new rule, as Reigns vs. McIntyre and Kingston vs. Bryan both turned out to be solid matches.
I still don't get this new "Wild Card Rule," but at least it gave Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre the chance to top their Mania match, which most of us seem to agree was disappointing.
This #RAW rematch, however, has been great. pic.twitter.com/6RCkQ12Ffz
— Daily DDT (@FanSidedDDT) May 7, 2019
The Raw commentary team teased that members of the Raw roster would be appearing on SmackDown on Tuesday night. Only time will tell if this rule sticks around on both brands for the long-term.
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