Vince McMahon Announces “Wild Card” Rule on Raw

Vince McMahon instituted what’s being called the “Wild Card Rule” tonight on Raw, announcing that each week, three SmackDown wrestlers are allowed to appear on Raw and three Raw wrestlers are allowed to appear on SmackDown.

McMahon made the announcement during the opening segment of Raw after Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan – all SmackDown wrestlers – showed up on Raw.

WILD CARD RULE?! @VinceMcMahon just had an epiphany…

What if he allowed 3 Superstars from #SDLive to head to #RAW and vice versa on a regular basis? pic.twitter.com/Ws2NBTzpM4

— WWE (@WWE) May 7, 2019

Later backstage, Vince McMahon was congratulating himself about the wild card idea when Lars Sullivan showed up and a frightened Vince said, “You know what, I think we’re gonna make it four individuals, not three.”

Despite that and since WWE does not care about logic or attention to detail, five SmackDown wrestlers showed up on Raw tonight: Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Elias and Lars Sullivan.

It seems @VinceMcMahon just upped the number to 4️⃣ Superstars in the #WildCardRule… #RAW @LarsSWWE pic.twitter.com/zraFemeFzM

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 7, 2019

Here’s how WWE.com explained the rule:

Mr. McMahon’s new “Wild Card Rule” explained

The latest wrinkle in the ongoing Superstar Shake-up emerged this Monday on Raw when Mr. McMahon announced a new “Wild Card Rule” in which a limited number of Superstars from Raw or SmackDown would be invited to cross brand lines for one-night-only appearances, with unauthorized jumps to be penalized by fines or even potential firing. The number of crossover Superstars was initially capped at three — WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns started things off by appearing on Raw this Monday — though Lars Sullivan evidently persuaded The Chairman to expand the limit to four.

Superstars crossing between Raw and SmackDown LIVE has, of course, occurred on rare occasion since the 2016 Brand Extension, but the “Wild Card Rule” is the first officially-sanctioned blurring of the lines between Team Red and Team Blue Superstars. (The exceptions before tonight had been Becky Lynch, who holds both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Titles, and The IIconics, who are eligible to appear on all brands as the free-floating WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions). And although this isn’t to say we’re about to go back to the days of Raw SuperShows or do away with the Brand Extension, there are some staggering implications to the rule depending on who decides to take advantage of it: The main event of the Wild Card’s maiden voyage was Raw’s first true WWE Championship Match since 2016, and AJ Styles has already openly speculated about getting some friends from SmackDown LIVE to back him up against Universal Champion Seth Rollins.

As always, it will take a while before the true impact of the “Wild Card Rule” is realized, but it’s sure to make things very, very interesting going forward.