Why WWE Did Away With The Wild Card Rule

WWE is always experimenting with different ideas in order to boost their ratings for RAW, SmackDown and NXT. That being said, the approach may not necessarily translate to success for the company when it comes to the viewership of their shows on Monday, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Fans who watched the product in 2019 might remember the brand invitational WWE introduced at that time. The rule allowed for a WWE superstar to appear on another brand. Charlotte Flair was one of the first superstars to take advantage of the rule when she appeared on SmackDown while being a RAW superstar.

The wild card rule was originally brought into effect when Roman Reigns appeared on RAW to confront Vince McMahon on an episode of the red brand in May 2019. WWE even provided an explanation for the bizarre rule on their official website. That being said, WWE Creative under the Triple H regime seems to done with the rule.

Sean Sapp provided an update on the brand invitational behind Fightful’s paywall. According to the report, WWE Creative hasn’t talked about the rule in nearly a year now and the general impression is that it’s a thing of the past.

We asked about the Brand to Brand invitational for some reason. It’s dead. In a huge shocker (see, that’s a joke) he “Brand to Brand Invitational” is effectively dead, WWE sources tell Fightful.

The move was one of many ideas — Raw dark, Wild Card rule, no commercials during matches — that WWE implemented in order to boost ratings, and it was quickly forgotten and rarely referred to. Intermittently when a wrestler would appear on an opposing brand, the “brand to brand invitational” would be referred to.

Originally, the rule was to allow a talent from each brand to appear on the rival show once quarterly. One source indicated to Fightful that the idea was met with plenty of dissent backstage in creative. One member of creative told Fightful that they haven’t personally heard the term brought up backstage at all in 2022, and don’t expect to hear about it again unless this happens to jog someone’s memory. Another source that has worked near creative said that the rule hadn’t been brought up in the Triple H regime, and even FOX and USA Network have relaxed their insistence on distinctly different brands of late.

WWE is ignoring brand split on the road to WrestleMania 39 as well. A new report noted that fans should expect a lot more jumping from brand to brand for WWE superstars.

Were you a fan of the wild card rule when it was enforced in 2019? Do you want WWE to continue with the brand-to-brand appearance after WrestleMania 39? Sound off in the comments!