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The RAW ratings were substandard last week, and Vince McMahon desperately needed to get things right this week. We saw some unforeseen surprises on RAW as the Chairman introduced a Wild Card Rule.
The company already announced that Roman Reigns would show up on RAW this week. However, Reigns was not the only superstar from the blue brand to show up on the red brand as Kofi Kinston, Daniel Bryan, Elias, and Lars Sullivan appeared from SmackDown Live.
Vince McMahon thinks that Wild Card Rule is a brilliant idea as three superstars of a particular brand can appear on the other brand. It will be interesting to see if it is a long-term plan of the chairman or it is a desperate move to boost the poor ratings.
Here we discuss three possible reasons why Vince McMahon introduced Wild Card Entry.
#3 The Brand split might end
Vince McMahon's billion dollar company restarted the brand split in 2016 when the rosters of RAW and SmackDown Live got separated. Initially, top superstars like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Brock Lesnar got drafted to the red brand while AJ Styles, John Cena, Randy Orton, Becky Lynch got drafted to the blue brand. The fans were delighted to see separate superstars in separate brands.
The brand split was a huge success when the company introduced it in 2002. Both brands had similar stature with notable big names. However, WWE decided to merge two brands in 2011, but the blue brand got neglected for five years until the company decided to bring back the brand split three years ago.
The superstars become part of both brands if two brands merge. The Chairman could be planning a similar thing after the announcement of Wild Card Entry. Considering two superstars from SmackDown Live mainevented RAW this week, the ending of the brand split cannot be ruled out.
#2 To improve ratings
RAW usually gets good ratings in the non-football season, but the scenario was completely different last week. The flagship show had all-time modern non-football season ratings with 2.16 million viewers last week. According to Wrestling Observer, the ratings fell under 2 million viewers in the third hour which was 18 percent fall from the first hour. Moreover, it was a nine percent fall from its previous episode.
The worrying numbers have certainly given a headache to Mr.McMahon and the company is eager to boost the ratings. It is a no brainer that big names could improve the numbers. As a result, the company brought back Roman Reigns on RAW with some top superstars of the blue brand.
#1 SmackDown Live is moving to FOX
It is no secret that SmackDown Live is moving to Fox in October. Since Fox is one of the biggest networks of the United States, Vince McMahon will be keen to bring significant viewership on the blue brand. The Fox officials also demanded improvement in the quality of the product.
With the Wild Card Rule in WWE, three elite superstars of RAW will be eligible to participate on SmackDown Live regularly. As a result, we will be able to witness exciting feuds between elite superstars of the company. The Wild Card Rule will allow a handful of superstars to wrestle in both brands. Big names like Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman will get an opportunity to compete on SmackDown Live through Wild Card Rule.
