5 things WWE got wrong this decade

#4 Wildcard rule

Vince McMahon introduced Wildcard rule after 2019 Superstar Shakeup.

The wildcard rule started as a neat idea to use some of the top guys on both RAW and SmackDown Live after the 2019 Superstar Shakeup. However, it soon went out of control and ended up with too many of the same people showing up on both shows every week. For more than five months, WWE offered little to no variety in its segments, and many wrestlers lost out on TV time that the brand split had previously offered them.

Roman Reigns, Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, and Elias were some of the Superstars who appeared regularly on both brands, and the storyline including those four men took up a significant portion of time each week on both shows.

After the 2016 brand split, both RAW and SmackDown Live had something different to offer from each other. They had different flavours. The Blue brand focused on in-ring action whereas the Red brand focused more on storytelling. However, the wildcard rule, which continued until the WWE Draft in October, unwound that concept entirely.

You know something is not right when even the top stars of the company speak against it. Kevin Owens called out Wildcard rule for being "loosely defined" and "loosely enforced" whereas Seth Rollins blamed the rule for "muddling" things up.