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Vince McMahon introduces ‘wild-card’ rule to boost WWE TV ratings

Vince McMahon introduces a new ‘wild-card’ rule during Monday Night Raw in order to counter WWE TV rating issues.

By Raja
Vince McMahon & Roman Reigns on Raw (image courtesy WWE.com)

Bengaluru, May 7: WWE's attempt to let Roman Reigns return on Raw and pull back the TV ratings may become successful after what transpired on the opening sequence of the show.

The Big Dog disobeyed the orders from the authority figures and so did the former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan at US Bank Arena to force Vince McMahon to come up with a brilliant idea. He introduced a 'wild-card’ rule that could be game-changing for the future of both WWE Raw and Smackdown.

In order to make the weekly shows more impactful, The Boss will now allow Superstars from RAW or Smackdown Live to move between brands which will be "one-night-only appearances". Three such superstars will be randomly chosen on a weekly basis which later got changed to four. Here is more on the rule from WWE.com,

“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 wild-card rule was applied last night on Raw as we saw two cross-brand matches. Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan was the main event of the night where the reigning champion successfully defended his title.

Also, Smackdown star Roman Reigns competed in a Wrestlemania rematch against Drew McIntyre which ended in disqualification after Shane McMahon attacked Reigns. Elias and Lars Sullivan were the other blue brand members who made their presence felt on last night’s show using the wild-card rule.



The headliner of this week's episode of WWE Raw suddenly changed to a surprise return by Roman Reigns. He is a Smackdown Live superstar who has obligations in crossing brands which is why WWE officials tried to stop him doing so. But he was hell-bent on fulfilling some 'unfinished business' on the flagship show and confirmed his appearance.

This automatically set up an invasion angle that was further solidified by a report from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter. As per the reliable source, WWE have dealt with the headache of low TV viewership problem in the past few weeks. The situation could be the same as Monday Night Raw clashed with NBA playoffs, once again.

So the best idea for WWE officials was to create a scene where the fans can invest themselves in the situation. This is why they thought of bringing back the old guard of WWE Raw.

Additionally, the two main-eventers from Smackdown Live, Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan also attended the show to raise curiosity among the fans. We will learn in due course whether these massive alterations on the flagship show were able to up the viewership for this week.

Story first published: Tuesday, May 7, 2019, 14:26 [IST]
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