10 Secret Times Wrestling TV Mirrored Real Life
2. The Wild Card Rule
We are just about a full pandemic removed from this bizarre 2019 edict, and two years feeling like 10 has already made this archaic-feeling quick fix feel like some charming little experiment from the post-Attitude Era slump run.
Instead, it was a galling sign of things to come.
Furious with the rampant decline happening around him, Vince McMahon dusted off his character and appeared on the May 6th edition of Monday Night Raw to explain that wrestlers were now permitted to cross brand divides per stipulations laid out in his "Wild Card" rule.
Two things were happening here. McMahon was typically a minor draw in these special appearances, and he wanted a ratings spike. Alongside that, he broke the fragile rules of his own universe (again) to lump all his big stars onto one show if he needed it. It was a rash and rushed judgment motivated by a short-term philosophy that secured monster rights fee deals whilst simultaneously chasing away audiences by the hundreds of thousands.
It sucked, but on both counts it worked, foreshadowing the rudderless chaos that became the insufferable norm.