WWE Axing The Wild Card Rule

After the rule has been abused for month, WWE is finally scrapping its Wild Card rule.

Vince McMahon AJ Styles
WWE.com

Given that the rule has been made a mockery of since the first night it was launched earlier this year, WWE is now getting set to totally scrap the Wild Card rule.

For the eagle-eared of you out there, this past Monday’s Raw saw Michael Cole confirm that the Wild Card rule will be axed after the upcoming WWE Draft, while Tom Phillips echoed those sentiments on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown.

That aforementioned WWE Draft will commence on the October 11th episode of SmackDown Live before culminating on the October 14th Raw outing.

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Of course, WWE introduced the Wild Card rule this past May – yet it almost immediately became a complete joke.

Upon being introduced, the Wild Card option afforded five talents the chance to appear on a different brand’s show. From the get-go, the Wild Card was doomed as even AJ Styles looked totally baffled as Vince McMahon himself did an in-ring segment to explain the rule. And even then, that initial announcement saw the Wild Card restricted to just four talents per show, before quickly being upped to five later that same night.

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Within a week that whole ‘five’ number was a farce, and pretty much every single episode of Raw and SmackDown since has featured a lot more than five wrestlers from an opposing brand.

Now, this groan inducing call is finally being scrapped as WWE looks to establish a true exclusivity to its brands as SmackDown moves to Fox on October 4th.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.