What if the Wild Card Rule is applicable to NXT as well

Vince McMahon recently rolled out the new Wild Card Rule, which suggests that a limited number of Raw Superstars can appear on SmackDown each week and vice-versa.

The rule invites WWE to feature its top tier stars on each brand, in theory delivering exciting matches and drawing the maximum ratings by broadcasting the most popular talent on both shows without having to do with away with the brand split.

As an additional dimension to the Wild Card, its conceivable WWE could extend it to NXT too.

WWE already sort of tested the waters on this idea in the way that Ricochet and Aleister Black were used this spring, regularly appearing on both RAW and SmackDown.

The idea could further offer NXT talents some additional exposure and create fresh matches on the two main roster brands, while also opening a door for main roster guys to take a stop down in Orlando to work NXT matches.

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#5 Johnny Gargano makes the rounds

Johnny Gargano is a special wrestling talent; letting him work Raw and SmackDown as a visiting star could be a good way to set him up for a big main roster run

The jury is out on Johnny Gargano’s WWE destiny. He made good on his long journey to the top of NXT, and had a couple of main roster matches this spring.

The question remains, though, for as obviously talented and over with the NXT audience as he is, if he’ll succeed on the WWE main roster, or by virtue of his size and style be relegated to a supporting role.

The Wild Card could be an optimal way of integrating Gargano into the main roster. In not taking up permanent residence on Raw or SmackDown, he could instead dip and out to do what he does best: work great matches.

After enough mid-card barn burners and maybe a few valiant efforts against main event level guys, Gargano could at least get the Ali treatment in moving up to the main roster as an established threat, and possibly see his stock rise even higher.

#4 Shayna Baszler challenges Becky Lynch

Shayna Baszler could be a fun momentary insertion on Raw or SmackDown

Shayna Baszler has been an excellent heel champion for NXT and it feels like only a matter of time before she gets her call up.

Some of the delay may be related to who her friends are. WWE may have consciously avoided entangling her with real life buddy Ronda Rousey’s business on Raw.

Meanwhile, she is currently helping to bring along the other two Horsewomen of MMA, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke, in NXT.

Baszler history with Rousey would set her up as a natural opponent to Lynch in a one off match.

Moreover, her status as NXT Women’s Champion could offer her reasonable grounds to claim she deserves a main roster Women’s Championship opportunity.

While it’s probably going a step too far, WWE could go even further in having this match be winner take all with the NXT Women’s Championship on the line against Becky Two Belts.

A schmozz finish to keep the third women’s title separate would probably be the best choice in that scenario.

#3 Robert Roode back in NXT

Bobby Roode could do well with a trip back to NXT

There’s an increasingly significant number of talents who thrived when they were working for NXT and have largely floundered on the main roster.

To varying degrees, names like Neville, Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sasha Banks, and Bayley all fil this pattern.

No one may have enjoyed greater success in NXT and sunk to a lower level on the main roster than Robert Roode. Roode was treated as a big deal immediately upon his debut in developmental, and had a lengthy reign with the NXT title.

Since his call up, after an early push in the US Championship scene, Roode spent most of the last year directionless, used sparingly, and ultimately working in a makeshift, dead end tag team with Chad Gable.

A guy like Roode could do well to have an excuse to go back to NXT where he’s respected and can put on some stellar matches with and mentor up and coming talent.

#2 Testing the waters on the next round of call ups

The Wild Card rule could provide a natural avenue to test drive call ups like Velveteen Dream.

NXT call ups are a mixed bag. Some click nicely and even do better on the main roster like Elias whose big personality jives better on Raw and SmackDown than it did with the NXT sensibility.

By contrast, despite an ostensibly similar aesthetic, No Way Jose immediately sank to the bottom of the main roster.

Some of it’s a matter of how guys are booked, but there are also certain intangibles at play when it comes to how they connect working with veterans and in front of a larger audience.

Positioning more advanced NXT talents as Wild Card visitors could offer a good opportunity to see how certain guys do when the lights are on bright, and who might need some additional work to transition out of developmental successfully.

Making NXT wrestlers guests on main roster shows could also help set them up to feel like bigger deals and build to their more permanent call ups by getting some buzz behind them in this context.

#1 Nigel McGuinness calls SmackDown

The Wild Card rule could extend to the broadcast table.

The Wild Card rule has, understandably, focused on in ring talents up to this point, with main event level stars in particular in play to help push ratings for Raw and SmackDown.

If WWE incorporates NXT talents in the Wild Card, it opens a number of different possibilities for how WWE could use the device.

Top NXT stars like Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, and Shayna Baszler would make the most sense guest starring on one of the main roster brands. WWE could also toy with The Street Profits or Moustache Mountain coming up to challenge for main roster tag titles one night.

To take a different tack, however, WWE could also have non-wrestling talent visit the main roster.

Nigel McGuinness’s work on color commentary has been well received in developmental, but there are questions as to whether his more technical style and accent would translate well to Monday Night Raw.

Both to lend the main roster presentation a different flavor for one week, and to try out McGuinness in a higher profile role, he could be a fun Wild Card beneficiary.