5 things WWE must do right now to improve its programming

Disclaimer: The views of the author do not represent the views of Sportskeeda

It's safe to say that this year's "post-WrestleMania slump" (the colloquialism for the typical decline in the quality of WWE programming between WrestleMania and the build to SummerSlam) has been worse than normal. I couldn't believe that this year's slump could be worse than last year's, but somehow, someway, WWE is pulling the feat off.

It's coming at just the wrong time, too. All Elite Wrestling's maiden event, Double or Nothing, was everything that fans were hoping for when the new promotion was announced at the start of the year. The supposedly "developmental" NXT continues to show up the "main roster" like clockwork. The difference in quality between TakeOver: XXV and Super Showdown couldn't be clearer.

Ratings for the main roster shows continue to sink, backstage morale is low, and more wrestlers want out of the company. Supposedly, Vince McMahon himself recognizes the system is broken.

If that latest bit of news is the case, that's good. The first step in fixing a problem is recognizing you have one. Up to now, that hasn't been the case in WWE. I've spoken of long-term fixes before, but those will take time to implement. Here are five things WWE must do right now to improve its content, lest more fans and talent abandon ship.

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#1 End the "wild card rule"

Everybody hates this. Fans hate it. Talent hates it. The writers hate it. It was a disaster from day one. Fortunately, it's only been in place for a month, so the damage isn't irreversible, but the sooner it goes, the better.

The "wild card" rule was a panic move by Vince McMahon in an attempt to boost fast-sinking ratings. So far, it hasn't had any noticeable dent. WWE's year on year declines stabilized in May, but that was because the NBA was winding down and there wasn't much further room left for them to drop.

The "wild card" hasn't brought any of those fans that left back and it's made the programming even worse. WWE's ability to tell compelling stories was tenuous beforehand, but the "wild card" has made it nonexistent, because each show is centered around talent jumping from one brand to another for ad-hoc purposes, making it impossible to invest in any character.

Just as bad, it's prevented talent from getting a spotlight and breaking out, as the "wild card" has mostly centered around the same few people, robbing each particular show of its unique selling proposition.

It's a disaster. It needs to go.

#2 Get Shane off TV

Shane McMahon has been without question the worst individual part of WWE programming over the course of 2019. His feuds and matches have been ridiculous and worse, he's hogging the spotlight on both shows. This is a common problem. Remember a key feature when SmackDown was down in the dumps in 2017 and up to WrestleMania 34? Shane McMahon was a key part of the programming then.

When Shane McMahon is a featured character, the shows always get worse, and now, thanks to the "wild card rule," he's hogging time on both shows.

Is anyone interested in seeing a 50-year-old man "brutalizing" a local jobber? Is anyone ready to believe Shane McMahon is a threat to Roman Reigns?

Of course not, but the feud must continue.

The sooner Roman Reigns brutalizes Shane, the better. Hopefully, it will be enough to write him off TV.

#3 Get the women's tag titles off the IIconics

Sasha Banks has quickly been proven right about the prospect of putting the women's tag team titles on The IIconics. The belts that she fought hard to bring to fruition have become completely worthless in short order. It already feels like they should be decommissioned. The IIconics are the "longest reigning champions" now, but they only defended their titles once against a team of local jobbers after WrestleMania. They've lost every other match they've been in since then and the promise that these tag team titles once represented has been made a fool of.

There's only one way to fix the situation and that's to take the tag team titles off the IIconics. Tonight. If WWE wants this "reign" to continue, they might as well just scrap the titles entirely, because they don't even feel like titles anymore. It's hard to even notice the belts at this point, so worthless are their holders.

#4 Pull the plug on Lars Sullivan

Let's set aside Lars Sullivan's controversial history for now. Even without that history dragging him down, this whole act just isn't working out. We've seen it millions of times. It's not getting over. Lars Sullivan doesn't even feel all that intimidating in comparison to counterparts on the main roster like Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley.

And now he's going 50/50 with the Lucha House Party of all people.

Meanwhile, while Lars Sullivan gets "wild card" treatment and comes out to crickets on both shows, great talents like Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy are sitting in catering.

It's just a misallocation of resources. This push needs to end. Lars Sullivan is not going anywhere anyway. We know he's eventually going to lose to somebody like Roman Reigns and then fall down the card into a comedy role, never to return to a serious push.

Just do the honors now, please.

#5 Get the briefcase off Brock Lesnar

Despite WWE's pretensions, there is no evidence that Brock Lesnar is major ratings draw in 2019. At best, he can bring a small bump, and even those claims are tenuous when put into their proper context.

At any rate, the bump he brings (if any) is not nearly enough compared to what he takes from the company.

During Brock Lesnar's time as Universal Champion, from WrestleMania 33 to WrestleMania 35, WWE lost at least a million fans. He hasn't brought any of them back. The quality of the content declined dramatically with the black hole at the top of Raw's card for almost two years. When he finally lost the Universal title in April, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Putting the Money in the Bank briefcase on Brock Lesnar made everyone groan again, and now there are no good options going forward. A successful cash in means the content is back to square one, with yet another absentee Lesnar reign. A failure means the third squandering of the Money in the Bank stipulation in a row.

The only way out is for Brock Lesnar to lose the briefcase to someone else. It doesn't need to be done directly. It can come in a multi-man match, for instance, if the bizarre desire to protect him continues. Either way, nothing good can come from Brock Lesnar in the title picture.

Sadly, this is probably not going to happen, and the programming will continue to decline.