WWE To Announce "Crossover" Allowance For Raw And SmackDown Talents

Just over one year after Vince McMahon introduced the oft-questioned and criticized "Wild Card Rule" as a way to increase talent pollination between Raw and SmackDown, WWE's going back to that well once more with the introduction of more talent crossovers.

John Pollock of POST Wrestling reports that a ruling will be made on tonight's Raw that will clarify rules for a new way of allowing for talents to cross from Raw to SmackDown, and vice versa.

According to Pollock, the hope is that it will be a "simpler" version of last year's Wild Card Rule.

According to one of Pollock's sources, the request for talent crossovers comes from the networks. The viewership for the crowdless Monday Night Raws have sunk to shocking lows, including an all-time nadir of 1,686,000 viewers last week. Meanwhile, SmackDown's last three broadcasts have been the least-watched since the show moved to FOX in October.

Last year's Wild Card Rule was supposed to allow for four wrestlers from one brand to appear on the other, with penalties for "uninvited" talents crossing over. However, those rules were often ignored, and played fast-and-loose with.