diff --git a/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_matcher.h b/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_matcher.h
index 16249377a27d..bbc8e9382ed0 100644
--- a/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_matcher.h
+++ b/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_matcher.h
@@ -68,6 +68,34 @@ TVM_DLL Optional<Map<DFPattern, Var>> MatchGraph(const PatternContext& ctx,
  * \return The rewritten or the input function, depending on the pattern matching result.
  */
 TVM_DLL Function RewriteBindings(const PatternContext& ctx, PackedFunc rewriter, Function f);
+
+/**
+ * \brief Rewrite a function with the given pattern and the rewriter function.
+ *
+ * Pattern match and replace at an expression level.  This level of
+ * granularity does not allow simultaneous replacement cannot be
+ * performed.  In addition, removal of bindings cannot be performed
+ * explicitly, and is only done implicitly through RemoveAllUnused.
+ * See also `RewriteBindings`, which performs replacement on a
+ * block-level, and does not have these restrictions.
+ *
+ * \param pattern The pattern to be replaced
+ *
+ * \param rewriter The function to be called on a successful pattern
+ *  matching.  Given the matched expression and a map of sub-matches,
+ *  it should return the replacement expression.  If the expression
+ *  doesn't require updating (e.g. replacement required checks beyond
+ *  those expressed in the pattern), it should return the expression
+ *  unmodified.
+ *
+ * \param func The function to rewrite
+ *
+ * \return The updated function, if any updates were applied.
+ */
+TVM_DLL Function RewriteCall(const DFPattern& pattern,
+                             TypedPackedFunc<Expr(Expr, Map<DFPattern, Expr>)> rewriter,
+                             Function func);
+
 }  // namespace relax
 }  // namespace tvm
 
diff --git a/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_pattern.h b/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_pattern.h
index 933429cb9b24..b634b315d98e 100644
--- a/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_pattern.h
+++ b/include/tvm/relax/dataflow_pattern.h
@@ -727,7 +727,14 @@ class WildcardPatternNode : public DFPatternNode {
  */
 class WildcardPattern : public DFPattern {
  public:
-  TVM_DEFINE_OBJECT_REF_METHODS(WildcardPattern, DFPattern, WildcardPatternNode);
+  WildcardPattern();
+
+  // Declaring WildcardPattern declared as non-nullable avoids the
+  // default zero-parameter constructor for ObjectRef with `data_ =
+  // nullptr`.  This allows a zero-parameter constructor to be
+  // declared here, to create a valid wildcard instance.
+
+  TVM_DEFINE_NOTNULLABLE_OBJECT_REF_METHODS(WildcardPattern, DFPattern, WildcardPatternNode);
 };
 
 /*!
diff --git a/src/relax/ir/dataflow_matcher.cc b/src/relax/ir/dataflow_matcher.cc
index 7fb67d9376f5..c2515067edcf 100644
--- a/src/relax/ir/dataflow_matcher.cc
+++ b/src/relax/ir/dataflow_matcher.cc
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ void DFPatternMatcher::ClearMap(size_t watermark) {
 }
 
 bool DFPatternMatcher::VisitDFPattern(const DFPattern& pattern, const Expr& expr0) {
+  CHECK(pattern.defined()) << "Null pattern found when matching against " << expr0;
+
   auto expr = TryGetValOfVar(expr0, var2val_);
   if (memoize_ && memo_.count(pattern)) {
     ICHECK_EQ(memo_[pattern].size(), 1);
@@ -1106,12 +1108,14 @@ Function RewriteBindings(const PatternContext& ctx, PackedFunc rewriter, Functio
   return PatternRewriter::Run(ctx, rewriter, f);
 }
 
-TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("relax.dpl.rewrite_call")
-    .set_body_typed([](DFPattern pat, PackedFunc rewriter, Function f) {
-      return PatternRewriter::Run(pat, rewriter, f);
-    });
-
 TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("relax.dpl.rewrite_bindings").set_body_typed(RewriteBindings);
 
+Function RewriteCall(const DFPattern& pat,
+                     TypedPackedFunc<Expr(Expr, Map<DFPattern, Expr>)> rewriter, Function f) {
+  return PatternRewriter::Run(pat, rewriter, f);
+}
+
+TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("relax.dpl.rewrite_call").set_body_typed(RewriteCall);
+
 }  // namespace relax
 }  // namespace tvm
diff --git a/src/relax/ir/dataflow_pattern.cc b/src/relax/ir/dataflow_pattern.cc
index faa890a12c39..1286a32e4cb8 100644
--- a/src/relax/ir/dataflow_pattern.cc
+++ b/src/relax/ir/dataflow_pattern.cc
@@ -241,10 +241,8 @@ RELAX_PATTERN_PRINTER_DEF(NotPatternNode,
                           [](auto p, auto node) { p->stream << "!(" << node->reject << ")"; });
 
 TVM_REGISTER_NODE_TYPE(WildcardPatternNode);
-TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("relax.dpl.WildcardPattern").set_body_typed([]() {
-  auto w = WildcardPattern(make_object<WildcardPatternNode>());
-  return w;
-});
+WildcardPattern::WildcardPattern() { data_ = make_object<WildcardPatternNode>(); }
+TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("relax.dpl.WildcardPattern").set_body_typed([]() { return WildcardPattern(); });
 RELAX_PATTERN_PRINTER_DEF(WildcardPatternNode, [](auto p, auto node) { p->stream << "*"; });
 
 TVM_REGISTER_NODE_TYPE(TypePatternNode);