WWE Brand Extension
Encyclopedia
WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; 1982–2002) and World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2011), currently promotes its core business of professional wrestling
through two "brands" (that are intended to operate on television as scripted independent branches of the company) named after their two major television shows Raw
and SmackDown. Upon the completion of the Monday Night Wars
in 2001, a brand rivalry between promotion
s: World Championship Wrestling
(WCW) and the WWF, the latter company emerged superior. This eventually led to the WWF acquiring all assets of WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling
(ECW; the third largest promotion in the United States during this point in time) through separate buyout
s that included the employees (on and off-air talent) from both companies. With the acquisition of new talent, the WWF's already large roster was doubled in size. In order to allow equal opportunity to all roster members, the company endorsed a brand extension
to have the WWF represented and promoted with two "brands" named after the promotion's two primary television programs: Raw and SmackDown.
The extension officially started on March 25, 2002 with a mock draft on Raw. In 2006, after several reunions
and video releases, WWE announced an addition to its prime time programming with ECW on Sci-Fi. For the second time in company history, WWE was extending its representation with the addition of ECW in a revival state to the original brand extension. Both instances of the brand extensions required that representatives of each brand draft "superstars" (terminology used by the company to refer to its contracted personnel) onto each brand in a mock–draft lottery
.
On the August 29, 2011 episode of Raw, the day before a planned SmackDown "supershow" featuring both brands, WWE chief operating officer
Triple H
announced that Raw would also feature SmackDown stars until further notice, effectively ending the brand extension.
officially announced that the company would represent its business of professional wrestling
through two distinct brands called "Raw" and "SmackDown"—named after the WWF's weekly television programs. This was a direct result of the acquisition of World Championship Wrestling
(WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling
(ECW), the WWF's primary rival corporations throughout the 1990s, that resulted in the addition of numerous talent to the extensive WWF roster, whom were referred to as "superstars" by the company.
In terms of storyline
, WWF superstar Ric Flair
had become fifty percent owner of the WWF following Survivor Series 2001
after Shane
and Stephanie McMahon had sold their stocks to him in order to purchase WCW and ECW, respectively, a campaign to launch the Invasion script. Original full WWF owner Vince McMahon
detested having to share his creation with Flair and sought to dissolve their partnership. Simultaneously, Flair was engaged in a feud with The Undertaker and wanted to conclude it with a bout at WrestleMania X8
. However, the WWF Board of Directors would only allow the match if Flair returned full ownership back to McMahon. Flair agreed, but the Board stated that it would review the WWF's status and ownership following WrestleMania.
In continuation with storyline, the Board's ultimate decision was to split the entire WWF roster into two separate entities, with McMahon in control of the SmackDown! brand and Ric Flair in control of the Raw brand. All WWF superstars were to be assigned to a brand based on random selections conducted through a mock–draft lottery
. On the March 25, 2002 episode of Raw, the WWF Draft was held, in which each owner received a total of thirty picks.
on March 25, 2002. The first half of the draft was televised live
on TNN for two hours, as part of the WWF's flagship program, Raw
. The second half was conducted over the Internet on WWF's official website, WWF.com. There were thirty draft picks, with sixty superstars drafted overall by co-owners of the WWF, Ric Flair
and Vince McMahon
, onto their respective brands, Raw and SmackDown!. For the televised half of the draft, ten brand selections were manually made by Flair and McMahon. The remaining superstars were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of thirty superstars.
On the March 25, 2002 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon
won a coin toss to determine who would receive the first draft selection.
Note:
was the final member of the WWF roster to be assigned a brand, when he was placed on the Raw brand. A month later, the WWF was sued by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF acronym. This resulted in the company being renamed from "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc." to simply "World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.", which caused all of the WWF's assets to be properly renamed and branded. The Flair and McMahon feud came to an end on the June 10, 2002 edition of Raw, when McMahon became the sole owner of WWE by defeating Flair in a No Holds Barred match
. Following the situations with the brand extension and name change, by having two brands in place, the WWF was able to increase the number of live events held each year from 200 to 350, including tours in several new international markets.
(ECW)'s assets in 2003, the company began releasing DVD
s promoting the original ECW. Soon afterwards, the company promoted two ECW reunion shows for ECW Alumni entitled, ECW One Night Stand
in 2005
and in 2006
.
On May 26, 2006, WWE announced a launch of a new brand, ECW, a revival of the 1990s promotion
. The new brand debuted on Sci Fi Channel
on June 13, 2006.
in Tacoma, Washington
on May 29, 2006, where ECW
representative, Paul Heyman
, drafted two superstars, one from SmackDown! and one from Raw
onto the newly created ECW brand.
) deal between then-ECW General Manager Armando Estrada and then-SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero
.
In addition to the Talent Exchange between SmackDown and ECW, an exchange between Raw and ECW was announced in September 2008.
On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon
announced that ECW would air its final episode on February 16, 2010. The ECW brand was disbanded after the final show, with every ECW wrestler becoming a free agent and eligible to join either the Raw or SmackDown brands.
ECW was replaced by NXT,a show promoted as a reality television show,taking ECW's slot on Tuesday nights.
, SummerSlam
, Survivor Series
, and the Royal Rumble
) as the only interbrand shows.
Starting in late 2006, in an attempt to add more star power to the shows, interbrand matches became more common. Most notably, MNM
and The Hardys
reformed, despite the fact that the teammates were on separate brands. Bobby Lashley is also notable for his interbrand action, who was involved in a storyline with the WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon
. The return of Saturday Night's Main Event
to NBC
also led to more interaction between the brands.
Starting in April 2007 with Backlash
, all pay-per-views now feature all the brands as they originally were in 2002.
offerings, which began with Bad Blood
in June 2003. The original idea had the "major" pay-per-view events at the time (Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and WrestleMania) would contain the only instances where wrestlers from different brands would interact with each other, and even among the four shows only the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania would have wrestlers from different brands competing against each other. Wrestlers, as a result, appeared only in two-thirds of the shows in a given year, and thus appeared in fewer shows compared to before the brand extension. With single-brand PPVs in place, WWE was able to add more pay-per-view events to their offerings, such as Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday, New Year's Revolution
, December to Dismember
, and The Great American Bash
. Eventually, WWE abandoned the practice of single-brand pay-per-view events following WrestleMania 23
. December to Dismember and New Year's Revolution were cancelled following the announcement.
and WWE Women's Championship
were available to both brands. The other championships were exclusive to the brand the champion was a part of. With several specialty championships being exclusive to one brand, numerous wrestlers were left with no title to fight for.
This issue was corrected in September 2002 when the Undisputed Championship became the WWE Championship again and was moved to SmackDown! while Eric Bischoff
created the World Heavyweight Championship
for Raw. Shortly thereafter, SmackDown! created their own Tag Team Championship
, revived the United States Championship
, and became the exclusive home of the Cruiserweight Championship
. Meanwhile Raw became the exclusive brand for WWE's original World Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship
, and the Women's Championship
. The end result was each brand having four championships. When ECW was revived in 2006, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship
was reactivated. The United States Championship and WWE Tag Team Championships were able to be shared between SmackDown and ECW following a talent exchange agreement between the two brands, which meant that SmackDown superstars could appear on ECW and vice versa. In July 2008, the WWE Divas Championship
was created on SmackDown, allowing the SmackDown Divas to compete for a title. Following a talent exchange agreement between Raw and ECW made in September 2008, the World Tag Team Championship was also eligible to be shared between Raw and ECW, as seen when John Morrison and The Miz
beat CM Punk
and Kofi Kingston
to become new World Tag Team Champions. John Morrison and The Miz appeared more frequently on the RAW brand during the course of their reign as World Tag Team Champions, moving to a feud with reigning WWE Tag Team Champions of SmackDown, brothers Carlito
and Primo Colon
. The teams fought several non-title and title bouts for their respective brands' tag team championships before the two fought in a winner take all title unification lumberjack match at WrestleMania XXV. Carlito and Primo would go on to win the contest, forming the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. The Tag Team Championships remained separate but were defended collectively as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship until the World Tag Team Championship was retired on the August 16 episode of Raw, leaving WWE Tag Team Championship as the sole active title.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
through two "brands" (that are intended to operate on television as scripted independent branches of the company) named after their two major television shows Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
and SmackDown. Upon the completion of the Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars is the common term describing the period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling from September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001. During this time, the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro in a...
in 2001, a brand rivalry between promotion
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
s: World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(WCW) and the WWF, the latter company emerged superior. This eventually led to the WWF acquiring all assets of WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
(ECW; the third largest promotion in the United States during this point in time) through separate buyout
Buyout
A buyout, in finance, is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity of a company, or a majority share of the stock of the company is acquired. The acquiror thereby "buys out" control of the target company....
s that included the employees (on and off-air talent) from both companies. With the acquisition of new talent, the WWF's already large roster was doubled in size. In order to allow equal opportunity to all roster members, the company endorsed a brand extension
Brand extension
Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this strategy to increase and leverage brand equity...
to have the WWF represented and promoted with two "brands" named after the promotion's two primary television programs: Raw and SmackDown.
The extension officially started on March 25, 2002 with a mock draft on Raw. In 2006, after several reunions
WWE One Night Stand
WWE One Night Stand was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every June by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 2005, with its inaugural event taking place in June of that year. The event's name refers to its original format, that...
and video releases, WWE announced an addition to its prime time programming with ECW on Sci-Fi. For the second time in company history, WWE was extending its representation with the addition of ECW in a revival state to the original brand extension. Both instances of the brand extensions required that representatives of each brand draft "superstars" (terminology used by the company to refer to its contracted personnel) onto each brand in a mock–draft lottery
Draft (sports)
A draft is a process used in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Russia and the Philippines to allocate certain players to sports teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players...
.
On the August 29, 2011 episode of Raw, the day before a planned SmackDown "supershow" featuring both brands, WWE chief operating officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
Triple H
Triple H
Paul Michael Levesque is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling authority figure, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley...
announced that Raw would also feature SmackDown stars until further notice, effectively ending the brand extension.
Background
On March 18, 2002, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) CEO Linda McMahonLinda McMahon
Linda Marie McMahon is an American professional wrestling magnate and politician. She is notable for her career developing WWE with her husband Vince McMahon. She was in the company from 1980 to 2009. During this time, WWE grew from a small regional business in New York to a large multinational...
officially announced that the company would represent its business of professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
through two distinct brands called "Raw" and "SmackDown"—named after the WWF's weekly television programs. This was a direct result of the acquisition of World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
(ECW), the WWF's primary rival corporations throughout the 1990s, that resulted in the addition of numerous talent to the extensive WWF roster, whom were referred to as "superstars" by the company.
In terms of storyline
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...
, WWF superstar Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
had become fifty percent owner of the WWF following Survivor Series 2001
Survivor Series (2001)
Survivor Series was the fifteenth annual Survivor Series pay-per-view professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation...
after Shane
Shane McMahon
Shane Brandon McMahon is an American executive, currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of YOU On Demand. A former executive and professional wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment , he is the son of WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and former US Senate candidate Linda...
and Stephanie McMahon had sold their stocks to him in order to purchase WCW and ECW, respectively, a campaign to launch the Invasion script. Original full WWF owner Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
detested having to share his creation with Flair and sought to dissolve their partnership. Simultaneously, Flair was engaged in a feud with The Undertaker and wanted to conclude it with a bout at WrestleMania X8
WrestleMania X8
WrestleMania X8 was the eighteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It took place on March 17, 2002 at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario. The event marked the final WrestleMania event under the WWF name...
. However, the WWF Board of Directors would only allow the match if Flair returned full ownership back to McMahon. Flair agreed, but the Board stated that it would review the WWF's status and ownership following WrestleMania.
In continuation with storyline, the Board's ultimate decision was to split the entire WWF roster into two separate entities, with McMahon in control of the SmackDown! brand and Ric Flair in control of the Raw brand. All WWF superstars were to be assigned to a brand based on random selections conducted through a mock–draft lottery
Draft (sports)
A draft is a process used in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Russia and the Philippines to allocate certain players to sports teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players...
. On the March 25, 2002 episode of Raw, the WWF Draft was held, in which each owner received a total of thirty picks.
Superstar selections
The 2002 WWF Brand Extension Draft took place at Penn State University in State College, PennsylvaniaState College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...
on March 25, 2002. The first half of the draft was televised live
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
on TNN for two hours, as part of the WWF's flagship program, Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
. The second half was conducted over the Internet on WWF's official website, WWF.com. There were thirty draft picks, with sixty superstars drafted overall by co-owners of the WWF, Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
and Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
, onto their respective brands, Raw and SmackDown!. For the televised half of the draft, ten brand selections were manually made by Flair and McMahon. The remaining superstars were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of thirty superstars.
On the March 25, 2002 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
won a coin toss to determine who would receive the first draft selection.
| Overall Pick # |
Brand |
Pick # |
Superstar/Diva WWE Diva Diva is a term used by World Wrestling Entertainment , an American professional wrestling promotion, to refer to its female talent. The term is applied to women who appear as wrestlers, managers or valets, backstage interviewers, or ring announcers.... |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmackDown! | The Rock |
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| Raw | The Undertaker |
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| SmackDown! | Kurt Angle Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is recognized as a 15-time World Heavyweight Champion... |
|||
| Raw | n.W.o New World Order (professional wrestling) The New World Order was a professional wrestling stable that originally wrestled for World Championship Wrestling . The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation after the purchase of WCW by the WWF... (Kevin Nash Kevin Nash Kevin Scott Nash is an American professional wrestler and actor. As of 2011, Nash is signed to a five year contract with WWE under their WWE Legends program and appears as part of their Raw brand roster... , Scott Hall Scott Hall Scott Hall is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation in the early and mid 1990s under the ring name Razor Ramon, as well as for his period in the mid 1990s and early 2000s with World Championship Wrestling under his real name... & X-Pac Sean Waltman Sean Michael Waltman is an American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE in their developmental program. He wrestled there under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac off and on from 1993–2002, World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Syxx, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ... ) |
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| SmackDown! | Chris Benoit Chris Benoit Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide... |
Drafted while recovering from neck surgery. Benoit made his WWE return on the Raw brand instead. | ||
| Raw | Kane Kane (wrestler) Glenn Thomas Jacobs is a Spanish-born American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name, Kane. He is signed to WWE, appearing on its SmackDown brand, but is currently inactive due to injury.... |
|||
| SmackDown! | "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan Hulk Hogan Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling .... |
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| Raw | Rob Van Dam Rob Van Dam Robert Alexander "Rob" Szatkowski , better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam , is an American professional wrestler and actor who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling .... |
When drafted, Van Dam was the WWE Intercontinental Championship WWE Intercontinental Championship The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is the original secondary title of the promotion. Currently, it is the secondary championship exclusive to the SmackDown brand... , making the title exclusive to Raw. |
||
| SmackDown! | Billy and Chuck Billy and Chuck Billy and Chuck was the professional wrestling tag team of Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo seen in World Wrestling Entertainment.-History:Near the end of the Invasion storyline, Chuck Palumbo was kicked out of the WCW/ECW coalition. In response, he defected to the WWF, where he began teaming with Gunn... |
When drafted, Billy and Chuck were the Tag Team Champions, making the title exclusive to SmackDown! In addition, Billy and Chuck's manager, Rico Rico Constantino Americo Sebastiano Costantino is a retired American professional wrestler and wrestling manager of Italian origin. He is best known by his ring names Rico Costantino and Rico in World Wrestling Entertainment from 2001 to 2004... went along with them in the draft. |
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| Raw | Booker T |
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| SmackDown! | Edge |
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| Raw | The Big Show |
|||
| SmackDown! | Rikishi |
|||
| Raw | Bubba Ray Dudley |
|||
| SmackDown! | D-Von Dudley |
|||
| Raw | Brock Lesnar Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar is an American mixed martial artist, actor and a former professional and amateur wrestler. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and is ranked the No.5 Heavyweight in the world by Sherdog... |
When drafted, Lesnar's manager, Paul Heyman Paul Heyman Paul Heyman is an American entertainment producer, best known for his career in professional wrestling as a promoter, manager, commentator and journalist. He is also an occasional actor in film.... , went along with him in the draft. |
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| SmackDown! | Mark Henry Mark Henry Mark Jerrold Henry is an American professional wrestler signed with WWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. He is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic... |
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| Raw | William Regal |
When drafted, Regal was the Euro Champion WWE European Championship The WWE European Championship was a professional wrestling championship competed for in World Wrestling Entertainment. A coveted singles title of the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was held by superstars such as Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and was... , making the title exclusive to Raw. |
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| SmackDown! | Maven Maven Huffman Maven Klint Huffman is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between October 2001 and July 5, 2005 under the name Maven. In 2008 he became a guest expert on the Home Shopping Network.-Early life:Maven was born to an African-American... |
When drafted, Maven was the Hardcore Champion WWE Hardcore Championship The World Wrestling Entertainment Hardcore Championship is a hardcore wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and is contested under "hardcore" rules, meaning there is no disqualifications, no countouts, and pin falls could be counted anywhere... , making the title exclusive to SmackDown! However, Raven would defeat Maven for the championship prior to the brand separation, bring the title to Raw with him. |
||
| Raw | Lita Amy Dumas Amy Christine Dumas , known by her primary stage name Lita, is the lead singer for the band The Luchagors as well as a retired professional wrestler and WWE Diva active from 1999 to 2006.... |
First Diva Drafted. Only Diva selected on television. | ||
| SmackDown! | Billy Kidman | |||
| Raw | Bradshaw John Layfield John Charles Layfield is a former American professional wrestler, a former commentator/host for mixed martial arts promotion Vyper Fight League and financial analyst for Fox News... |
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| SmackDown! | Tajiri Yoshihiro Tajiri , is a Japanese professional wrestler, perhaps best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment. He is currently competing in SMASH as TAJIRI.-Early years :... |
When drafted, Tajiri was the Cruiserweight Champion WWE Cruiserweight Championship The World Wrestling Entertainment Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and was originally a World Championship Wrestling title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs... , making the title exclusive to SmackDown!. |
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| Raw | Steven Richards Steven Richards Steven Richards is a New Zealand racing driver, currently competing in the with the team. He previously raced in the V8 Supercar series for Ford Performance Racing.... |
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| SmackDown! | Chris Jericho Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine , better known by his ring name Chris Jericho, is an inactive Canadian-American professional wrestler, musician, songwriter, radio personality, television host, actor, author, and dancer... |
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| Raw | Matt Hardy Matt Hardy Matthew Moore "Matt" Hardy is a semi-retired American professional wrestler. He is best known for his stints in World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling .... |
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| SmackDown! | Ivory Lisa Moretti Lisa Moretti is a retired American professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between 1999 and 2005 under the ring name Ivory... |
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| Raw | Raven |
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| SmackDown! | Albert |
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| Raw | Jeff Hardy Jeff Hardy Jeffrey Nero "Jeff" Hardy is an American professional wrestler, who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , where he is a former two–time TNA World Heavyweight Champion... |
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| SmackDown! | The Hurricane Gregory Helms Gregory Shane Helms is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment where he wrestled as The Hurricane and Gregory Helms. He is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling where he wrestled as "Sugar" Shane Helms... |
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| Raw | Mr.Perfect |
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| SmackDown! | Al Snow Al Snow Allen Ray Sarven is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name of Al Snow. He is best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment and currently works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a road agent.-Early career:Sarven... |
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| Raw | Spike Dudley Matt Hyson Matthew "Matt" Hyson is a retired American professional wrestler, best known for his performances in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Spike Dudley and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Brother Runt.In ECW, he was a two-time... |
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| SmackDown! | Lance Storm Lance Storm Lance Timothy Evers known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling... |
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| Raw | D-Lo Brown |
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| SmackDown! | Diamond Dallas Page Diamond Dallas Page Dallas Page , better known by his ring name "Diamond" Dallas Page , is an American retired professional wrestler, fitness instructor and actor... |
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| Raw | Shawn Stasiak Shawn Stasiak Dr. Shawn Emile Stipich, DC, is an American chiropractor and former professional wrestler. He is best known under the ring name Shawn Stasiak and for his stints with World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment, where he is a fifteen time Hardcore Champion, and World Championship Wrestling, where he... |
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| SmackDown! | Torrie Wilson Torrie Wilson Torrie Anne Wilson is a retired American professional wrestler, fitness competitor and model. She is best known for her tenures in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment , where she worked on both their SmackDown and Raw brands throughout her eight-year run.As a fitness... |
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| Raw | Terri Terri Runnels Terri Lynne Boatright Runnels is a former World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation professional wrestling manager, television host and occasional wrestler.... |
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| SmackDown! | Scotty 2 Hotty |
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| Raw | Jacqueline Jacqueline Moore Jacqueline DeLois Moore is an inactive American professional wrestler, who was most recently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling... |
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| SmackDown! | Stacy Keibler Stacy Keibler Stacy Keibler is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment .... |
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| Raw | Goldust |
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| SmackDown! | Christian |
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| Raw | Trish Stratus Trish Stratus Patricia Anne Stratigias , better known by her ring name Trish Stratus, is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and television personality currently signed with WWE. She is also a former fitness model.... |
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| SmackDown! | Test |
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| Raw | Justin Credible |
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| SmackDown! | Faarooq Ron Simmons Ronald "Ron" Simmons is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and retired American football player. He is recognised as being the first Black world heavyweight champion in professional wrestling and the first of only two African Americans to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship,... |
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| Raw | Big Bossman Ray Traylor Ray Walter Traylor, Jr. was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Big Boss Man and World Championship Wrestling under various ring names, most notably Big Bubba Rogers.-Early years:Traylor, a prison guard in... |
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| SmackDown! | Tazz Tazz Peter Senerchia is a retired American professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz... |
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| Raw | Tommy Dreamer Tommy Dreamer Thomas James "Tom" Laughlin is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is currently working for various promotions on the independent circuit. He is best known for his time spent with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment... |
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| SmackDown! | Hardcore Holly Bob Holly Robert "Bob" Howard better known by his ring name Bob "Hardcore" Holly, is a American professional wrestler. He is best known for his 15-year stint with World Wrestling Entertainment .... |
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| Raw | Crash Holly Mike Lockwood Michael John "Mike" Lockwood was an American professional wrestler best known for his time with World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment under the ring name Crash Holly.... |
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| SmackDown! | Val Venis |
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| Raw | Mighty Molly Nora Greenwald Nora Kristina Greenwald , better known by her ring name Molly Holly, is an inactive American professional wrestler. Greenwald is best known for her appearances with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment .Greenwald began her professional wrestling career in WCW, where she... |
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| SmackDown! | Perry Saturn | |||
Note:
- Picks #1-20 were made live on Raw on TNN
- Picks #21 -57 were conducted over WWF.com.
Aftermath
The brand extension was officially enforced on April 1, 2002. On that day, Stone Cold Steve AustinStone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Austin , better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler...
was the final member of the WWF roster to be assigned a brand, when he was placed on the Raw brand. A month later, the WWF was sued by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF acronym. This resulted in the company being renamed from "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc." to simply "World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.", which caused all of the WWF's assets to be properly renamed and branded. The Flair and McMahon feud came to an end on the June 10, 2002 edition of Raw, when McMahon became the sole owner of WWE by defeating Flair in a No Holds Barred match
Hardcore wrestling
Hardcore wrestling is a form of professional wrestling that eschews traditional concepts of match rules in favor of matches that take place in unusual environments, using foreign objects that are not normally permitted...
. Following the situations with the brand extension and name change, by having two brands in place, the WWF was able to increase the number of live events held each year from 200 to 350, including tours in several new international markets.
Background
After World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. bought all of Extreme Championship WrestlingExtreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
(ECW)'s assets in 2003, the company began releasing DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s promoting the original ECW. Soon afterwards, the company promoted two ECW reunion shows for ECW Alumni entitled, ECW One Night Stand
WWE One Night Stand
WWE One Night Stand was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every June by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 2005, with its inaugural event taking place in June of that year. The event's name refers to its original format, that...
in 2005
ECW One Night Stand (2005)
ECW One Night Stand was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It was held on June 12, 2005 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, New York. The main event was a tag team match between The Dudley Boyz and the team of Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman...
and in 2006
ECW One Night Stand (2006)
ECW One Night Stand was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It was held on June 11, 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, New York....
.
On May 26, 2006, WWE announced a launch of a new brand, ECW, a revival of the 1990s promotion
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
. The new brand debuted on Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
on June 13, 2006.
Superstar selections
The 2006 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Brand Extension Draft took place from the Tacoma DomeTacoma Dome
The Tacoma Dome is an indoor arena located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, approximately 30 miles south of Seattle.-History:...
in Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
on May 29, 2006, where ECW
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
representative, Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman is an American entertainment producer, best known for his career in professional wrestling as a promoter, manager, commentator and journalist. He is also an occasional actor in film....
, drafted two superstars, one from SmackDown! and one from Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
onto the newly created ECW brand.
| Pick # | Brand (to) | Employee |
Role | Brand (from) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ECW | Rob Van Dam Rob Van Dam Robert Alexander "Rob" Szatkowski , better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam , is an American professional wrestler and actor who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling .... |
Male wrestler | Raw | ||||
| 2 | ECW | Kurt Angle Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is recognized as a 15-time World Heavyweight Champion... |
Male wrestler | SmackDown! | ||||
Aftermath
In late 2007, SmackDown! and ECW superstars began to appear on each others shows as part of a (kayfabeKayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...
) deal between then-ECW General Manager Armando Estrada and then-SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero
Vickie Guerrero
Vickie Lynn Guerrero is an American professional wrestling personality, manager, shifting authority figure and occasional wrestler. She is the widow of professional wrestler Eddie Guerrero, currently signed to WWE on its Raw brand...
.
In addition to the Talent Exchange between SmackDown and ECW, an exchange between Raw and ECW was announced in September 2008.
On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
announced that ECW would air its final episode on February 16, 2010. The ECW brand was disbanded after the final show, with every ECW wrestler becoming a free agent and eligible to join either the Raw or SmackDown brands.
ECW was replaced by NXT,a show promoted as a reality television show,taking ECW's slot on Tuesday nights.
Interbrand competition
Interbrand competition was kept to a minimum, with superstars from all brands competing together only at pay-per-view events. However, in 2003, all pay per view events became brand exclusive, leaving the "big four" pay-per-views (WrestleManiaWrestleMania
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in late March or early April by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut...
, SummerSlam
SummerSlam
SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in August by professional wrestling promotion WWE. The inaugural SummerSlam took place on August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York and was broadcast via pay-per-view, unlike the Royal Rumble of that...
, Survivor Series
Survivor Series
The Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event held in November by WWE. It is one of the "Big Four" events, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, as It is one of the original four pay-per-views produced by WWE....
, and the Royal Rumble
Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every January by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 1988, with its inaugural event taking place on January 24, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario...
) as the only interbrand shows.
Starting in late 2006, in an attempt to add more star power to the shows, interbrand matches became more common. Most notably, MNM
MNM
MNM was a villainous professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Entertainment and Ohio Valley Wrestling that consisted of Joey Mercury , Johnny Nitro, and their manager Melina Perez....
and The Hardys
Hardy Boyz
The Hardy Boyz are a professional wrestling tag team, consisting of real-life brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy...
reformed, despite the fact that the teammates were on separate brands. Bobby Lashley is also notable for his interbrand action, who was involved in a storyline with the WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
. The return of Saturday Night's Main Event
WWE Saturday Night's Main Event
Saturday Night's Main Event is a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It aired occasionally from 1985 to 1992, under the World Wrestling Federation banner on NBC in place of Saturday Night Live. It returned to the air on March 18, 2006, in an 8 EST time slot...
to NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
also led to more interaction between the brands.
Starting in April 2007 with Backlash
Backlash (2007)
Backlash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on April 29, 2007 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Following WrestleMania, all pay-per-views became tri-branded...
, all pay-per-views now feature all the brands as they originally were in 2002.
Pay-per-views
The separation of the WWE roster between two brands also intended to split the pay-per-viewPay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
offerings, which began with Bad Blood
WWE Bad Blood
WWE Bad Blood was a World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestling pay-per-view event that was held in 1997, 2003, and 2004. Bad Blood 1997 was originally titled In Your House: Badd Blood and took place on October 5. In 2003 and 2004, it was an exclusive event for the Raw brand...
in June 2003. The original idea had the "major" pay-per-view events at the time (Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and WrestleMania) would contain the only instances where wrestlers from different brands would interact with each other, and even among the four shows only the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania would have wrestlers from different brands competing against each other. Wrestlers, as a result, appeared only in two-thirds of the shows in a given year, and thus appeared in fewer shows compared to before the brand extension. With single-brand PPVs in place, WWE was able to add more pay-per-view events to their offerings, such as Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday, New Year's Revolution
WWE New Year's Revolution
Not to be confused with the XPW event of the same name.New Year's Revolution was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, that was produced every January by the American professional wrestling promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment . The event was created in 2005, with its inaugural event...
, December to Dismember
ECW December to Dismember
December to Dismember was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on December 3, 2006 at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are...
, and The Great American Bash
WWE The Great American Bash
The Great American Bash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced in the summer in either the month of June or July by professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment . The 2009 edition was known as The Bash...
. Eventually, WWE abandoned the practice of single-brand pay-per-view events following WrestleMania 23
WrestleMania 23
WrestleMania 23 was the twenty-third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It took place on April 1, 2007 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan...
. December to Dismember and New Year's Revolution were cancelled following the announcement.
Championships
Initially, the WWE Undisputed ChampionshipWWE Championship
The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is the world title of the Raw brand and one of two in WWE, complementing the World Heavyweight Championship of the SmackDown brand. It was established under the then WWWF in 1963...
and WWE Women's Championship
WWE Women's Championship
The WWE Women's Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment promotion. Created in 1956, it was the oldest active professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history until its retirement in 2010 as a result from a unification...
were available to both brands. The other championships were exclusive to the brand the champion was a part of. With several specialty championships being exclusive to one brand, numerous wrestlers were left with no title to fight for.
This issue was corrected in September 2002 when the Undisputed Championship became the WWE Championship again and was moved to SmackDown! while Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, and professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
created the World Heavyweight Championship
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
The World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is the world title of the SmackDown brand and one of two in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship of the Raw brand...
for Raw. Shortly thereafter, SmackDown! created their own Tag Team Championship
WWE Tag Team Championship
The WWE Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship in WWE. It was established as a second title for tag teams in WWE in 2002 to complement the original World Tag Team Championship...
, revived the United States Championship
WWE United States Championship
The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It was originally a National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling championship, and is currently the secondary championship of the Raw brand....
, and became the exclusive home of the Cruiserweight Championship
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The World Wrestling Entertainment Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and was originally a World Championship Wrestling title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs...
. Meanwhile Raw became the exclusive brand for WWE's original World Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship
WWE Intercontinental Championship
The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is the original secondary title of the promotion. Currently, it is the secondary championship exclusive to the SmackDown brand...
, and the Women's Championship
WWE Women's Championship
The WWE Women's Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment promotion. Created in 1956, it was the oldest active professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history until its retirement in 2010 as a result from a unification...
. The end result was each brand having four championships. When ECW was revived in 2006, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship
ECW World Heavyweight Championship
The Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment...
was reactivated. The United States Championship and WWE Tag Team Championships were able to be shared between SmackDown and ECW following a talent exchange agreement between the two brands, which meant that SmackDown superstars could appear on ECW and vice versa. In July 2008, the WWE Divas Championship
WWE Divas Championship
The WWE Diva's Championship is a unified professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is competed for by WWE Divas. The championship was created by WWE in 2008, and was introduced in storyline by then-SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero as an alternative to Raw's Women's Championship...
was created on SmackDown, allowing the SmackDown Divas to compete for a title. Following a talent exchange agreement between Raw and ECW made in September 2008, the World Tag Team Championship was also eligible to be shared between Raw and ECW, as seen when John Morrison and The Miz
John Morrison and The Miz
John Morrison and The Miz were a professional wrestling tag team and former WWE Tough Enough contestants. The team worked for World Wrestling Entertainment on its ECW brand, but also appeared on the SmackDown and Raw brands due to ECW's talent exchanges with those brands during their tenure as a team...
beat CM Punk
CM Punk
Phillip Jack "Phil" Brooks , better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE and working on its Raw brand currently serving his second title reign as WWE Champion....
and Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston
Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah , is a Ghanaian American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Kofi Kingston. He is currently signed to WWE and works on its Raw brand where he is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with Evan Bourne as Air Boom...
to become new World Tag Team Champions. John Morrison and The Miz appeared more frequently on the RAW brand during the course of their reign as World Tag Team Champions, moving to a feud with reigning WWE Tag Team Champions of SmackDown, brothers Carlito
Carly Colon
Carlos Edwin "Carly" Colón, Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler better known internationally by his ring name Carlito. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Entertainment , but was released from his contract on May 21, 2010. In his native Puerto Rico, he is known as both...
and Primo Colon
Eddie Colon
Edwin "Eddie" Carlos Colón is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is currently signed by WWE wrestling on its Raw brand as Primo. He is the son of Carlos Colón, Sr. and the younger brother of wrestlers Stacy and Carly Colón, better known as Carlito in WWE...
. The teams fought several non-title and title bouts for their respective brands' tag team championships before the two fought in a winner take all title unification lumberjack match at WrestleMania XXV. Carlito and Primo would go on to win the contest, forming the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. The Tag Team Championships remained separate but were defended collectively as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship until the World Tag Team Championship was retired on the August 16 episode of Raw, leaving WWE Tag Team Championship as the sole active title.
See also
- WWE Draft
- WWE Roster