Clash of Champions was established by WWE in 2016 and replaced their previously annual pay-per-view, Night of Champions, which had ran from 2007 to 2015. That event had a theme in which every active championship on WWE's main roster during those years were defended; Clash of Champions was established on a similar concept. The inaugural event was held exclusively for the Raw brand following the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, where the promotion again split its roster into separate brands where the talent exclusively perform. This first event was held on September 25 that year and was the very first Raw-branded event of the second brand extension. The following year, the event was held as a SmackDown-branded event and was pushed back to December.