WWE Brand Extension The World Wrestling Entertainment Brand Extension was a device first used in 2002 by the professional wrestling organization as a means of providing separate brands of wrestling through its two top shows , " RAW " and " SmackDown ! " , and , in 2006 , with the revival of Extreme Championship Wrestling . In late July 2011 , COO Triple H , announced the end of the Brand extension by allowing Raw and Smackdown superstars appear on each show freely , also announcing Championships can now be defended on either show if the champ desires . Brand extension is not a concept that began with WWE - indeed , one of the greatest successes of former WWE competitor World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) was its nWo faction , which , at the height of its success , was always referred to as its own promotion - going so far as to co - brand all pay - per - view events as " WCW / nWo " . Yet , the overuse of nWo led to little fan interest when a new nWo - exclusive show ( which would become " WCW Thunder " ) was proposed , and the nWo - exclusive " Souled Out " pay - per - view received a low buyrate . History . Ever since acquiring the remains of World Championship Wrestling , its greatest competitor throughout the 1990s , in March 2001 , the WWF ( World Wrestling Federation ) sought for a way to split itself into two separate promotions , due to the numbers of talent that it had acquired as part of its purchase . The original plan was to create a new WCW ( which would be an independent entity in the storylines but would be under the WWF ' s auspices in reality ) , and for this new WCW to take over " RAW " and use the show to recreate its WCW counterpart , " WCW Monday Nitro " . This experiment was first made in June 2001 , when the final few minutes of " RAW " was given to WCW programming , in which the " RAW " crew was largely replaced ( with Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson doing commentary , as well as a major stage overhaul ) . Fans , however , did not hold the WCW segment in high regard , especially when WWF wrestlers interfered at the end of a match between Buff Bagwell and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Booker T . With WWF focused on splitting its roster , the infamous Invasion storyline was used as a second resort . Faced with the early termination of the storyline in that year ' s " Survivor Series " , the WWF executed their alternate plan , which was to separate the two shows themselves : previously , wrestlers appeared on both " RAW " and " SmackDown ! " , but with this extension , wrestlers would be exclusive to only one show . Only the WWF Undisputed Champion and the WWF Women ' s Champion were exempt and could appear on both shows . This was represented in storylines as a feud between the on - screen co - owners Ric Flair and Vince McMahon , who would each take one show - Flair with " RAW " , McMahon with " SmackDown ! " - and draft their initial group of superstars . Later on , when McMahon reasserted control over both shows , he appointed general managers to lead each brand . To many of the fans ' surprise , Eric Bischoff , the former promoter and President of WCW who tried to run the WWF into the ground during such tenure , was placed as the general manager of " RAW " , while Stephanie McMahon , who had led the faction of ECW superstars in the Invasion storyline , was installed as Bischoff ' s counterpart on " SmackDown ! " . Whereas Bischoff was a heel whose decisions often made things difficult for face wrestlers , Stephanie McMahon was a face who generally made fan friendly decisions . The revival of ECW . Although in the 1990s , Extreme Championship Wrestling was another competing promotion , it was highly touted as an " up - and - coming " organization from within then - WWF itself , even going so far as to invade " Monday Night RAW " for one night . When ECW fell largely due to monetary problems , many of its top talent , as well as promoter Paul Heyman , found its way to WWE . Indeed , the failed Invasion storyline also featured an ECW faction , working alongside WCW ( as The Alliance faction ) to unseat WWF from power . Although the storyline was a failure , the idea of reviving the former promotion under WWE auspices ( or in other words , as a third brand to compliment " RAW " and " SmackDown ! " ) was kept on the backburner , largely due to the influence of ECW - style wrestling , the talent that had employed it , and the loyal audience that had enjoyed every moment of it . The success of " The Rise and Fall of ECW " allowed WWE to revive what was a failed experiment with WCW . To test the waters for this brand , a special ECW reunion show was booked , held from the Hammerstein Ballroom , one of ECW ' s old venues . " ECW One Night Stand " , as it would be called , would employ ECW alumni from both " RAW " and " SmackDown " , as well as other wrestlers not employed by WWE at the time . Despite the show originally touted as free of " WWE influence " , the show did have some " WWE involvement " , but in the end it was a huge success . One year later , Rob Van Dam would win the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 22 , signalling to many fans that WWE intended to split off an ECW brand , and would cash in his world title shot at " One Night Stand " later that year . The following months would indeed meet these expectations : Heyman would resurrect the ECW brand , and would raid both the " RAW " and " SmackDown " rosters for talent - notably Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle , a man who staunchly opposed the ECW of old due to being witness to the infamous Raven crucifixion storyline . With RVD being part of the new ECW , RVD would be free to challenge Cena for the WWE Championship at " One Night Stand " , with the provision that should RVD win , the ECW World Championship would replace it . Indeed , while the 2005 edition of " One Night Stand " was to remember the ECW of old , the 2006 edition would effectively be the celebration of ECW ' s new beginnings . Wrestler impact . As a result of the WCW acquisition , the WWF had acquired many lower - card WCW talents ( higher - card talents were typically contracted to Time Warner itself and were usually too expensive for WWF to buy out - and thus absent from the Invasion storyline ) , all of which worked both " RAW " and " SmackDown " . However , because of the limited time given to each show , many wrestlers ( especially former WCW talents ) would not appear for weeks on end . The brand extension served to split up the roster so that more of these wrestlers would have screen time , but at the expense of mainstays who regularly appeared on both shows . Wrestler movement between the two shows were mainly through trades set up by agreement between Flair and McMahon , and later between McMahon ' s appointed general managers . Other wrestler movements were largely done through brand - versus - brand storylines in which the two shows would compete for talent in bidding wars . Journeymen wrestlers could also quietly change shows by means of a character retool through the developmental territories . In 2004 , shortly after " WrestleMania XX " the annual WWE Draft also served as a means of wrestler movement . Interbrand Competition . The brand extension originally tried to minimize interbrand relationships , so as to maintain the fact that the two brands had little relation to each other . Among WWE ' s annual shows , it was envisioned that the " big four " ( for a short time five due to the King of the Ring ) pay - per - view shows ( " Royal Rumble " , " WrestleMania " , " SummerSlam " , and " Survivor Series " ) were the only ones to feature both brands , and among those five only " WrestleMania " , the " Royal Rumble " match , and ( when it was around ) the " King of the Ring " tournament itself would feature interbrand competition . Indeed , for a while matchups between " RAW " and " SmackDown ! " talent were regarded as " interpromotional " . The introduction of ECW in 2006 introduced further confusion , as ECW was touted as a separate promotion from the two " WWE brands " , and as such only interbrand matches involving ECW were deemed to be " interpromotional " . The reintroduction of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " have also led to interbrand supercards . The tradition in giving the " Royal Rumble " winner a shot at the heavyweight championship at " WrestleMania " was also altered as a result of the brand extension and the separation of the men ' s titles in 2002 - initially ( for 2003 ) , the Rumble winner was slated to face their brand ' s champion ( which led to the match between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle ) , while in 2004 , a supposed " loophole " in tradition allowed " SmackDown ! " talent Chris Benoit to face " RAW " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s Triple H , much to the disappointment of " RAW " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s top Rumble finisher that year , Chris Jericho . Since then , the " Rumble " winner has the choice of which champion to face at " WrestleMania " , allowing the winner a chance to change shows . Because of this arrangement , there is no special accolade given to the highest - finishing wrestler of the losing brand at the " Rumble " . However , the losing brand ( i . e . the brand whose top championship wasn ' t being challenged by the " Rumble " winner ) has always held an event shortly following the " Rumble " ( being a tournament or a battle royal ) to determine its top condender for their own top championship . In 2005 , WWE introduced the Money in the Bank ladder match to the WrestleMania card . It is a ladder match where six men square off to retrieve a briefcase containing a contract . The contract guarantees the winner a world title shot anytime in the following year good up until the subsequent WrestleMania . The match was a " RAW " brand exclusive match - up in 2005 , but in 2006 , the match became inter - promotional , and " SmackDown " superstars were added to the mix . 3 superstars from " RAW and 3 from " SmackDown " fought for a title shot from the brand of their choosing . " The introduction of ECW in 2006 entailed that the " big four " pay - per - views would also involve ECW . The 2007 Royal Rumble match featured ECW wrestlers , the ECW Championship will be on of the title choices that the winner of the Rumble can challenge for . It is also unknown whether ECW members will compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania . An early part of the WWE ' s version of ECW was to feature interbrand matches between " RAW " and " Smackdown " wrestlers against the ECW Champion as a way to establish the brand . Wrestlers could appear on two ( or conceivably all three ) shows temporarily as part of an ongoing storyline . Examples of such instances include the aforementioned " Rumble " winner attempting to see which champion he will choose to face , the brand - versus - brand storyline in which wrestlers from the one brand performing run - in s in the other brands ' shows , or one - time reunions that see two wrestlers from separate brands teaming up together . Some have criticized the theoretical separation of talent , as interbrand competition was originally intended to be a novelty for the major shows but has occurred in increasing frequency in the first few years of the extension : in 2005 , " RAW " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s World Tag Team Champions were put on Armageddon , a " SmackDown " event , while in 2006 , " Cyber Sunday " , a " RAW " event , saw the champions of each brand facing off against each other . In an interesting case , the reunion of the Hardy Boyz saw a " SmackDown " wrestler ( Matt Hardy ) and a " RAW " wrestler ( Jeff Hardy ) teaming up on an " ECW " event ( December to Dismember ) . In mid 2011 , Triple H ( COO of WWE at the time ) announced the end of the extension and allowed wrestlers to compete on any show whenever they desire . Pay - per - view impact . Although wrestlers were on separate brands , with each brand getting one show , the pay - per - view events were at the start shared between the two shows - this changed in June 2003 , when " WWE Bad Blood " became the first " RAW " - exclusive pay - per - view event worldwide ( the " RAW " - exclusive " WWE Insurrextion " pay - per - view was held before this in May 2002 but was only shown however in the United Kingdom ) . From then on , each pay - per - view event , with the exception of the major pay - per - views , would be show - exclusive . Even in the joint pay - per - views , inter - brand matches would be limited to the Royal Rumble main event , King of the Ring ( before it became defunct ) , SummerSlam , Survivor Series and WrestleMania , and the intermittent brand versus brand storyline . Former ECW superstars Rob Van Dam , Eddie Guerrero , Chris Benoit , Rey Mysterio , Tajiri , Tazz , Steven Richards , Simon Dean , Nunzio , Chris Jericho , Lance Storm , Dawn Marie , Steve Austin , Mick Foley and The Dudley Boyz , who were all separate by the WWE draft , reunited on June 12 , 2005 for One Night Stand 2005 . The formats of the Rumble and " King of the Ring " were altered as a result of the brand extension - although many early reports assumed that there would be separate " RAW " and " SmackDown ! " Rumble events , in the end , the single 30 - man event would involve 15 wrestlers from each brand . For " King of the Ring " , the format varied from year to year , mainly in experimenting with whether the quarterfinal round would appear on the " King of the Ring " card itself , as well as determining the point in which wrestlers from opposite brands facing each other - the final " King of the Ring " card in 2002 only included the semifinal and final rounds , with inter - brand matches beginning in the semifinal round . As a result of wrestlers effectively working a reduced schedule , due to the fact that wrestlers would ( barring trades or other character retooling ) work at most half of the televised shows and eight of the twelve pay - per - view events each year , WWE added several new pay - per - view events to their calendar , such as " New Year ' s Revolution " , " Taboo Tuesday " and " The Great American Bash " . Championship Impact . Much of the redundant Invasion - era championships ( that is , the WWF championship titles and their WCW counterparts ) were unified in the fallout of the Invasion at the 2001 " Survivor Series " , with the WCW and WWF tag team and second - tier titles being merged . Not long later , with the unification of the WWE Championship and the WCW World Championship , the absorption of the Intercontinental , European , and Hardcore belts into the new World Heavyweight Championship , combined with X - Pac appearing without the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship , despite him being the current title holder , there were effectively only four championships : the brand - neutral men ' s and women ' s champions , and the tag and cruiserweight belts , both of which were exclusive to " SmackDown ! " ( as both sets of champions , Tajiri and the team of Billy and Chuck , were drafted into it ) . After Vince McMahon named Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon as general managers of " RAW " and " SmackDown ! " , respectively , in July 2002 , there was an open period in which wrestlers were free to change shows for the supposed lure of bigger contracts on the other show , with some wrestlers regularly appearing on both shows due to an ongoing " bidding war " . During this time , the tag champions ( Lance Storm and Christian ) moved to " RAW " . Then Intercontinental Championship holder Chris Benoit moved to " SmackDown ! " . He would lose the title shortly after that to " RAW " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s Rob Van Dam at SummerSlam 2002 . The title was then moved back to " RAW " . It was also during this period when then Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused a challenge from " RAW " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s top - contender , Triple H , by agreeing to only wrestle on " SmackDown ! " , and as a result , the World Heavyweight Championship would be created for the champion of " RAW " ( The Title was Awarded to Triple H by Bischoff without a tournament being held ) . With the " bidding war " at an end by an edict of Vince McMahon , a new set of tag team titles were created for " SmackDown ! " , and both tag belts were renamed so as to be consistent with their heavyweight counterparts : thus the older title was renamed to the World Tag Team Championship while the newer belt became the WWE Tag Team Championship . The Intercontinental and WCW United States Championship titles were also reintroduced ( and for the latter , as a WWE belt ) , giving " RAW " three belts and " SmackDown ! " four . To even out the number of belts on both brands , the women ' s championship was made " de facto " " RAW " - exclusive , although the title remained open to challenge to both brands . The revival of ECW in 2006 revived the ECW World Heavyweight Championship , and in doing so , allowed Rob Van Dam to become the first wrestler to concurrently hold championships from two different brands , having held both the WWE Championship and the newly reintroduced ECW World Heavyweight Championship . This has also led to the WWE Championship being defended on two different brands while Van Dam was champion ( the ECW Championship having never been defended on " RAW " during this time ) . It remains possible that any of WWE ' s nine belts ( if the Women ' s championship is to be considered a " RAW " - brand title ) can change shows . The most notable example of titles changing shows was in 2005 , when , as part of the annual draft , the two heavyweight belts switched shows over a four - week period , with WWE Champion John Cena being drafted to " RAW " as the first pick . As a response , " SmackDown ! " general manager Theodore Long attempted to create a third heavyweight belt that would represent " SmackDown ! " , but found it unnecessary when World Heavyweight Champion Batista was drafted as the last pick in the draft . When the Extension ended , Championships were allowed to be defended on either show , this is apparent with Cody Rhodes as Intercontinental Champion defending the tile on Raw SuperShow . The Brand Extension today . Today , all three brands enjoy a top championship . " RAW " enjoy a second - tier championship , a tag - team championship , and a Women ' s Championship . Smackdown enjoys a tag team championship and soon a Diva ' s title . ECW has the United States Championship . The ECW World Heavyweight Championship returned on June 13 , 2006 , on the premiere of " ECW on Sci - Fi , " when former ECW Representative Paul Heyman crowned Rob Van Dam the ECW Champion , it is currently the only championship in ECW . The Extension was anounced to be ended in July 2011 , and was " suspended until further notice " by October 2011 , with superstars and Championships competing and being defended on either show . On May 25 , 2016 it was confirmed that on July 19 that SmackDown would go live and move to Tuesdays and the rosters would be split again .