Raw (brand)

*This article is about the WWE brand. For the television program, see WWE Raw.*

**Raw** is one of WWE's brands which was first established on March 25, 2002 with a draft on *Raw* and went into effect one week later on April 1. The brand split was discontinued in August 2011, but was brought back in July 2016. Wrestlers assigned to the Raw brand wrestle predominantly on the *Raw* television program as well the cruiserweight-exclusive *205 Live*, and Raw branded or co-branded pay-per-view events and WWE Network events. During the first brand split, they also competed on *Heat* and on *ECW* under a talent exchange program.

### **First split (2002–2011)**

In early-to-mid-2002, then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) underwent a process they called the "brand extension". The WWF divided itself into two de facto wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. *Raw* and *SmackDown!* would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split came about as a result of the WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW); and the subsequent doubling of its roster and championships. The brand extension was publicly announced by Linda McMahon during a telecast of *Raw* on March 25 and became official the next day.

At the time, this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and the WWE Women's Championship as those WWE titles would be defended on both shows. In September 2002, then WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on *Raw*, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown. The following week on *Raw*, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to Raw's designated number one contender Triple H. Because the WWE Undisputed Championship was now a SmackDown exclusive, it was no longer referred to as "undisputed". Following this, the Women's Championship soon became a Raw exclusive as well. As a result of the brand extension, an annual "draft lottery" was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

Raw was the home brand for many top WWE stars including Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Batista (under the stable Evolution), Goldberg, Chris Jericho, Christian, Shawn Michaels, Kane and the Divas Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Victoria.

The 2005 draft was held on the June 6 episode of *Raw*. The first draft lottery pick was then WWE Champion John Cena, thus moving the WWE Championship to Raw and having two titles on the brand. Eventually, then World Heavyweight Champion Batista took his title to SmackDown, leaving only the WWE Championship on *Raw*. On the 2008 draft lottery, CM Punk got drafted to Raw and then won the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge, who was a SmackDown wrestler. Triple H, who was the WWE Champion at the time, got drafted to SmackDown while Kane, who was the then ECW Champion, got drafted to Raw. After the draft lottery in 2009, the WWE Championship was brought back to Raw when Triple H was drafted from SmackDown while the World Heavyweight Championship was brought back to SmackDown when Edge defeated John Cena to win the title at Backlash.

On the August 29, 2011 episode of *Raw*, it was announced that performers from Raw and SmackDown were no longer exclusive to their respective brand. Subsequentely, championships previously exclusive to one show or the other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for—this would mark the end of the brand extension as all programming and live events featured the full WWE roster. In a 2013 interview with Advertising Age, Stephanie McMahon explained that WWE's decision to end the brand extension was due to wanting their content to flow across television and online platforms.

### **Second split (2016–present)**

On May 25, 2016, it was announced that WWE would be reintroducing the brand split in July, with distinctive rosters for both Raw and SmackDown. On the July 11 episode of *Raw*, Vince McMahon named Stephanie McMahon the commissioner of *Raw*. The draft took place on the live premiere of *SmackDown Live* on July 19, with the general managers of the respective brands hand-picking the wrestlers for their brands. Raw's Commissioner and General Manager Stephanie McMahon and General Manager Mick Foley, respectly, created a new championship—the WWE Universal Championship. This championship would be exclusive to the Raw brand, as the WWE World Championship had become exclusive to the SmackDown brand. Clash of Champions was scheduled as the first Raw-exclusive pay-per-view since January 2007 and the reintroduction of the Cruiserweight division where as Elimination Chamber has been scheduled as final Raw-exclusive pay-per-view making upcomings to be interbranded after WrestleMania.

## Champions

*See also: List of current champions in WWE*

Initially, the Undisputed WWE Championship and the original WWE Women's Championship were available to both brands. The other championships were exclusive to the brand the champion was a part of. When the brand extension began, Raw received the Intercontinental Championship and European Championship when their respective holders were drafted. In September 2002, the WWE Undisputed Championship became the WWE Championship again and was moved to SmackDown, prompting Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff to create the World Heavyweight Championship for Raw. Shortly thereafter, Raw became the exclusive brand for the World Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship and the WWE Women's Championship.

On July 19, 2016, the brand extension was brought back and for the first time ever the draft was held on *SmackDown Live*. Raw drafted the WWE Women's Champion, the United States Champion and the WWE Tag Team Champions. With the WWE Championship being defended exclusively on SmackDown, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley introduced the WWE Universal Championship to be Raw's world title.

### **Previous championships**

 WWE Championship | June 6, 2005 - June 11, 2006July 3, 2006 - June 23, 2008April 13, 2009 - August 29, 2011