SmackDown (WWE brand)
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| Product type | Professional wrestling |
|---|---|
| Owner | WWE |
| Introduced | March 25, 2002 (first split) May 25, 2016 (second split) |
| Discontinued | August 2011 (first split) |
| Related brands |
Raw ECW NXT |
| Commissioner: Shane McMahon | |
| General Manager: Daniel Bryan | |
SmackDown is one of the WWE brand extensions 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 was discontinued in August 2011, but was brought back in May 2016. Wrestlers assigned to the SmackDown brand wrestle predominantly on the SmackDown program, as well as SmackDown branded and co-branded pay-per-view events and WWE Network events. During the first brand split they also competed on WWE Velocity.
In March 2002, WWE underwent the "brand extension", a process in which WWE divided itself into two branches with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. The two divisions, hosted by and named after Raw and SmackDown!, would compete against each other. The split resulted from WWE purchasing its 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 made public during a telecast of Raw on March 18, 2002, initiated with the first draft a week later on the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw, and became official on the April 1, 2002, episode of Raw.
Wrestlers began to wrestle exclusively for their specific show. At the time, this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and Women's Championship, as those WWE titles would be defended on both shows. In August 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, General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to Raw's designated #1 contender, Triple H. Accordingly, Lesnar's championship was no longer deemed "undisputed". Following this, the Women's Championship soon became a Raw exclusive as well. As a result of the brand extension, an annual draft was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.
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