WWE brand extension

The WWE brand extension is a kayfabe division of WWE into distinct branches. WWE has promoted its core business of professional wrestling through such brands, named after their two major television shows Raw and SmackDown. The first brand extension began in March 2002 and ended in August 2011. A third brand existed between 2006-2010 for their television show ECW, which was a revived version of the former promotion. After a five-year period, the brand extension returned in July 2016. Wrestlers are allocated to a brand via an annual draft.

The first brand split ended on the August 29, 2011, episode of Raw, when SmackDown stars began to regularly appear on Raw. WWE explained that their decision to end the brand extension was due to wanting their content to flow across TV and online platforms. However, due to a great influx of superstars from their developmental brand NXT, the brand extension was revived on July 19, 2016, when SmackDown began broadcasting live.

Upon the completion of the Monday Night Wars in 2001, a rivalry between the then-WWF and its archrival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the WWF emerged victorious, 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 buyouts that included the employees (on and off-air talent) from both companies. The sales had left WWF as the sole wrestling promotion in the world with international TV distribution (until the national expansion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor in 2002).

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