Raw is a
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
of the American
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
promotion
WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to Raw primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, ''
Monday Night Raw
''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show ...
'', also referred to simply as ''Raw''. It is one of WWE's two main brands, along with
SmackDown, collectively referred to as WWE's main roster. The brand was discontinued for a period between August 2011 and July 2016.
In addition to Raw's main television program, less-utilized wrestlers also appear on the brand's supplementary show, ''
Main Event
In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...
''. Raw's wrestlers also perform on the branded and co-branded
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...
and
livestreaming events. During the first brand split (2002–2011), Raw wrestlers also competed on the former supplementary show, ''
Heat
In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...
'', and on ''
ECW'' under a talent exchange program with the former
ECW brand, while during the second brand split (2016–present), the brand's wrestlers have appeared in the interbrand ''
Worlds Collide'' and ''
Mixed Match Challenge'' events. Additionally during the second split, Raw's
cruiserweight wrestlers competed on ''
205 Live
''WWE 205 Live'' is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the WWE Network until March ...
'' when WWE's revived cruiserweight division was exclusive to Raw from 2016 to 2018 before
205 Live
''WWE 205 Live'' is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the WWE Network until March ...
became its own brand.
History
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
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
'' 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
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...
(WCW) and
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW); and the subsequent doubling of its roster and
championships
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
. 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
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDown ...
and the
original 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 title, it was no longer referred to as "undisputed". Following this, the original WWE Women's Championship soon became a Raw exclusive title 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,
Batista,
Randy Orton,
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestlin ...
,
Goldberg,
Booker T,
Chris Jericho,
Christian,
Shawn Michaels,
John Cena,
Kane,
Trish Stratus,
Lita and
Stacy Keibler.
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 was drafted to SmackDown as the last draft pick, leaving only the WWE Championship on ''Raw''. In 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. Subsequently, 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
''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mu ...
'',
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
Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...
named Stephanie McMahon the Commissioner of ''Raw''.
The draft took place on the live premiere of ''SmackDown'' on July 19, with the General Managers of the respective brands hand-picking the wrestlers for their brands. Raw's Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and General Manager
Mick Foley 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
''Clash of the Champions'' is an American series of professional wrestling television specials that were produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in conjunction with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). T ...
was scheduled as the reintroduction of the cruiserweight division and the first Raw-exclusive pay-per-view since
January 2007, whereas
Elimination Chamber was scheduled as the final Raw-exclusive pay-per-view
two years later. Subsequently, this saw all upcoming pay-per-views interbranded after
WrestleMania 34.
Beginning in December 2021, talents from Raw begin to appear on ''
NXT 2.0''.
Dave Meltzer of the ''Wrestling Observer Radio'' reported that a Raw-NXT crossover between their talents as a way to help boost NXT 2.0 ratings as both shows air on the USA Network.
Champions
Initially, the WWE Undisputed 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 the
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 original 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 Championship, the
United States Championship and the
WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE (formerly the WWF, the WWWF, and Capitol Wrestling) has maintained at least one primary tag team championship for its male performers since 1958 (except for a two year interim between 1967 and 1969). During periods of brand division, separat ...
.
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. At
Crown Jewel on October 31, 2019, SmackDown wrestler
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt won the WWE Universal Championship, thus taking the title to SmackDown. On the next night's episode of ''SmackDown'', WWE Champion Brock Lesnar quit SmackDown and moved to Raw, bringing the title with him.
Current championships
*Note – The
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship can also be defended on Raw as it is shared among the brands
Raw 2/18/19 - WWE.com
/ref>
Previous championships
Personnel
Pay-per-view and WWE Network events
First brand split events
Second brand split events
Notes
References
{{Professional wrestling in the United States
WWE Raw
''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show f ...
WWE brands
2002 establishments in the United States
2011 disestablishments in the United States
2016 establishments in the United States