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 as Main Event, 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".[1] The WWF divided itself into two de facto wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures.[1] 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.mClash 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[]
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 Universal Champions to be Raw's world title.
Current championships[]
| Raw | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Location | Notes |
| WWE Universal Championship | Brock Lesnar | 1 | April 2, 2017 | 2572 | Orlando, Florida | Defeated Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 |
| WWE Intercontinental Championship | Seth Rollins | 1 | April 8, 2018 | 2201 | New Orleans, Louisiana | Defeated Finn Bálor and previous champion The Miz in a triple threat match at WrestleMania 34 |
| WWE Raw Women's Championship | Alexa Bliss | 3 | June 17, 2018 | 2131 | Rosemont, Illinois | Defeated Nia Jax at Money in the Bank by cashing in her Money in the Bank contract. |
| WWE Raw Tag Team Championship | Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt | 1 (1, 3) |
April 27, 2018 | 2182 | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | Defeated Cesaro and Sheamus in a tournament final at the Greatest Royal Rumble to win the vacant titles |
| WWE Cruiserweight Championship | Cedric Alexander | 1 | April 8, 2018 | 2201 | New Orleans, Louisiana | Defeated Mustafa Ali in a tournament final on the WrestleMania 34 pre-show to win the vacant title |
Previous championships[]
| Championship | Time on brand |
|---|---|
| WWE European Championship | March 25, 2002 - July 22, 2002 |
| WWE Hardcore Championship | March 26, 2002 - August 26, 2002 |
| ECW Championship | June 23, 2008 - June 29, 2008 |
| World Tag Team Championship | July 21, 2002 - December 13, 2008 |
| WWE Women's Championship | September 24, 2002 - April 13, 2009 |
| Million Dollar Championship | April 5, 2010 - November 15, 2010 |
| World Heavyweight Championship | September 2, 2002 - June 30, 2005 June 30, 2008 - February 15, 2009 April 5, 2009 - April 26, 2009 |
| WWE Divas Championship | April 13, 2009 - September 19, 2010 |
| WWE United States Championship | April 13, 2009 - April 25, 2011 May 1, 2011 - August 29, 2011 July 19, 2016 - April 11, 2017 April 16, 2018 - April 17, 2018 |
| WWE Championship | June 6, 2005 - June 11, 2006 July 3, 2006 - June 23, 2008 April 13, 2009 - August 29, 2011 |
First brand split events[]
| Date | Event | Venue | Location | Main event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 2002 | Insurrextion | Wembley Arena | London, England | Triple H vs. The Undertaker |
| June 7, 2003 | Insurrextion | Telewest Arena | Newcastle, England | Triple H (c) vs. Kevin Nash in a Street Fight for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| June 15, 2003 | Bad Blood | Compaq Center | Houston, Texas | Triple H (c) vs. Kevin Nash in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship with Mick Foley as special guest referee |
| September 21, 2003 | Unforgiven | Giant Center | Hershey, Pennsylvania | Triple H (c) vs. Goldberg in a Title vs. Career match for the World Heavyweight Championship Had Triple H been disqualified or counted out, he would lose the title. |
| December 14, 2003 | Armageddon | TD Waterhouse Center | Orlando, Florida | Goldberg (c) vs. Kane vs. Triple H in a Triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| April 18, 2004 | Backlash | Rexall Place | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | Chris Benoit (c) vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels in a Triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| June 13, 2004 | Bad Blood | Nationwide Arena | Columbus, Ohio | Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels in a Hell in a Cell match |
| July 11, 2004 | Vengeance | Hartford Civic Center | Hartford, Connecticut | Chris Benoit (c) vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| September 12, 2004 | Unforgiven | Rose Garden Arena | Portland, Oregon | Randy Orton (c) vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| October 19, 2004 | Taboo Tuesday | Bradley Center | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match |
| January 9, 2005 | New Year's Revolution | Coliseo de Puerto Rico | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Batista vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Triple H in an Elimination Chamber match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship with Shawn Michaels as special guest referee |
| May 1, 2005 | Backlash | Verizon Wireless Arena | Manchester, New Hampshire | Batista (c) vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| June 26, 2005 | Vengeance | Thomas & Mack Center | Paradise, Nevada | Batista (c) vs. Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| September 18, 2005 | Unforgiven | Ford Center | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | John Cena (c) vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship |
| November 1, 2005 | Taboo Tuesday | iPayOne Center | San Diego, California | John Cena (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels in a Triple threat match for the WWE Championship |
| January 8, 2006 | New Year's Revolution | Pepsi Arena | Albany, New York | John Cena (c) vs. Edge for the WWE Championship This was Edge's Money in the Bank cash-in match |
| April 30, 2006 | Backlash | Rupp Arena | Lexington, Kentucky | John Cena (c) vs. Edge vs. Triple H in a Triple threat match for the WWE Championship |
| June 25, 2006 | Vengeance | Charlotte Bobcats Arena | Charlotte, North Carolina | D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) vs. The Spirit Squad (Johnny, Kenny, Mikey, Mitch and Nicky) in a 2-on-5 handicap match |
| September 17, 2006 | Unforgiven | Air Canada Centre | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Edge (c) vs. John Cena in a Title vs. Career Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWE Championship |
| November 5, 2006 | Cyber Sunday | U.S. Bank Arena | Cincinnati, Ohio | King Booker (c) vs. Big Show vs. John Cena in a Triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| January 7, 2007 | New Year's Revolution | Kemper Arena | Kansas City, Missouri | John Cena (c) vs. Umaga for the WWE Championship |
Second brand split events[]
| Date | Event | Venue | Location | Main event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 25, 2016 | Clash of Champions | Bankers Life Fieldhouse | Indianapolis, Indiana | Kevin Owens (c) vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship |
| October 30, 2016 | Hell in a Cell | TD Garden | Boston, Massachusetts | Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte Flair in a Hell in a Cell match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship |
| December 18, 2016 | Roadblock: End of the Line | PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship |
| March 5, 2017 | Fastlane | Bradley Center | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Kevin Owens (c) vs. Goldberg for the WWE Universal Championship |
| April 30, 2017 | Payback | SAP Center | San Jose, California | Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns |
| June 4, 2017 | Extreme Rules | Royal Farms Arena | Baltimore, Maryland | Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Bálor vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins in a Fatal 5-Way Extreme Rules match to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Universal Championship |
| July 9, 2017 | Great Balls of Fire | American Airlines Center | Dallas, Texas | Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Universal Championship |
| September 24, 2017 | No Mercy | Staples Center | Los Angeles, California | Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman for the WWE Universal Championship |
| October 22, 2017 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs | Target Center | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Dean Ambrose, Kurt Angle and Seth Rollins vs. The Miz, Braun Strowman, Cesaro, Kane, and Sheamus in a 3-on-5 handicap Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match |
| February 25, 2018 | Elimination Chamber | T-Mobile Arena | Paradise, Nevada | Braun Strowman vs. Elias vs. Finn Bálor vs. John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. The Miz in an Elimination Chamber match for a WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 34 |