2011 WWE draft
The Brand Extension storyline was initiated in March 2002, in which WWE's Raw and SmackDown television programs were made into brands (similar to conferences within a league) to which employees were assigned; the ECW brand was additionally involved between 2006 and 2009. Annual drafts have followed since this occurrence, except for in 2003. As with past drafts, the purpose of the 2011 WWE draft was to increase television ratings of WWE programming and refresh the rosters for each brand. The 2011 event was confirmed by the RBC Center in April 2011, with WWE officially announcing it on the April 18 episode of "Raw". A USA Network executive had also confirmed the event to occur via a press release on the same day of the WWE announcement.
History of WWE Raw
On June 26, 2005, Jonathan Coachman revealed that he would be the new color commentator for "Raw", a position he held until April 24, 2006 when he left to become the "Raw" General Manager on June 11, 2007. Coachman also did the play-by-play over the next three weeks before Joey Styles revealed that he would be the new lead announcer for "Raw" on the following week after the firing of Jim Ross by Linda and Vince McMahon on October 10, 2005. The show's first night back on October 3, 2005 on the USA Network was billed as the "WWE Homecoming", a three-hour special that featured the return of former WWF/E Champions such as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Triple H and Vince McMahon, along with cameos from legends such as Roddy Piper, Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Snuka, Harley Race and Ted DiBiase. Also, it featured a 30-minute Iron Man match between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. USA also showed "Raw Exposed", an hour of the best moments of "Raw" during its previous run on USA. WWE announced that "Raw" received its highest ratings in three years. On-camera, the show began to be referred to as "Monday Night Raw" again.
During the September 25, 2006 episode of "Raw" in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the opening of "Raw" suffered a blackout. Spotlights were the only lights running in the house, thus the opening match (between Lita and Candice Michelle) was contested in the dark. Power in the presentation was later restored. Another similar moment happened back on May 26, 1996 in Florence, South Carolina for WWF , when a major thunderstorm hit the Florence Civic Center causing major chaos for the pay-per-view. That Tuesday, Beware of Dog returned to North Charleston, South Carolina to finish out three matches that were not shown because of the lost power feed. That October 9, 2006 episode of "Raw" held a three-hour season premiere called the ""Raw" Family Reunion", where the "Raw" brand debuted a new logo and theme song, Papa Roach's "...To Be Loved". The episode also featured talent from the "SmackDown!" and "ECW" brands. Later that month, on October 23, "Raw" aired its 700th episode.