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.
List of WWE pay-per-view events
Following WWE's original brand extension in 2002, the company promoted two touring rosters representing its Raw and SmackDown television programs. Aside from Insurrextion (Raw) and Rebellion (SmackDown!), all WWE pay-per-views featured both brands until June 2003. The traditional "Big Four" continued to showcase the entire roster, while the remaining pay-per-views alternated between Raw and SmackDown cards. A special ECW event in 2005 led to the creation of an ECW brand in 2006, which also received its own dedicated pay-per-view. Additional brand-exclusive events were added to the schedule, which reached its peak in 2006 with sixteen pay-per-view events (five Raw, five SmackDown, two ECW, and the original "Big Four"). In March 2007, WWE announced that all subsequent pay-per-views would feature performers from all brands. Dates were slowly removed from the pay-per-view schedule and in 2012, WWE returned to holding twelve pay-per-views a year. However, since the second brand extension in July 2016, brand-exclusive pay-per-views returned with only the "Big Four" as the only pay-per-views to feature both Raw and SmackDown brands, and some months have two pay-per-views, one for each show. Just like the previous brand extension, brand exclusive pay-per-views ended after WrestleMania 34.