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.
WWE Raw 25 Years
The card consisted of nine matches, including four dark matches, that resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw", "SmackDown Live", and "205 Live", the latter of which is cruiserweight-exclusive. "Raw" first aired on January 11, 1993, and since became the longest-running weekly episodic program in television history with no reruns. On October 30, 2017, WWE announced that "Raw" would celebrate its 25 anniversary on January 22, 2018.