Raw (WWE brand)
Raw is a brand of the U.S. based professional wrestling promotion WWE. The brand was first established on March 25, 2002, with a draft on "Monday Night 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 seasonal "Mixed Match Challenge", 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.
WWE Championship
After the 2016 brand extension where the championship became exclusive to SmackDown, the similarly designed WWE Universal Championship was introduced for the Raw brand. The WWE World Heavyweight Championship was briefly renamed WWE Championship; the digitized belt in the pre-match graphic read "WWE Champion" below the WWE logo. It was then renamed WWE World Championship in July 2016 and the pre-match graphic was updated to read "WWE World Champion". In December 2016, the title was again reverted to WWE Championship; the pre-match graphic no longer includes the title's name. The physical belt, however, retains "World Heavyweight Champion" below the logo.