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.
Survivor Series (2017)
In 2016, the WWE brand extension returned, splitting the roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands. Subsequently, Survivor Series 2016 featured several interpromotional matches to determine which was the better brand. This would be the genesis for the theme of Survivor Series 2017, which was brand supremacy. Every champion of the Raw brand faced their counterpart of the SmackDown brand in non-title matches: the Universal Champion against the WWE Champion, the Intercontinental Champion against the United States Champion, the Raw Women's Champion against the SmackDown Women's Champion, and the Raw Tag Team Champions against the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. As the WWE Cruiserweight Championship did not have a SmackDown counterpart, it was the only title to be defended, which was on the pre-show. Two traditional Survivor Series elimination matches, one male match and one female match, pitting five of Raw's male and female wrestlers against five of SmackDown's male and female wrestlers, respectively, also occurred.