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.
History of WWE Raw
On March 10, 2005, Viacom and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with Spike TV, effectively ending "Raw" and other WWE programs's tenure on the network when their deal expired in September 2005. On April 4, 2005, WWE announced a three-year deal with NBCUniversal to bring "Raw" back to its former home, the USA Network, with two yearly specials on NBC and a Spanish "Raw" on Telemundo. On the same week as "Raw"s return to the USA Network, Spike TV scheduled Ultimate Fighting Championship's live "Ultimate Fight Night" in "Raw"'s old timeslot in an attempt to go head-to-head with "Raw".