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.
2009 WWE draft
The 2009 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) draft was the seventh WWE draft, produced by the American professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment. The draft had two parts: the first part was televised live for three hours on April 13; the second part, the "supplemental draft", was held the same day immediately following the televised portion. The first part was broadcast on WWE's program "Raw" on the USA Network in the United States, and the supplemental draft was available on the Internet, at WWE's official website. The televised portion was held in Atlanta, Georgia at Philips Arena. The 2009 WWE draft marked the third time that the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands were featured in the draft; wrestlers, general managers and commentators were all eligible to be drafted from the company's roster. For the televised half, matches determined which brand received a random draft selection. During the supplemental draft, brand and employee selections were made at random. Due to draft regulations, drafted champions took their titles to their new brands, and tag teams were not exempt from being selected. As a result, the draft impacted championships and split tag teams.