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NXT (WWE brand)

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WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE , a division of TKO Group Holdings .

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133-509: NXT is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was introduced on February 23, 2010. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to NXT primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, NXT . It serves as a developmental brand for Raw and SmackDown , which are WWE's primary brands considered as

266-415: A United Kingdom -based subsidiary of NXT which was active from 2016 to 2022 (scheduled to be relaunched as NXT Europe in 2024), and 205 Live —a brand that specialized in cruiserweight wrestlers (with all wrestlers for the brand having a billed weight of 205 pounds and under) and was active from 2016 to 2022 (first as a Raw subsidiary, then as a standalone brand, and finally as an NXT subsidiary). In 2001,

399-459: A racial slur in front of Booker T and John Cena . Almost every WWF/WWE , JCP/WCW , and ECW pay-per-view (PPV) event ever produced is available for on-demand streaming. Although WWE promotes the selection as every pay-per-view ever made, a handful of PPV events have not yet been made available. This includes mostly foreign events such as WCW's Millennium Final , Collision in Korea , and

532-535: A "complete revamp" overseen by Levesque. However, due to undergoing heart surgery in September, Levesque stepped away from the brand and Shawn Michaels stepped in to oversee the creative aspect of the brand. Dubbed NXT 2.0 , the revamp began on the September 14 episode of NXT . WWE NXT and 205 Live would emanate from a fully redesigned venue at the WWE Performance Center to coincide with

665-531: A "signature documentary" for the service annually beginning in 2022. After a transitional period, the standalone WWE Network ceased operations in the United States on April 4, 2021. To coincide with the introduction, Peacock announced plans to offer a four-month half-price promotion for new Premium subscribers. Not all content was available at launch, as the service's library was being audited to meet NBCUniversal standards and practices . WWE stated that

798-574: A "small ocean", while "when you get to the main roster you are in the ocean". Reflecting on the Wednesday Night Wars in a 2022 interview, Levesque said, "People put so much pressure on [this] 'competitive war'...it never was that. ... they beat our developmental system, good for them". This effectively retracted the view that NXT was one of their top three brands during that time. The Wednesday Night Wars came to an end in April 2021 when NXT

931-501: A 10-year rights deal with Netflix , which includes international rights for all WWE weekly shows , Premium Live Events , original series, and forthcoming projects from 2025. As a result, WWE Network will cease standalone operations in the vast majority of its remaining countries as of January 1, 2025. It will remain active for an indeterminate period of time in a small number of countries where Netflix's contract will not take effect immediately due to pre-existing contracts. The origins of

1064-570: A Foxtel-run WWE linear channel added to its services), Disney+ in the Philippines, and Abema in Japan. On January 23, 2024, WWE announced an agreement with Netflix to hold the rights to Raw globally, and rights to Raw , SmackDown , NXT , documentaries, and pay-per-view events outside of the United States, beginning in January 2025. Immediately after the announcement, the future of

1197-709: A United Kingdom-based brand that would be produced exclusively in the country. In June 2018, the brand was officially established as NXT UK , a sub-brand of the American-based NXT. In September 2021, NXT was rebranded as NXT 2.0 and then in February 2022, the 205 Live brand was dissolved. In 2024, NXT UK will be relaunched as NXT Europe and feature wrestlers from all of Europe. According to Shawn Michaels , two additional NXT sub-brands will be launched that same year: NXT Mexico and NXT Japan which will also feature wrestlers from Mexico and Japan respectively. NXT Europe

1330-529: A WWE-branded channel to DStv carrying WWE programs and WWE Network original series. On January 27, 2022, it was announced that WWE Network would be available on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia at no additional costs to subscribers. Amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military , WWE announced on March 3, 2022, that it had terminated the broadcasting relationship with Russia and shut down

1463-404: A brand extension between WCW and the popular New World Order (nWo) stable, which would have seen the group expand in scope and the production of nWo-branded programming; this concept was scrapped due to budgetary concerns. However, in 1997, an nWo-exclusive pay-per-view , Souled Out , was held. A year later in 1998, WCW began co-branding all of its pay-per-view events under the "WCW/nWo" banner,

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1596-510: A branded channel within the Peacock service, with the full service included as part of the paid Peacock Premium tier (which features a wider array of television, film, and sports programming), and a selection of WWE Network content (including some of its original series such as The Bump and Raw Talk , and episodes of Total Divas and Total Bellas from NBCUniversal cable channel E! ) available within its free tier. WWE committed to produce

1729-416: A combination of musical rights issues over his entrance music and the inability to remove the music without losing the original commentary audio. The deleted matches were eventually reinstated with replacement music and newly recorded Joey Styles commentary. Several pay-per-views are copies of their condensed home video releases, rather than the live versions, and so are missing matches. Archive content on

1862-514: A later date. On October 30, 2014, in an attempt to increase subscription numbers from an announced figure of 731,000, the 6-month subscription requirement was dropped, allowing subscribers the option to cancel at any time. WWE had originally planned to launch the network on October 1 in the United Kingdom, but was delayed for a further month. The launch was confirmed to be taking place at 8 p.m. on November 3; however, 20 minutes prior to

1995-502: A launch later set for January 23, 2023. As part of the agreement, Foxtel's channel Fox8 will continue to carry WWE programming, and Foxtel will also introduce a new, WWE-branded linear channel. On October 20, 2022, it was announced that the WWE Network would move to Disney+ in the Philippines upon its launch on November 17, 2022; however, WWE's agreement with Disney+ ended two years later, following which WWE Network relaunched as

2128-466: A new WCW (which would be an independent entity in the storylines but would be under the WWF's auspices in reality), and for this new WCW to take over Raw and use the show to recreate its WCW counterpart, WCW Monday Nitro . (The WWF was unable to find a television time slot for WCW due to its exclusivity deal with Viacom .) This experiment was first made on July 2, 2001, when the final twenty minutes of Raw

2261-874: A new brand extension was introduced on July 19, 2016. Raw drafted the WWE Women's Champion, the United States Champion, and the WWE Tag Team Champions, while SmackDown drafted the WWE Champion and the Intercontinental Champion; NXT champions were ineligible to be drafted. This distribution of championships remained unchanged at the Battleground pay-per-view, which took place the Sunday immediately following

2394-469: A practice that continued into 1999. In the mid-2000s, New Japan Pro-Wrestling introduced a brand extension which divided their roster into two sub-brands: Wrestle Land and Lock Up; around the same period fellow Japanese promotion Kaientai Dojo promoted two sub-brands for their roster, Get and Rave. In 2013, AAA launched a brand extension that split their roster into two sub-brands, Evolución and Fusión . A similar concept to WWE's brand extension

2527-702: A premium pay-TV outlet, with a potential price of $ 15 a month. On Old School Raw in January 2014, WWE ran teasers promoting an announcement on January 8 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, later confirming that the announcement concerned the WWE Network. At the Consumer Electronics Show, WWE revealed a comprehensive plan which would see a launch date of February 24, 2014 in the United States. WWE Classics on Demand closed on January 31, 2014, to make way for

2660-482: A rights deal with Viacom, the company had floated the idea of acquiring USA's Sci-Fi Channel , and reformatting it as a dedicated wrestling network. USA executives rejected the idea, and McMahon said that former USA Networks President Barry Baker encouraged her to talk to other programmers about potential deals. " 'I can tell you right now, Linda, you're not going to get anybody to give you a network,' " McMahon quoted Baker in her testimony. In 2005, USA Network re-acquired

2793-704: A second draft of 2019 occurring in October, the Wild Card Rule was abolished. In May 2020, select and limited interbrand matches returned with the introduction of the Brand to Brand Invitational, though under stricter guidelines than the previous Wild Card Rule. This happened largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , in which several wrestlers have opted to not perform during the outbreak, thus resulting in fewer available talent on each show. The separation of

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2926-426: A second free preview week of the WWE Network, which started July 7, in an attempt to sign new subscribers. A second report released at the end of July indicated that the network had reached 700,000 subscribers. WWE's goal was to reach one million subscribers by the end of 2014. On July 31, 2014, the company announced a 10-year, Canadian distribution deal for WWE content with Rogers Media (owner of Sportsnet 360 ,

3059-453: A series of matches or challenges. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on the weekly series. Over the course of its five-season run, the winners of each season were Wade Barrett ( Season 1 ), Kaval ( Season 2 ), Kaitlyn ( Season 3 ) and Johnny Curtis ( Season 4 ). After NXT Redemption , the show's seasonal format was dropped. WWE brand extension The brand extension , also referred to as

3192-529: A soft brand extension between its Dynamite and Collision programs, which saw select wrestlers featured exclusively on one of the two shows for a select period of time; this was mostly abolished after CM Punk (who almost exclusively was on Collision ) was fired for his legitimate backstage incident with Jack Perry at that year's All In event. WWE Network The service relied on technology developed by MLB Advanced Media and BAMTech , prior to Endeavor Streaming assuming technical operations of

3325-489: A standalone service. WWE Network previously offered "WWE Collections", which are video packages of memorable characters and storylines. In July 2019, WWE updated the network and subsequently removed all collections. Former collections In addition to previous editions of the original programs listed above, the network includes many other previously aired events. Although the United States parental guidelines rating system rates most weekly WWE television programs TV-PG,

3458-455: A statement saying, "Dish will not offer the 'WWE Elimination Chamber' PPV on 2/23. WWE is not willing to adjust their PPV costs to satellite and cable companies, which is unfair to their customers. We need to re-focus our efforts to support partners that better serve Dish customers." Dish later made a decision to air WrestleMania XXX . Dish declined to offer WrestleMania 31 and 32 but did offer WrestleMania 33 in 2017. In October 2014, it

3591-1263: A support event for SummerSlam . In December of the same year, NXT held its first TakeOver event outside of the United States with NXT TakeOver: London . By 2016, NXT was running approximately 200 shows per year between the United States and overseas. In late February and March 2015, several former NXT trainees previously working within WWE developmental system alleged misconduct by head trainer Bill DeMott , with Judas Devlin and Brandon Traven publicizing complaints which they claimed they had submitted to WWE management about DeMott back in March 2013 when they were still employed with WWE. Meanwhile, other ex trainees like Briley Pierce , Derrick Bateman and independent wrestler Terra Calaway also made allegations in 2015, while previous allegations made in 2013 by Chad Baxter and Chase Donovan were also noted. They accused DeMott of making trainees perform dangerous drills, physically assaulting and bullying trainees, using homophobic and racial slurs amongst other derogatory terms and condoning sexual harassment . WWE released statements regarding some of

3724-676: A talent exchange agreement, which meant that SmackDown! wrestlers could appear on ECW and vice versa. This allowed the United States Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship to be shared between the two brands. In July 2008, the WWE Divas Championship was created for SmackDown, allowing SmackDown's women wrestlers to compete for a title. A talent exchange between ECW and Raw then began in September 2008. After John Morrison and The Miz of ECW became World Tag Team Champions, they appeared more frequently on

3857-434: A third brand, and a revival of the original ECW promotion. Both instances of the brand extensions required that representatives of each brand draft "superstars" (terminology used by the company to refer to its contracted personnel) onto each brand in a draft lottery . After WWE bought all the assets of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2003, the company began releasing DVDs promoting the original ECW. Soon afterwards,

3990-403: A three-hour show and SmackDown being a two-hour show, Raw received three picks each round and SmackDown received two. Six draft picks had to be made amongst the non-title holders from WWE's developmental brand , NXT . Seth Rollins was picked first by Raw, with WWE Champion Dean Ambrose being SmackDown's first pick. Two other brands would also be established during the second split. After

4123-735: A wider talent exchange with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Several TNA wrestlers would make appearances on NXT's weekly television series and livestreaming events. The colors and symbols indicate the brand of the champions (if they are not part of the NXT roster ). The WWE Network was the main broadcaster of NXT's eponymous television program in the United States from 2014 to 2019. Regular episodes ran for one-hour and aired on tape delay, while live NXT TakeOver events were produced periodically. Beginning on May 17, 2012, WWE began filming NXT at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida , with

NXT (WWE brand) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4256-637: Is currently available through 186 out of 193 United Nations member states (including all 27 European Union nations) and two observer states such as the Holy See and the State of Palestine . It is also distributed through six non-UN countries: the Republic of China (Taiwan) , the Cook Islands , Kosovo , Niue , Northern Cyprus , and SADR -claimed Western Sahara . In late 2017, Liechtenstein and

4389-468: Is currently utilized by the Japanese promotions CyberFight , which promotes four distinct sub-brands, and Gleat , which promotes three sub-brands. Following the acquisition of Ring of Honor (ROH) by All Elite Wrestling (AEW) founder Tony Khan in March 2022, ROH and AEW are operated independently with separate rosters and championships while both are under Khan's ownership. In 2023, AEW launched

4522-533: Is presented as legitimate wrestlers and not as eye candy in the past, eventually giving way to the WWE Women's Evolution . In September 2019, NXT's weekly television series was expanded to a two-hour format and moved to USA Network . The brand faced direct Nielsen ratings competition from All Elite Wrestling 's flagship show, Dynamite , during this period as part of the " Wednesday Night Wars ". In April 2021, NXT's television series moved to Tuesday nights, and

4655-503: The NXT television program - it featured rookies from WWE's Tampa, Florida -based developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) competing to become members of WWE's main roster. In June 2012, WWE ceased operating FCW, and instead started running all of its developmental events and operations at Full Sail University under the NXT banner. The television show would also be revamped

4788-550: The Hart family . Matches called with Jesse Ventura on commentary, which had previously been dubbed over due to a 1991 lawsuit , are available with the original commentary. While the network promoted on-demand airings as being unedited, some instances of expletives , gestures, and all nudity are censored. Many programs were digitized for WWE 24/7 prior to the 2012 settlement with the World Wide Fund for Nature , and thus

4921-627: The Japan Supershows , and ECW's foreign ECW/FMW Supershows , however it also includes some events held domestically such as WCW's Nitro Girls Swimsuit Calendar Special and When Worlds Collide , and WWF's No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie . In addition the pay-per-view section contains several events which did not air on pay-per-view, such as WWE events Royal Rumble 1988 and WWE Global Warning Tour: Melbourne . Many ECW Supercards are also listed as pay-per-views, despite never actually airing there. The WWE Network offers videos under

5054-602: The Monday Night War , the rivalry between the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) ended with the WWF emerging victorious. The WWF would acquire the majority of assets of WCW, and later Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) (the third largest promotion in the United States at the time), through separate buyouts that included the employees (on and off-air talent) from both companies. The sales had left

5187-642: The NXT UK Women's Championship and NXT UK Tag Team Championship ; the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship in January 2020. A secondary title of the NXT brand was also introduced in mid-2018, the NXT North American Championship . In early 2019, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was established to be shared between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. In May 2019,

5320-523: The NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36 , establishing that NXT championships were also options for Rumble winners to choose as they are guaranteed a world championship match of their choice at WrestleMania . During this time period, some at NXT referred to the promotion as WWE's 'third brand', although many journalists still referred to NXT as developmental, with Raw and SmackDown viewed as WWE's "main roster". WWE wrestler Matt Riddle called NXT

5453-461: The Orlando, Florida area since its relaunch, the brand would be expanded upon over time, having embarked on national and international tours. Wrestling critics and fans came to view NXT as its own distinct entity during this period, with the brand's shows being praised for their high-quality matches and storylines. It is also praised for its increased focus on women's wrestling as its women's division

NXT (WWE brand) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5586-666: The TakeOver banner), while NXT UK had this similar practice. Initially, the Undisputed WWE Championship and the original WWE Women's Championship were available to both brands. The other championships were exclusive to the brand the champion was a part of. When the brand extension began, Raw received the Intercontinental Championship and European Championship when their respective holders were drafted, while SmackDown! became

5719-553: The WWE 24/7 Championship was established. Defended across all five of WWE's brands, it was open to anyone, regardless of gender or WWE employment status. In October 2019, after NXT's creative team took over 205 Live, the WWE Cruiserweight Championship was renamed to NXT Cruiserweight Championship, with the title shared between 205 Live and NXT, and was later extended to NXT UK in January 2020. A secondary title

5852-796: The WWE Classics on Demand service. It launched in Canada in July of that year and expanded to the Asia–Pacific region and select European countries in August. The United Kingdom received the service in February 2015, and was made available in the Middle East and parts of Africa that March, and to India in November. It was launched in additional European and Asian countries in January 2016. Upon launch,

5985-501: The WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship respectively and both received new belt designs one week later. Meanwhile, a new World Heavyweight Championship was introduced for the brand that did not draft Roman Reigns in the 2023 draft , with Reigns keeping his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (it is currently unclear if one of Reigns' titles will be retired). SmackDown drafted Reigns, thus

6118-721: The WWF Women's Champion were exempt and could appear on both shows. This would change as both championships were later assigned to a brand. The brand extension began on March 25, 2002, with a draft on Raw and went into effect one week later on April 1. On May 6, 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, which became an orphaned initialism in 2011). On June 13, 2006, after an Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion pay-per-view and video releases, WWE announced an addition to its prime time programming with ECW on Sci-Fi . The new ECW brand launched in May 2006 and served as

6251-905: The World Heavyweight Championship for Raw. Shortly thereafter, Raw became the exclusive brand for the World Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the Women's Championship. Meanwhile, SmackDown! created the WWE Tag Team Championship and revived the United States Championship . The result was each brand having four championships: World Heavyweight, Intercontinental, World Tag Team, and Women's titles for Raw; WWE, United States, Tag Team, and Cruiserweight titles for SmackDown!. When ECW

6384-480: The brand split , is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE 's roster of wrestlers (and, at various times, creative staff) into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while

6517-441: The "Home Video Classics" header which includes various previous home video releases that had been originally released by Coliseum Video . Additional content from WWE Libraries , which has a library of over 100,000 hours of programming, will be added over time. In an interview with Time , Michelle D. Wilson, chief revenue and marketing officer for WWE, stated their reason for bypassing cable companies and instead only offering

6650-479: The "NXT 2.0" title and adopting a gold color scheme reminiscent of the original NXT branding. In late-2022, after Triple H became chief content officer of WWE, NXT wrestlers began to increasingly make appearances on WWE's mid-card program Main Event . These crossovers came as part of efforts to increase the profile of NXT's talent, and evaluate their performances with members of WWE's main roster. In 2024, WWE began

6783-430: The "WWF" and the "WWF scratch" logo are censored in some instances. Some original music has been dubbed over with alternate tracks such as the original intro music to Saturday Night's Main Event (May 1985 – January 1988 episodes) which originally played " Obsession " by Animotion . At launch, all but one of New Jack 's matches were removed from ECW pay-per-views, as was his surprise return at Heat Wave 1998 , due to

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6916-417: The 205 Live and NXT UK brands would essentially be subsidiaries to NXT, with their respective talents and personnel falling under the NXT banner. On October 31, 2019, it was announced that NXT would take part in that year's Survivor Series , competing directly against Raw and SmackDown . In 2020, after winning that year's women's Royal Rumble match, Charlotte Flair chose to challenge Rhea Ripley for

7049-655: The Cruiserweight Championship was defended on the cruiserweight-exclusive show, 205 Live . 205 Live would become its own brand in 2018, making the title exclusive to the brand. The WWE United Kingdom Championship was unveiled in December 2016 with its inaugural holder determined in January 2017. The title later became the top championship for the United Kingdom-based NXT spinoff, NXT UK, which debuted in mid-2018 and also introduced

7182-416: The Intercontinental Championship in July and August 2002, respectively, deactivating both championships. The issue of specialty championships being exclusive to one brand was partially corrected in September 2002. When SmackDown! general manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar signed a deal to exclusively appear on SmackDown! , Raw general manager Eric Bischoff introduced

7315-772: The NXT United Kingdom Championship, the NXT UK Women's Championship, and the NXT UK Tag Team Championship were retired and unified into their respective NXT counterparts after the NXT UK brand went on hiatus (which will relaunch in 2023 as NXT Europe). The NXT UK Heritage Cup was not retired and after months of inactivity, it was transferred to NXT in April 2023 and renamed the NXT Heritage Cup. The 24/7 Championship

7448-491: The Network content in the region. On July 30, 2015, WWE revealed the number of subscribers for the Network at 1.156 million. This was announced as a part of WWE's financial reporting on the second quarter of the year, which had resulted in their stock price rising past $ 20.00 after closing on the previous day at $ 16.48. The total of 1.156 million paid subscribers marked a 13% decrease from the 1.315 million paid subscribers that

7581-499: The Network received acclaim, with The New York Times saying that WWE had "positioned themselves on the cutting edge of Internet television." Later that month, the company announced that the network had 667,000 subscribers, short of the one million subscribers they needed to break even. As WWE's stock fell 50% the following month, Forbes described low subscription numbers as being of "additional concern" for investors after WWE's underwhelming NBCUniversal renewal deal. WWE offered

7714-472: The Peacock-hosted version of WWE Network is being further edited for content by NBCUniversal. On launch, two pay-per-views were edited to remove racially-insensitive content; WrestleMania VI was edited to remove a match between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown where Piper had painted half of his body black , and Survivor Series 2005 was edited to remove a backstage segment where Vince McMahon used

7847-742: The People's Republic of China were added to the list of non-available countries, however, the WWE Network is still available in the PRC special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau as well as ROC - controlled Taiwan and Fujian . Since January 2021, WWE Network is available in India as an add-on subscription through the SonyLIV streaming service. In December 2019, WWE renewed its agreements in Sub-Saharan Africa with SuperSport , adding

7980-646: The Raw brand, moving to a feud with reigning WWE Tag Team Champions of SmackDown, brothers Carlito and Primo Colon . The teams fought several non-title and title bouts for their respective brands' tag team championships before the two fought in a winner-take-all title unification lumberjack match at WrestleMania 25 . Carlito and Primo would go on to win the contest, forming the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. The tag team championships remained separate titles, but were defended collectively as

8113-461: The USA Network. In September 2022, Michaels was promoted to Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative, responsible for both creative and development at NXT, and for the expansion of NXT UK into NXT Europe at a later time. At the conclusion of the September 13, 2022 episode of NXT— which marked the one-year anniversary of the revamp—an updated logo for the brand was unveiled, dropping

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8246-881: The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, although both titles retained their individual lineages; Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn would then win the tag titles at WrestleMania 39 ; One year later, the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship would finally split at WrestleMania XL in a Six-Pack Ladder Match with A-Town Down Under winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and Awesome Truth winning the Raw Tag Team Championships, both of these titles would eventually renamed as

8379-406: The Unified WWE Tag Team Championship until the then-anonymous general manager of Raw announced that the World Tag Team Championship would be retired in favor of continuing the WWE Tag Team Championship, which received a new, single set of belts. On February 16, 2010, the ECW Championship was deactivated along with the ECW brand. On September 19, 2010, at Night of Champions , the Women's Championship

8512-404: The United States, though a list was not published in this statement. It was subsequently reported that WWE Network would remain active in a small number of international markets where Netflix cannot yet assume rights due to conflicting contracts, and in fact was relaunching as a standalone service in the Philippines following the end of WWE's contract in the region with Disney+. The WWE Network

8645-409: The United States, which continued to be marketed as a standalone offering through either WWE or its local partners. However, in 2022 WWE began to reach additional agreements to merge WWE Network into streaming services in other territories, including Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Binge in Australia (as an extension of WWE's existing media rights agreement in Australia with Foxtel , which also saw

8778-413: The WWE Network broadcasts a wider range of content. A parental controls block is available and content rated TV-14 and TV-MA are preceded by an advisory warning. The network airs footage featuring Chris Benoit ; it marks the first major airing of Benoit footage or even mention of Benoit in said footage since his double-murder-suicide in 2007 . However, the Benoit tribute episode of Raw is replaced with

8911-429: The WWE Network can trace back to 2000 when USA Network filed a lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, known as WWE since 2002) due to a breach of contract which saw most of its programming moved to Viacom -owned TNN and MTV . The Delaware Chancery Court ruled in favor of the WWF in June 2000. Then CEO Linda McMahon revealed that WWF wanted its own cable network and testified that before WWF signed

9044-421: The WWE Network had broken into the top five streaming services and trailed only MLB.tv in the sports category. WWE announced the network would launch in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Japan on January 5, 2016, followed by Thailand and the Philippines on February 29, 2016. In April 2017, WWE announced a total of 1.949 million subscribers to the WWE Network, of which 1.661 million were paid subscribers. At

9177-484: The WWE Network in the country, in line with the global sanctions imposed by the United States . The WWE Network service is also not available in the Russian-controlled regions of Crimea , Donetsk , Kherson , Luhansk , Zaporozhye , Transnistria , Abkhazia and South Ossetia . On September 28, 2022, WWE announced an agreement with its Australian rightsholder Foxtel , which will see WWE Network merged into its streaming service Binge beginning in January 2023, with

9310-473: The WWE Network online: "Digital over-the-top offerings represent the future, and given that our passionate fans consume five times more online video content than non-WWE viewers and over-index for purchasing online subscriptions such as Netflix and Hulu , we believe the time is now for a WWE Network." In response to the announcement, DirecTV issued a statement saying that they are re-evaluating whether to continue carrying WWE's pay-per-view events . Due to

9443-455: The WWE Network was left unclear, though it was speculated that the service was about to be discontinued since it had been already moved to other streaming services in other regions. On November 22, 2024, an email was sent out to many subscribers confirming that the service will no longer be available in certain areas effective January 1, 2025. It was first sent out in United Kingdom, with this change also taking effect in other territories outside

9576-549: The WWE Network was met with positive reception of its content library , but was criticized for technical problems. The service had 1.5 million subscribers by October 30, 2020. Beginning in 2021, WWE began to phase out WWE Network as a standalone service in some markets, transitioning its content library to domestic streaming services owned by local rightsholders (such as Peacock in the United States, Binge in Australia, and Disney+ in some Asian markets). In 2024, WWE announced

9709-446: The WWE Network. A free trial period was offered during the week of the launch. At the time of the launch, archival programming from WCW, ECW, SMW, AWA, and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), amongst other promotions owned by WWE Libraries Inc. was included on the service. The logo initially used for the WWE Network eventually became the standard logo used by the WWE corporation in August 2014. In April 2014, ahead of WrestleMania XXX ,

9842-697: The WWE Women's Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship were renamed as the Raw Women's Championship and the Raw Tag Team Championship, respectively. With this, each brand had a world championship , a secondary championship , a tag team championship , and a women's championship . Since Raw became the exclusive home of WWE's revived cruiserweight division, they also created a new WWE Cruiserweight Championship . Beginning November 29, 2016, in addition to Raw ,

9975-472: The WWE roster between two brands also intended to split the pay-per-view (also known as premium live event from 2022) offerings, which began with Bad Blood in June 2003. The original idea had the "major" pay-per-view events at the time (Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and WrestleMania) would contain the only instances where wrestlers from different brands would interact with each other, and even among

10108-408: The WWF as the only major professional wrestling promotion in the world with international television distribution (until the national expansion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2004 and much later, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2019 on a larger scale). With the acquisition of new talent, the WWF's already large roster doubled in size. In order to allow equal opportunity to all wrestlers,

10241-667: The World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw. In June 2023, Reigns received a new belt design that represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, he would then finally drop the title to Cody Rhodes at Night 2 of WrestleMania XL on April 7, 2024. Although mostly regarded as a WWE concept, brand extensions have also occurred in other professional wrestling promotions. In the 1990s, then-President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Eric Bischoff proposed

10374-676: The World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship to become the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The title retained the lineage of the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship was retired. The name was reverted to WWE Championship on June 27, 2016. At WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, the Divas Championship was retired and then replaced with a brand-new WWE Women's Championship . After five years,

10507-439: The assets of NeuLion) to provide infrastructure and billing services, and Massive Interactive to develop a new front-end and mobile apps. The new WWE Network platform launched in July 2019, ahead of SummerSlam . It includes a revamped user experience, support for 1080p streams, new browsing tools (such as a new "Superstars" interface for filtering content by performers), and plans to add a download feature for offline viewing in

10640-477: The brand would relaunch under the "NXT 2.0" banner later that September, reinstituting its original function as a developmental brand. A year later, the brand would revert to its original "NXT" name. In addition to NXT's main television program, the brand's wrestlers also appear on the supplementary show, Level Up ; some NXT wrestlers also occasionally appear on Raw's supplementary program, Main Event , typically when they are in consideration to being promoted to

10773-455: The claims that came to light in 2013 and 2015, saying that investigations were done and no wrongdoing was found. On March 6, 2015, DeMott denied the allegations, but resigned from WWE. On August 20, 2019, it was announced that the NXT television series would move to USA Network —the current broadcaster of WWE's flagship Monday Night Raw —and expand into a two-hour, live broadcast on Wednesday nights beginning September 18, 2019. The timing of

10906-673: The coming year." On February 12, 2015, WWE announced a five-year partnership with television provider OSN to bring the WWE Network to the Middle East and North Africa as a premium service. On March 31, 2019, all OSN Sports channels were shut down and WWE content stopped airing on OSN services. A year later, WWE announced the Network content would be accessible in the MENA region directly through WWE services with no regional television provider or streaming service involved. Currently, and since March 23, 2022, Shahid holds exclusive rights to

11039-409: The company endorsed a brand extension to have the WWF represented and promoted with two brands, Raw and SmackDown! , named after the promotion's two primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown! , respectively. In early 2002, the idea was put in motion to separate the WWF's two shows into distinct brands while both being under the WWF banner. One year prior, the original plan was to create

11172-421: The company promoted two ECW reunion shows for ECW alumni , entitled ECW One Night Stand in 2005 and in 2006 . On May 25, 2006, WWE announced a launch of a new brand, ECW, a revival of the former 1990s promotion. The new brand debuted on Sci Fi on June 13, 2006, with its final episode on February 16, 2010, on the rebranded Syfy. The ECW brand was dissolved and its show was replaced the following week with

11305-472: The conclusion of The Invasion storyline. WWE's roster had doubled in size, and the company no longer had a major competitor in the professional wrestling industry. The brand extension was enacted to alleviate the issues of an overcrowded roster and to imitate competition the company no longer had from the former promotions. The first two brands established were Raw and SmackDown, named after the respective weekly shows, Raw and SmackDown . ECW —a revival of

11438-417: The content migration would be completed by August 2021. This has included the removal of scenes/matches containing content inappropriate under current standards, with the most prominent example being a WrestleMania VI match where Roddy Piper painted half of his body black before facing African-American opponent Bad News Brown . This agreement did not initially affect the WWE Network service outside of

11571-607: The development of a premium tier with additional features (such as benefits for other WWE operations). In March 2020, amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and to promote WrestleMania 36 , WWE Network made a selection of its premium content and archives available free for a limited time. On June 1, 2020, WWE Network officially launched a free tier with 15,000 hours of content, which includes access to selected content such as recent episodes of its weekly programming, and original series such as Raw Talk , Monday Night War , and Ride Along . The service would be advertising-free, and

11704-630: The draft. With the WWE Championship being defended exclusively on SmackDown, Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon and general manager Mick Foley introduced the WWE Universal Championship to be Raw's world title. As SmackDown was lacking a tag team championship and a women's championship, SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon and general manager Daniel Bryan introduced the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and SmackDown Women's Championship . Subsequently,

11837-562: The end of the match. With WWF focused on splitting its roster, the Invasion storyline was used as a second resort. Following the end of the angle at Survivor Series , the WWF executed their alternate plan, which was to separate the two shows themselves: previously, wrestlers appeared on both Raw and SmackDown , but with this extension, wrestlers would be exclusive to only one show. Only the Undisputed WWF Champion and

11970-401: The end of the third quarter of 2017, the number had dropped to 1.5 million paid users. In April 2018, WWE announced subscriber growth had reached 2.1 million, with 1.8 million paid. At the end of the third quarter of 2018 the number had dropped to 1.6 million paid users. In January 2019, WWE Network signed with Endeavor Streaming to replace BAMTech as its operating partner. WWE's decision

12103-525: The episode that aired internationally, a recap of championship matches. Also, Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007 removes all references to Benoit during the ECW World Championship match. Over the Edge 1999 , infamous for Owen Hart 's death at the event, is also available for the first time since its original air date; however, some portions of the event have been edited out of respect to

12236-650: The exclusive home for the Tag Team Championship and the original Cruiserweight Championship . With several specialty championships being exclusive to one brand, numerous wrestlers were left with no title to fight for except for the Hardcore Championship , which although a property of SmackDown! after the draft, it was contested under different rules than the other championships—the European and Hardcore championships were later unified with

12369-410: The fact that these events would also be available on the WWE Network once it launches, it might reduce the number of pay-per-view purchases via cable and satellite providers. Vince McMahon suggested that pay-TV operators would ultimately decide to continue to carry WWE's pay-per-view events, given that providers keep a significant share of each purchase, and incur minimal costs (apart from WWE's share of

12502-495: The fee for each purchase) to carry the events: "It's found money for them." DirecTV later quietly dropped carriage of WWE PPVs. In response, WWE said, "Yes, DIRECTV has decided to stop offering our PPV's residentially and commercially. The only other option would be to work through the local cable provider." On February 19, 2014, Dish Network announced that they would carry WWE pay-per-views on an event by event basis, beginning with Elimination Chamber . Dish Network later released

12635-696: The following year, the event became about brand supremacy; in addition to the traditional Survivor Series matches, each champion of the Raw brand faces their counterpart of the SmackDown brand in non-title matches (e.g., the Universal Champion against the WWE Champion). Following the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up , a Wild Card Rule was introduced. Interbrand competition became much more frequent, with interbrand matches occurring weekly on Raw and SmackDown Live , as well as at pay-per-views. With

12768-424: The former promotion—served as the third brand from 2006 to 2010. The first brand extension then ended on August 29, 2011. A relaunch of the brand extension as part " The New Era " went into effect on July 19, 2016. As before, Raw and SmackDown were the two primary brands, with NXT serving as a developmental brand and briefly as part of the main roster. Other brands during the second brand extension included NXT UK ,

12901-414: The four major pay-per-views, in which both brands were involved. The only exception to this were the two months leading up to WrestleMania 33 in order to build the feuds for that event, and the two months (including the month of WrestleMania) following WrestleMania to begin new feuds for each brand. For example, February 2017 only had a SmackDown pay-per-view while March only had one for Raw. WrestleMania 33

13034-585: The four shows only the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania would have wrestlers from different brands competing against each other. Wrestlers, as a result, appeared only in two-thirds of the shows in a given year, and thus appeared in fewer shows compared to before the brand extension. With single-brand PPVs in place, WWE was able to add more pay-per-view events to their offerings, such as Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday , New Year's Revolution , December to Dismember , and The Great American Bash . Eventually, WWE abandoned

13167-406: The future. Support for PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , and selected legacy smart TVs was discontinued with the changeover. In an interview with The Verge , Barrios revealed that there were ongoing plans for WWE.com's existing video content to be integrated into the WWE Network platform as a "free" tier (possibly also including previews of WWE Network's premium content), and that WWE was also considering

13300-521: The historic carrier of WWE programming in Canada), which was to see the company distribute WWE Network as a premium television service . Also on that date, it was announced that the WWE Network would launch in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, and the Nordics, among others on August 12, with Italian, Arab, German, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Malaysian launches planned for

13433-460: The launch of the WWE Network service in 2014 and its subsequent merger of the American service with Peacock in 2021, each brand have its own set of PPVs/PLEs each month with the main roster events (Raw and SmackDown) being dual-branded while NXT kept its brand-exclusive premium live events regardless the brand extension is in operation or not (from 2014 to 2021, NXT promoted its specials under

13566-653: The launch, WWE announced that it had been indefinitely delayed. Vince McMahon publicly apologized for the delay. It was announced on January 4, 2015, that the WWE Network would be launching in the UK and Ireland on January 19, 2015, priced at £9.99 and €12.99, respectively, although some customers managed to register as early as January 13. On January 27, 2015, WWE announced that the WWE Network had reached 1 million subscribers, with Vince McMahon saying that WWE would "remain focused on delivering an outstanding value proposition for our fans by adding new content and new features in

13699-400: The lineup. Original programming was also noted in the survey. As the result of an online poll, WrestleMania Rewind was chosen as a name for a new WWE Network show on October 17, 2011. The original launch date was set for April 1, 2012, which would have coincided with WrestleMania XXVIII , and WWE's official website featured a countdown clock that would have expired on April 1. The clock

13832-431: The main roster. Due to its developmental status, NXT operates regardless if there is a brand extension in effect or not. In its original incarnation , NXT was a reality -based television show in which rookies competed to become a star in WWE. In 2012, NXT was relaunched as a separate brand and replaced the now-defunct Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) as WWE's developmental territory. Primarily holding its events in

13965-572: The main roster. From 2014 to 2021, the brand held its major events under the NXT TakeOver series, but this event series was discontinued with the rebranding to NXT 2.0. WWE also operated a subsidiary brand under NXT called NXT UK , which was based in and produced for wrestlers in the United Kingdom; the brand is currently on hiatus and will relaunch at a later time as NXT Europe to become a Pan-European brand. Another subsidiary brand, 205 Live , existed under NXT from 2019 until 2022 when 205 Live

14098-470: The ongoing second began in 2016. WWE currently promotes three brands. The two main brands, referred to as the main roster, are Raw and SmackDown . NXT , WWE's third brand, was launched in 2010 and has served as WWE's developmental territory since 2012. The first brand split began in March 2002, following the company's acquisition of talent from the former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotions, and after

14231-406: The practice of single-brand pay-per-view events following WrestleMania 23 . December to Dismember and New Year's Revolution were cancelled following the announcement. With the reintroduction of the brand extension in 2016, single-branded pay-per-view events returned, and seven more pay-per-view events were added in 2017 so that each brand could have their own pay-per-view each month, in addition to

14364-515: The premiere coincided with SmackDown ' s move to FOX in October. As a result of the move, the show would compete with All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s weekly show, Dynamite , on TNT ; marking the beginning of the " Wednesday Night Wars ". On October 18, 2019, it was announced by Drake Maverick that NXT and the 205 Live brand and NXT would begin a talent exchange. In an interview with VultureHound Magazine on September 12, executive producer Paul "Triple H" Levesque would confirm that both

14497-408: The reality series, WWE NXT . On May 25, 2016, it was announced that beginning July 19, SmackDown would broadcast live on Tuesday nights, as opposed to being taped on Tuesdays and airing on Thursdays as it was previously, receiving a unique roster and set of writers compared to Raw , thus restoring the brand extension. The draft took place on the live premiere episode of SmackDown to determine

14630-440: The reestablishment of the brand extension in 2016; the first interbrand match that occurred after the brand extension went into full effect was at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016, where Raw's Brock Lesnar defeated SmackDown's Randy Orton . The next large interbrand matches occurred at Survivor Series on November 20, 2016, featuring traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team matches between Raw and SmackDown, and beginning

14763-655: The revamp, dropping the "Capitol Wrestling Center" name. The NXT TakeOver series would also be discontinued, with that year's WarGames event being the brand's first PPV to not be held under the "TakeOver" name. Since its revamp, many of the NXT wrestlers were released en masse in November 2021 due to budget cuts and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that involved administrative staff, plant and wrestlers. This fractured further in January 2022, several backstage workers were released, most of them known for their work with Levesque, including NXT General Manager William Regal and writer Ryan Katz . On February 15, PWInsider reported that WWE

14896-830: The rights to all WWE programming. In September 2011, WWE officially announced plans to launch the WWE Network in 2012 as a pay-TV channel. WWE then conducted a survey asking people if they would pay for the WWE Network if it were a premium channel . In an email sent to WWE fans who might be interested in the WWE Network, WWE surveyed fans for their thoughts about the WWE Network airing WWE's pay-per-views to subscribers for no additional charge. The survey also noted that feature repeats of Raw and SmackDown , as well as footage from World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), National Wrestling Alliance , XFL , Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), American Wrestling Association (AWA), and WWE films would also make

15029-595: The rosters between both brands. On the July 11 episode of Raw , Vince McMahon named Shane McMahon the (on-screen) commissioner for SmackDown and Stephanie McMahon the commissioner for Raw; both chose a General Manager for their respective shows. On the July 18 episode of Raw , Stephanie McMahon chose Mick Foley as the Raw General Manager, and Shane McMahon chose Daniel Bryan as the SmackDown General Manager. Due to Raw being

15162-689: The same month to focus exclusively on developmental talent. On February 27, 2014, NXT held a live, two-hour event, NXT Arrival , serving as the first live wrestling event for the newly launched WWE Network service. After the second live event in May 2014, NXT TakeOver , the "TakeOver" name would be used for future live NXT events airing on WWE Network. In March 2015, NXT promoted its first live event outside of Florida with an event in Columbus, Ohio . On August 22, 2015, NXT held its first TakeOver event outside of Full Sail University, with NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn at New York City 's Barclays Center —acting as

15295-480: The second brand extension began, WWE revived the cruiserweight division . The cruiserweight wrestlers were originally exclusive to Raw but had a supplementary show called 205 Live that premiered that November on the WWE Network . Following WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, the 205 Live brand was split from Raw, with the promotion's cruiserweight wrestlers becoming exclusive to the new brand. Additionally, in December 2016, WWE announced that they would be establishing

15428-419: The service in 2019. Although operating primarily as a standalone service, the distribution model of the WWE Network varies by market, where it can be available as an integrated service through licensing agreements with third party providers, depending on the markets. The standalone service contains a premium and a free tier. WWE Network launched on February 24, 2014 in the United States, as a digital successor to

15561-404: The teammates being on separate brands. Bobby Lashley was also notable for his interbrand action, as he was involved in a storyline with Donald Trump against WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, which carried over from Raw through WrestleMania 23 to ECW. The brief return of Saturday Night's Main Event to NBC also led to more interaction between the brands. Interbrand competition returned with

15694-592: The venue being billed on air as "Full Sail Live". In its original format from 2010 to 2012, the series was a seasonally -broadcast competition series that was filmed in large venues during the SmackDown tapings. The series saw "NXT Rookies" paired with "WWE Pros", with the pairs competing in challenges until one sole winner remained. As with WWE's main programming, the series followed scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes , villains , or less distinguishable characters that built tension and culminated in

15827-562: Was also retired in November 2022. At WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Raw's WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to win both titles and become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, although both titles retained their individual lineages. Similarly in May 2022, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro ( Randy Orton and Riddle ) to win both titles and become

15960-469: Was ceasing the production of 205 Live episodes, replacing the series with a new supplementary show for NXT called Level Up , which premiered on Peacock and the WWE Network on February 18. Briefly in 2022, talents from NXT appeared on Monday Night Raw similar to the ECW talent exchange in 2007. Meltzer reported that Raw-NXT crossovers were a way to help boost the programs' ratings, since they both air on

16093-455: Was dissolved. NXT formed in 2010, following the dissolution of the ECW brand . Initially, a dispute occurred over the "NXT" trademark between WWE and Scotland 's Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA), whose developmental division was called "NXT". WWE worked with SWA to secure the NXT trademark for their new series, and SWA renamed its developmental branch to "SWA: Source". In February 2010, WWE debuted

16226-565: Was given to WCW programming, in which the Raw crew was largely replaced (with Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson doing commentary, as well as a major stage overhaul) to present a match between Buff Bagwell and Booker T for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship , which Booker T had won on the final Nitro . The match was met with negative reactions from the fans and viewers at home, when the WWF wrestlers interfered at

16359-499: Was initially kept to a minimum, with wrestlers from all brands competing together only at pay-per-view events. However, from 2003 to 2007, all pay-per-view events became brand exclusive, leaving the "big four" pay-per-views ( WrestleMania , SummerSlam , Survivor Series , and Royal Rumble ) as the only interbrand shows. Starting in late 2006, in an attempt to add more star power to the shows, interbrand matches became more common. Most notably, MNM and The Hardy Boyz reformed, despite

16492-512: Was intended primarily to promote its weekly programs and pay-per-view events. On January 25, 2021, WWE announced that NBCUniversal Television and Streaming had acquired the exclusive U.S. distribution rights to WWE Network, and that the service would be folded into the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service Peacock on March 18, 2021 (ahead of Fastlane and WrestleMania 37 ). Existing and future WWE Network content will be hosted by

16625-652: Was later introduced for NXT UK called the NXT UK Heritage Cup with its own special stipulations. Subsequently, the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship was created for NXT with the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship becoming only shared between Raw and SmackDown. In January 2022, the NXT Cruiserweight Championship was retired after it was unified with the NXT North American Championship. In September 2022,

16758-423: Was motivated by the acquisition of BAMTech by Disney . Co-president George Barrios cited concerns over how BAMTech's relationships with third-party partners would be impacted by the sale, while WWE also sought greater control over the service and its operations, intending to partner with another vendor or take the service entirely in-house. The company decided to partner with Endeavor Streaming (formed primarily from

16891-632: Was moved to Tuesday nights. After 12 NXT wrestlers were released from their contracts that August, Dave Scherer and Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider reported there had been internal talks of major changes to the brand, such as: "a new logo, new lighting, a focus on younger talents and a different format to the TV shows." Dave Meltzer reported that NXT would likely go back to its developmental roots, with "talent that are [sic] younger, bigger and that could someday main event at WrestleMania". WWE President Nick Khan subsequently confirmed that NXT would undergo

17024-470: Was on April 2 and Raw had its first post-WrestleMania pay-per-view on April 30, while only SmackDown had a pay-per-view in May. This also happened in 2018, however, for 2018, WWE announced that following WrestleMania 34, brand-exclusive PPVs would be discontinued, abandoning the single-brand practice for a second time. The 2018 Elimination Chamber and Fastlane events were the last two brand-exclusive pay-per-views for Raw and SmackDown, respectively. Since

17157-454: Was originally planned for 2023 but was delayed due to WWE's acquisition by Endeavor , which also owns Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), with WWE and UFC merging to form TKO Group Holdings . The merger was finalized in September 2023. In September 2022 the brand dropped the 2.0 moniker, reverting to the NXT name, with a revised version of the logo featuring white lettering in the 2.0 font outlined in black and gold. Interbrand competition

17290-411: Was quietly removed, and the network did not launch as advertised. WWE chief marketing officer Michelle Wilson allayed fears about the future of the WWE Network, saying "There will be a WWE network in some shape or form. We are in late-stage negotiations with distributors", and confirmed that WWE Legends' House had been filmed. In April 2013, WWE had switched plans and aimed to release the WWE Network as

17423-576: Was revived in 2006 as a third brand, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship was reactivated as the brand's only championship. Over the course of the first brand extension, these championships switched between brands, usually due to the result of the annual draft. The Cruiserweight title, however, was the only championship to never switch brands, staying on SmackDown! from 2002 until the championship's retirement on September 28, 2007. In October 2007, SmackDown! and ECW began

17556-426: Was stated in the reports for the first quarter of 2015. WWE also revealed, including trial subscribers, they had 1.227 million Network users at the end of the second quarter, and over the entire lifespan of the Network, there have been over 2 million unique subscribers. The WWE Network launched in India on November 2, 2015. On November 19, a report by market research and consulting firm Park Associates announced that

17689-681: Was unified with the Divas Championship, retiring the Women's Championship in the process; the Divas Championship was briefly referred to as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The first brand extension would then end a year later and all champions could appear on both shows. In 2012, NXT became a developmental brand for WWE and they introduced the NXT Championship that year, followed by the NXT Women's Championship and NXT Tag Team Championship in 2013. On December 15, 2013, at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs ,

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