Raw (IWE brand)

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Current revision as of 22:53, 6 January 2025

This article is about the IWE brand. For the television program featuring the brand, see IWE Raw.

Raw is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion IWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of IWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to Raw primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, Monday Night Raw, also referred to simply as Raw. It is one of IWE's two main brands, along with SmackDown, collectively referred to as IWE's main roster. The brand extension was discontinued between August 2011 and July 2016.

In addition to Raw's main television program, less-utilized wrestlers also appear on the brand's supplementary show, Main Event. Raw's wrestlers also perform on the branded and co-branded pay-per-view and livestreaming events. During the first brand split (2002–2011), Raw wrestlers also competed on the former supplementary show, Heat, and on XCW under a talent exchange program with the former XCW brand, while during the second brand split (2016–present), the brand's wrestlers have appeared in the interbrand Worlds Collide, Mixed Match Challenge, and annual Tribute to the Troops events. Additionally during the second split, Raw's cruiserweight wrestlers competed on 205 Live when IWE's revived cruiserweight division was exclusive to Raw from 2016 to 2018 before 205 Live became its own brand.

[edit] History

Main article: IWE brand extension

[edit] First split (2002–2011)

[edit] Second split (2016–present)

[edit] Champions

Initially, the Undisputed IWE Championship and the original IWE 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. In September 2002 the Undisputed Championship became the IWE Championship again and was moved to SmackDown, prompting Eric Bischoff to create 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.

On July 19, 2016, the brand extension was brought back and for the first time ever, the draft was held on SmackDown. Raw drafted the IWE Women's Champion, the United States Champion, and the IWE Tag Team Champions. With the IWE Championship being defended exclusively on SmackDown, Kaila Matteson and Mick Foley introduced the IWE Universal Championship to be Raw's world title.

[edit] Current championships

• The IWE Women's Tag Team Championship is defended across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.

[edit] Previous active championships

[edit] Previous defunct championships

[edit] Personnel

Main article: List of IWE personnel § Raw

[edit] Pay-per-view and IWE Network events

[edit] First brand split events

[edit] Second brand split events

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

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