SmackDown (IWE brand)

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Revision as of 20:50, 7 June 2020

SmackDown is one of the IWE brands which was first established on March 25, 2002 with a draft on Raw and went into effect one week later on April 1. The brand was discontinued in August 2011, but was brought back in May 2016. Wrestlers assigned to the SmackDown brand wrestle predominantly on the SmackDown program, as well as SmackDown branded and co-branded pay-per-view events and IWE Network events. During the first brand split they also competed on IWE Velocity.

Brand extension

Main article: IWE brand extension

First split

Second split

Champions

See also: List of current champions in IWE

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, SmackDown became the exclusive home for the World Tag Team Championship and the original Cruiserweight Championship.

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. 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 XCW began a talent exchange agreement, which meant that SmackDown superstars could appear on XCW and vice versa. This allowed the United States Championship and IWE Tag Team Championship to be shared between the two brands. In July 2008, the IWE Divas Championship was created for SmackDown, allowing the SmackDown Divas to compete for a title.

With the brand extension ending in 2011, all SmackDown and Raw titles were merged. After five years, a new brand extension was introduced on July 19, 2016. SmackDown drafted the IWE Champion and the Intercontinental Champion. As SmackDown was lacking a tag team championship and a women's championship, Shane Matteson and Daniel Bryan introduced the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and SmackDown Women's Championship.

Current championships

• Note - The IWE Women's Tag Team Championship and the IWE 24/7 Championship can also be defended on SmackDown as they are shared among the brands

Previous championships

Personnel

Main article: List of IWE personnel § SmackDown

Pay-per-view events

First brand split events

Second brand split events

References