Between 2002 and 2011,
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), promoted its core business of
professional wrestling through two
brands, two independent branches of the company named after their two major television shows
Raw and
SmackDown. This Brand Extension ended on the August 29, 2011 episode of
Raw, when WWE
chief operating officer Triple H announced that
Raw would also feature
SmackDown stars on a full-time basis, thus effectively dissolving the brand extension. As a result, the yearly draft (which had taken place since 2004) was also discontinued. WWE explained that their decision to end the brand extension was due to wanting their content to flow across TV and online platforms.