After acquiring the remains of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), its main competitor throughout the 1990s, in March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) sought a way to split itself into two separate promotions, because of the numbers of talent that it had acquired as part of its purchase. On March 18, 2002, Linda McMahon announced the "brand extension" in which the company would be split into two distinct brands.
In terms of storyline, Ric Flair had become fifty percent owner of the WWF following Survivor Series 2001 after Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold their stocks to him in order to purchase WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), respectively. Vince McMahon detested having to share his creation with Flair and looked for a way to dissolve their partnership. After entering a feud with The Undertaker, Flair sought a match with him at WrestleMania X8. However, the WWF Board of Directors would only allow the match if Flair were to return one hundred percent control to McMahon. Flair agreed, however, the Board also reserved the right to review the ownership status of the WWF following WrestleMania. Their decision was to split the entire WWF roster into two separate entities, with Vince McMahon in control of the SmackDown! brand and Ric Flair in control of the RAW brand. A draft was held the following week on RAW. Each owner would get a total of thirty picks. The brand extension officially began on April 1, 2002. By having two brands in place, the WWF was able to increase the number of live events held each year from 200 to 350, including tours in several new international markets.
Below you will find links to each year of the drafts wikipedia page with results from the draft and any talent trades that happend afterwards.
WWF BRAND EXTENSION (2002)
2004 WWE DRAFT LOTTERY
2005 WWE DRAFT LOTTERY
ECW BRAND EXTENSION (2006)
2007 WWE DRAFT
2008 WWE DRAFT
2009 WWE DRAFT
WEB ARCHIVE 2002 WWF BRAND EXTENSION OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com 2004 DRAFT LOTTERY RESULTS ARTICLE
WWE.com 2005 DRAFT RESULTS OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com 2005 DRAFT/TRADE RESULTS OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com 2006 ECW BRAND EXTENSION ARTICLE
WWE.com 2007 DRAFT OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com 2007 SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com 2008 DRAFT OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com 2009 DRAFT OFFICIAL SITE
WWE.com Draft History (2002 - 2006)
