17 Ways WWE Has Changed Since It Was The WWF
16. The Original Brand Split's Total Collapse
...but nothing lasts forever in WWE, so the first attempt at divided rosters going nearly a decade can - with hindsight at least - broadly be viewed as one of the decade's few success stories. Raw's switch to three hours in 2012 would have required a rethink on how to share talent across the red and blue brands anyway, had these steps not already been taken for a solid year before the change.
Supported by single-show pay-per-views until 2007, SmackDown and Raw's rosters were deemed too thin to draw on the monthly supercards, but two crews still solidly furnished the house show circuit with bonafide main eventers holding down each show until the official termination of the original idea. It was a staggered demise - the more the performers were pulled together for such big occasions, the more the fraying edges of the original Brand Extension were torn apart.
"Draft" shows became less about swapping shows and more to do with trading t-shirts. It simply stopped mattering which night of the week wrestlers called home, particularly when talent were often airlifted without warning in times of crisis. The "Raw Supershow" format (any f*cker can go where they like, effectively) was the kindest confirmation of something that had already suffered a protracted demise.