25 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Ruthless Aggression PPV
4. Ditching Brand Exclusive PPVs Was Smart
Technically, single branded pay-per-views started in 2002 when Raw got Insurrextion and SmackDown had Rebellion, but those were UK only PPVs so not many cared enough to pay attention. By 2003, Bad Blood in June started the roll of Raw or SmackDown exclusives. The exceptions to that? Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series.
This format continued up until No Way Out 2007. That was the final single branded PPV of the RA era, and the history books will say it belonged to SmackDown. Yeah, take that flagship! Following NWO '07, all WWE pay-per-views became duel presentations (Raw and SmackDown) or were tri-branded (alongside ECW).
It was the right choice, because far too many of those single brand shows had pitiful undercards. A fair few of them came across as special episodes of Raw or SmackDown more than must see pay-per-views, which was always going to be a problem once the buyrates dipped. Vince McMahon must've known that fans just...didn't want to see a lot of what these individual efforts had to offer.
That collective effort between the top 2 shows (in particular) meant better star power. Plus, the simple fact that the Rumble, 'Mania, SummerSlam and Survivors could boast workers from the entire roster meant that they appeared more enticing by default.
No Way Out 2007 was perfectly fine, but Backlash (the first post-WrestleMania show without exclusive Raw or SmackDown branding) came across as a bigger deal. Even putting all 3 logos for Raw, SmackDown and ECW on the Shining-inspired PPV poster starring Edge helped make the event larger scale on paper.