First split (2002–2011) was the first SmackDown General Manager. In its conception, according to
Bruce Prichard in his
Something to Wrestle podcast released in October 2018, the then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) originally planned to make
SmackDown! an
all-women's brand but ultimately decided against it because of the lack of talent. In March 2002, WWF underwent the "
brand extension", a process in which WWF divided itself into two branches with separate rosters, storylines and
authority figures. During the
2008 WWE draft, WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to SmackDown, resulting in two world championships appearing on the brand –
Edge was the World Heavyweight Champion at the time – and leaving Raw without a world title. However, Edge was attacked by Batista on the June 30 episode of
Raw and immediately afterwards
CM Punk cashed in his
Money in the Bank contract to become World Heavyweight Champion, bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back to Raw for the first time since 2005. Also that year, for the first time in the brand's history a women's exclusive championship was introduced, the
Divas Championship, a counterpart to the Women's Championship that had been the only active championship competed for by
Divas, but which was exclusive to Raw, meaning that the Divas on SmackDown had no championship to compete for.
Michelle McCool became the inaugural champion by defeating
Natalya on July 20 at
The Great American Bash. On February 15, 2009, at
No Way Out, Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship in Raw's
Elimination Chamber match, thus making it a SmackDown exclusive title and giving SmackDown two top tier championships. As a result of the
2009 WWE draft in April, then WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to Raw while the World Heavyweight Championship also moved to the Raw brand after Edge lost the title to Cena at
WrestleMania 25, once again leaving SmackDown without a world title. SmackDown regained the World Heavyweight Championship at
Backlash when Edge invoked his WrestleMania rematch clause and defeated Cena in a Last Man Standing match to win the championship back. In addition, Raw and SmackDown exchanged both women-exclusive championships with Raw gaining the Divas Championship and SmackDown gaining the Women's Championship. This marked the first time in history that the Women's Championship had ever been exclusive to SmackDown. Raw and SmackDown also exchanged the
United States Championship (which became exclusive to Raw) and the
Intercontinental Championship (subsequently exclusive to SmackDown) for the first time since
August 25, 2002. Subsequently, championships previously exclusive to one show or the other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for—this would mark the end of the brand extension as all programming and live events featured the full WWE roster. In a 2013 interview with
Advertising Age,
Stephanie McMahon explained that WWE's decision to end the brand extension was due to wanting their content to flow across television and online platforms.
Second split (2016–present) On May 25, 2016, it was revealed that the brand split would return in July. The
2016 WWE draft took place on the live premiere episode of
SmackDown on July 19 to determine the rosters between both brands. On the July 11 episode of
Raw,
Vince McMahon named
Shane McMahon the commissioner of
SmackDown. Then next week on
Raw,
Daniel Bryan was revealed as the new SmackDown General Manager. Due to
Raw being a three-hour show and
SmackDown being a two-hour show, Raw received three picks each round and SmackDown received two. After the return of the brand split, most pay-per-views became exclusive to one brand, (with SmackDown producing
Backlash (
2016 and
2017),
No Mercy (2016),
TLC (2016),
Elimination Chamber (2017),
Money in the Bank (2017),
Battleground (2017),
Hell in a Cell (2017),
Clash of Champions (2017) and
Fastlane (2018)). From
WrestleMania 34 onwards, all pay-per-views became dual-branded again. On the November 7, 2017, episode of
SmackDown,
AJ Styles defeated
Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship. On April 10, 2018, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that Daniel Bryan was back as a full-time WWE Superstar for the roster after his in-ring return at
WrestleMania 34, therefore "graciously accepted Daniel's resignation as SmackDown General Manager". McMahon then named
Paige, who had retired from in-ring competition due to injury the night before on Raw, as the new SmackDown General Manager. When SmackDown moved to FOX beginning with the October 4, 2019, episode, it eventually replaced Raw as the "A" Show. As a result, SmackDown became the home for the WWE's top stars such as
Roman Reigns,
Brock Lesnar,
Drew McIntyre and
the Usos. == Champions ==