WWE Announces First Match in the "Brand-to-Brand Invitation" Between WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown

The brand split between Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown was severely weakened this [...]

By Connor Casey

The brand split between Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown was severely weakened this week, as WWE announced that a new "brand-to-brand invitation" between the two respective rosters would begin in the coming days, Drew McIntyre cut a promo after beating Andrade at the top of the second hour, saying his first match in the invitation would see him take on King Corbin next week. WWE then announced that NXT Women's Champion Charlotte, who has already been pulling double duty between Raw and NXT, would be on this week's SmackDown.

The brand split has seen its fair share of tweaking since it was reintroduced back in 2016, most notably from May to October of 2019 when it was effectively killed by the Wild Card Rule. The rules of no cross-brand interaction (minus Survivor Series) were reinforced following the 2019 WWE Draft, though that appears to no longer be the case. According to POST Wrestling's John Pollock FOX and USA Network officials asked for the two brands to start working together again after each show posted poor viewership over the past month — including Raw posting its lowest viewership of all time last week.

According to Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer, the crossover between Raw and SmackDown will be kept at a "minimum."

Elsewhere on Raw, Becky Lynch relinquished the Raw Women's Championship to Asuka after announcing that she was pregnant with her first child.

Check out the full results from Money in the Bank below:

  • (Kickoff) Jeff Hardy def. Cesaro
  • SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The New Day def. Lucha House Party, The Forgotten Sons and The Miz & John Morrison
  • Bobby Lashley def. R-Truth
  • SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley def. Tamina
  • WWE Universal Championship: Braun Strowman def. Bray Wyatt
  • WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre def. Seth Rollins
  • Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Filmed at WWE Headquarters): Asuka def. Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler
  • Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Filmed at WWE Headquarters): Otis def. AJ Styles, King Corbin, Aleister Black, Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan
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