UWF Brand Extension

The United Wrestling Federation (UWF) Brand Extension was a process first used in 2006 by said professional wrestling promotion in Christian Championship Wrestling (CCW) as a means of providing separate brands of wrestling through its two top shows, Retribution and Salvation.

History

Retribution and Salvation

Background

After acquiring the remains of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), its main competitor throughout the early 2000s, in June 2006, the Christian Championship Wrestling (CCW) 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 June 11, 2006, Jerry Seltzer announced the "brand extension" in which the company would be split into two distinct brands.

In terms of storyline, Maximillion Pegasus had become fifty percent owner of the CCW following Black Tuesday after Vince McMahon and Ted Turner had sold their stocks to him in order to purchase World Championship Wrestling (WCW), respectively. Jerry Seltzer detested having to share his creation with Pegasus and looked for a way to dissolve their partnership. After entering a feud with Nelson Mandrell and Chae Baggio, Pegasus sought a match with him at the Tuesday Night Titans on June 13, 2006. However, the UWF Board of Directors would only allow the match if Pegasus were to return one hundred percent control to Seltzer. Their decision was to split the entire UWF roster into two separate entities, with Jerry Seltzer in control of the Retribution brand and Maximillion Pegasus in control of the Salvation brand. A draft was held the following week on Retribution. Each owner would get a total of thirty picks. The brand extension officially began on June 22, 2006.

Superstar selections

The 2006 Christian Championship Wrestling (CCW) Brand Extension Draft took place at w:GeorgiaDome in Atlanta, Georgia on June 22, 2006. The first half of the draft was televised live on USA Network for two hours, as part of CCW's flagship program, Wednesday Night Retribution (formally known as CCW Saturday Night Main Event. There were thirty-eight draft picks, with thirty-eight superstars drafted overall by co-owners of the CCW, Maximillion Pegasus and Jerry Seltzer, onto their respective brands, Salvation and Retribution. For the televised half of the draft, ten brand selections were manually made by Pegasus and Seltzer. The remaining superstars were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of nineteen superstars.

On the June 22, 2006 episode of Retribution, Jerry Seltzer won a coin toss to determine who would receive the first draft selection.

Overall Pick #	Brand	Pick #	Superstar	Notes
1	Retribution	1	Atlas
2	Salvation	1	Blaze
3	Retribution	2	Brock
4	Salvation	2	Bronco
5	Retribution	3	Glacier
6	Salvation	3	Cyclone
7	Retribution	4	Gold
8	Salvation	4	Dallas
9	Retribution	5	Hawk
10	Salvation	5	Diamond
11	Retribution	6	Hunter
12	Salvation	6	Elektra
13	Retribution	7	Invader
14	Salvation	7	Gemini
15	Retribution	8	Jazz
16	Salvation	8	Houston
17	Retribution	9	Lace
18	Salvation	9	Hunter Jackson
19	Retribution	10	Laser
20	Salvation	10	Ice
21	Retribution	11	Malibu
22	Salvation	11	Panther
23	Retribution	12	Nitro
24	Salvation	12	Rage
25	Retribution	13	Rebel
26	Salvation	13	Siren
27	Retribution	14	Sabre
28	Salvation	14	Storm
29	Retribution	15	Skye
30	Salvation	15	Thunder
31	Retribution	16	Steel
32	Salvation	16	Tower
33	Retribution	17	Sunny
34	Salvation	17	Turbo
35	Retribution	18	Tank
36	Salvation	18	Viper
37	Retribution	19	Titan
38	Salvation	19	Zap

Note:

• Picks #1-20 were made live on Raw on USA Network.
• Picks #21 -38 were conducted over their website.

Aftermath

On the June 28th edition of Retribution, Seltzer became the sole owner of Christian Championship Wrestling (after the CCW ownership was on the line) when he defeated Pegasus in a No Holds Barred match.

Trades

Background

Following the success of the first draft, the CCW officials planned for a Draft for December 30th edition of Retribution. This time, each brand gets 11 selections and 9 trades to have in the 2007 Draft.

Superstar selections

Actual draft

In the actual draft, both brand can pick 11 selections from its' developmental territories and trade 9 superstars during the show.

Overall Pick #	Brand	Pick #	Superstar	Notes
1	Retribution	1	Ace
2	Salvation	1	Astron
3	Retribution	2	Amazon
4	Salvation	2	Cheetah
5	Retribution	3	Falcon
6	Salvation	3	Diesel
7	Retribution	4	Flash
8	Salvation	4	Fox
9	Retribution	5	Hurricane
10	Salvation	5	Kahn
11	Retribution	6	Jet
12	Salvation	6	Nightshade
13	Retribution	7	Lynx
14	Salvation	7	Phoenix
15	Retribution	8	Raider
16	Salvation	8	Rhino
17	Retribution	9	Rio
18	Salvation	9	Rocket
19	Retribution	10	Thor
20	Salvation	10	Shadow
21	Retribution	11	Vulcan
22	Salvation	11	Vogue

Trades

Overall Pick #	Brand	Pick #	Superstar	Notes
1	Retribution	1	Cyclone
2	Salvation	1	Brock
3	Retribution	2	Dallas
4	Salvation	2	Gold
5	Retribution	3	Elektra
6	Salvation	3	Hawk
7	Retribution	4	Gemini
8	Salvation	4	Lace
9	Retribution	5	Houston
10	Salvation	5	Laser
11	Retribution	6	Ice
12	Salvation	6	Sabre
13	Retribution	7	Siren
14	Salvation	7	Skye
15	Retribution	8	Storm
16	Salvation	8	Steel
17	Retribution	9	Zap
18	Salvation	9	Tank

Aftermath

In January 2008, the Christian Championship Wrestling purchased the American Wrestling Alliance and the Global Wrestling Alliance and used them as their developmental territories. On May 8th the CCW rebranded the AWA and the GWA to make the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) brand and officially made it a third brand.

TNA

Background

After Christian Championship Wrestling (CCW) bought all of American Wrestling Alliance (AWA)'s and Global Wrestling Alliance (GWA)'s assets in 2008, the company began releasing DVDs promoting the original AWA and GWA. Soon afterwards, the company promoted two AWA and GWA reunion shows for AWA Alumni and GWA Alumni entitled, One Night Stand in 2007 and in 2008.

On June 21, 2007, CCW announced a launch of a new brand, TNA, a revival of the 2000s promotion. The new brand debuted on its current network, the TBS Channel on June 26, 2007.

Superstar selections

The 2008 Christian Championship Wrestling (CCW) Brand Extension Draft took place from the AstroDome in Houston, Texas on June 12, 2008, where TNA representative, Don and Clark Giovanni, drafted several superstars from Retribuition and from Salvation onto the newly created TNA brand.

Draft

Pick #	Brand (To)	Superstar	Brand (From)
1	Retribution	Diamond	Salvation
2	Salvation	Jazz	Retribution
3	TNA	Jet	Retribution
4	Retribution	Michael O'Dell	TNA
5	Salvation	Fury	TNA
6	TNA	Hellraiser	TNA
7	Retribution	Flame	TNA
8	Salvation	Beast	TNA
9	TNA	Ace	Retribution
10	Retribution	Cheetah	Salvation
11	Salvation	Clark Giovanni	TNA
12	TNA	Don Giovanni	TNA
13	Retribution	Ice	Salvation
14	Salvation	Hunter Jackson	Salvation
15	TNA	Raven	TNA
16	Retribution	Blaze	Salvation
17	Salvation	Glacier	Retribution
18	TNA	Tank	Salvation
19	Retribution	Dallas	Retribution
20	Salvation	Siren	Retribution
21	TNA	Justice	TNA
22	Retribution	Houston	Retribution
23	Salvation	Viper	Salvation
24	TNA	Skye	Salvation
25	Retribution	Steel	Salvation
26	Salvation	Elektra	Retribution
27	TNA	Toa	TNA
28	Retribution	Titan	Retribution
29	Salvation	Hunter	Retribution
30	TNA	Amazon	Retribution
31	Retribution	Gemini	Retribution
32	Salvation	Falcon	Retribution
33	TNA	Hurricane	TNA
34	Retribution	Flash	TNA
35	Salvation	Invader	Retribution
36	TNA	Lynx	Retribution
37	Retribution	Nitro	Retribution
38	Salvation	Malibu	Retribution
39	TNA	Raider	Retribution
40	Retribution	Storm	Retribution
41	Salvation	Rebel	Retribution
42	TNA	Rio	Retrition
43	Retribution	Zap	Retribution
44	Salvation	Sunny	Retribution
45	TNA	Thor	Retribution
46	Retribution	Vulcon	Retribution
47	Salvation	Astron	Salvation
48	TNA	Brock	Salvation
49	Retribution	Phoenix	Salvation
50	Salvation	Diesel	Salvation
51	TNA	Hawk	Salvation
52	Retribution	Gold	Salvation
53	Salvation	Fox	Salvation
54	TNA	Kahn	Salvation
55	Retribution	Lace	Salvation
56	Salvation	Panther	Salvation
57	TNA	Tower	Salvation
58	Retribution	Laser	Retribution
59	Salvation	Thunder	Salvation
60	TNA	Turbo	Salvation
61	Retribution	Rocket	Salvation
62	Salvation	Rhino	Salvation
63	TNA	Rage	Salvation
64	Retribution	Sabre	Retribution
65	Salvation	Nightshade	Salvation
66	TNA	Vogue	Salvation
67	Retribution	The Commander	TNA
68	Salvation	Shadow	TNA
69	TNA	Blast	TNA
70	Retribution	Crush	TNA
71	Salvation	Bullet	TNA
72	TNA	Bubba King	TNA
73	Retribution	Militia	TNA
74	Salvation	D.O.A.	TNA
75	TNA	Apache	TNA
76	Retribution	T-Money	TNA
77	Salvation	Cuda	TNA
78	TNA	Tug Boat	TNA
79	Retribution	Cobra	TNA
80	Salvation	Hammer	TNA
81	TNA	Jade	TNA
82	Retribution	Lightning	TNA
83	Salvation	Payne	TNA
84	TNA	Mayhem	TNA
85	Retribution	Stealth	TNA
86	Salvation	Snake	TNA
87	TNA	Quake	TNA
88	Retribution	Nelson Mandrell	Retribution
89	Salvation	Chae Baggio	Salvation
90	TNA	Tigra	TNA
91	Retribution	Venom	TNA
92	Salvation	Trojan	TNA
93	TNA	Typhoon	TNA
94	Retribution	Wolf	TNA
95	Salvation	Warrior	TNA
96	TNA	Zodiac	TNA
97	Retribution	Zen	TNA
98	Salvation	Sacaren	TNA
99	TNA	Vixon	TNA
100	Salvation	Scorpio	TNA

Trades

Pick #	Brand (To)	Superstar	Brand (From)
1	Retribution	Jet	TNA
2	Salvation	Vixon	TNA
3	TNA	Clark Giovanni	Salvation
4	Retribution	Raven	TNA
5	Salvation	Wolf	Retribution
6	TNA	Stealth	Retribution
7	Retribution	Hurricane	TNA
8	Salvation	Sabre	Retribution
9	TNA	Diesel	Salvation
10	Retribution	Elektra	Salvation
11	Salvation	Crush	Retribution
12	TNA	Warrior	Salvation
13	Retribution	Viper	Salvation
14	Salvation	Zodiac	TNA
15	TNA	Zen	Retribution
16	Retribution	Skye	TNA
17	Salvation	Quake	TNA
18	TNA	Snake	Salvation
19	Retribution	Siren	Salvation
20	Salvation	Justice	TNA
21	TNA	Glacier	Salvation
22	Retribution	Hunter Jackson	Salvation
23	Salvation	Typhoon	TNA
24	TNA	Trojan	Salvation

Aftermath

In late 2008, Salvation and TNA superstars began to appear on each others shows as part of a (kayfabe) deal between TNA General Managers Don and Clark Giovanni and Salvation General Manager Chae Baggio.

In addition to the Talent Exchange between Salvation and TNA, an exchange between Retribution and TNA was announced in October 2008.

United Wrestling Federation

Background

After Christian Championship Wrestling (CCW) bought all of American Wrestling Alliance (AWA)'s, Global Wrestling Alliance (GWA)'s, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s, World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s, United Wrestling Federation#World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA)'s, and United Wrestling Federation#Total Nonstop Action (TNA)'s assets on May 30, 2008, the company began releasing DVDs promoting the original AWA, GWA, WCW, TNA, WWE. and NWA.

On June 15, 2008, CCW announced a launch of a new brand, UWF, a revival of AWA, GWA, WCW, WWA, WWE, and NWA. The new brands debuted on three networks, the USA Network on January 12, 2009 for UWF Betrayal, TNT on January 13, 2009 for UWF Legacy, and CW Network on January 15, 2009 for UWF Deception.

Superstar selections

The 2009 United Wrestling Federation (UWF) Brand Extension Draft took place from the AstroDome in Houston, Texas on January 1, 2009, where United Wrestling Federation representative, Jerry Seltzer and Vince McMahon, announced that the draft will several superstars from Betryal, Deception, and Legacy brands.

Draft

Pick #	Brand (To)	Superstar	Brand (From)
1	Betrayal
2	Deception
3	Legacy

Trades

Pick #	Brand (To)	Superstar	Brand (From)
1	Betryal
2	Deception
3	Legacy

Aftermath

After the draft, the new rosters could assign wrestlers to the farm territory called TNA for enhancements training. There would be 3 universal titles to be defended on all 3 brands. On each brand, there would be 2 additional titles defended on that brand.

Impact

Inter-brand competition

Inter-brand competition was kept at a minimum, with superstars from all brands competing together only at pay-per-view events. However, in 2008, all pay per view events became brand exclusive, leaving the "big four" pay-per-views (One Night Stand, Insurrextion, Rebellion, and the Armageddon) as the only inter-brand shows.

Starting in mid 2008, in an attempt to add more star power to the shows, inter-brand matches became more common. Most notably, Blaze, Gemini, Dallas, and Houston reformed, despite the fact that the teammates were on separate brands. Ice is also notable for his inter-brand action, who was involved in a storyline with the CCW Chairman, Jerry Seltzer. The return of Saturday Night's Main Event to NBC has also lead to more interaction between the brands.

Starting in June 2008 with King of the Ring, all pay-per-views now feature all the brands as they originally were in 2006 and 2007.

Pay-per-views

The separation of the CCW roster between two brands also intended to split the pay-per-view offerings, which began with Bound For Glory in January 2008. The original idea had the "major" pay-per-view events at the time (Rebellion, Insurrextion, Armageddon, and One Night Stand) would contain the only instances where wrestlers from different brands would interact with each other, and even among the four shows only the Armageddon and One Night Stand would have wrestlers from different brands competing against each other. Wrestlers, as a result, appeared only in two-thirds of the shows in a given year, and thus appeared in fewer shows compared to before the brand extension. With single-brand PPVs in place, CCW was able to add more pay-per-view events to their offerings, such as Destination X and Invasion. Eventually, CCW abandoned the practice of single-brand pay-per-view events following King of the Ring.

Championships

Initially, the CCW World Championship and CCW World Tag Team Championships were available to both brands. The other championships were exclusive to the brand the champion was a part of. With several specialty championships being exclusive to one brand, numerous wrestlers were left with no title to fight for.

This issue was corrected in August 2006 when the World Champion became the CCW World Champion again and was moved to Retribution while Chae Baggio created the CCW World Heavyweight Championship for Salvation. Shortly thereafter. Salvation created their own CCW Tag Team Championship, revived the CCW X-Division Championship to be the exclusive home. Meanwhile Retribution became the exclusive brand for CCW's original World Tag Team Championship and the United States Championship. The X-Division Championship and CCW Tag Team Championships were able to be shared between Salvation and TNA following a talent exchange agreement between the two brands, which meant that Salvation superstars could appear on TNA and vice versa.

See also

• UWF Draft
• UWF Roster