The first brand extension was dissolved in August 2011, but it was reintroduced in July 2016. Also in March 2002, the promotion introduced the brand extension, in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform - ECW became a third brand in 2006.
In April 2011, the promotion ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism. In October 2021, Money in the Bank became recognized as one of the "Big Five". From 1993 to 2002, it was considered one of the "Big Five", including King of the Ring, but that PPV event was discontinued after 2002.
Survivor Series became the second longest running PPV event in history (behind WrestleMania), and is also regarded as one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, the promotion's original four annual events and their four biggest events of the year. Survivor Series was going to be discontinued and rebranded in 2010, but following fan outcry, the company decided to continue with the event. The 1997 event was notorious as it featured the Montreal Screwjob. Since the 1995 event, Survivor Series has been held the Sunday before Thanksgiving (save for the 20 events, which were held after Thanksgiving). Survivor Series was originally created to be a "Thanksgiving tradition" as the first eight Survivor Series events took place on either Thanksgiving Day (1987–1990) or Thanksgiving Eve (1991–1994). The first event capitalized on the big time feud between André the Giant and Hulk Hogan, who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. The first Survivor Series, held in 1987, came on the heels of the success of WrestleMania III, as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view (PPV) market. Since WWE reintroduced the brand extension in 2016, Survivor Series has centered around competition between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy NXT was also involved in the competition in 2019.
Stipulations have sometimes been attached to these matches, such as members of the losing team being fired. The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically features teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. It is also considered one of the company's five biggest PPV events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five". In addition to PPV, the event has aired on the WWE Network since 2014 and Peacock since 2021. It is the second longest running pay-per-view (PPV) event in history, behind WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania.
Survivor Series is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Survivor Series elimination tag team match Survivor Series logo used since 2008, with the current WWE logo introduced in 2014.