WWE Wrestling concert Verizon Center - Dc tickets Following the 2009 WWE Wrestling Draft, Michael Cole became the new play-by-play announcer for Raw, while Jim Ross moved to SmackDown. The WWE Wrestling Champion Triple H was also drafted to SmackDown, which gave SmackDown two world championships to be featured on the brand. A week later, CM Punk cashed in WWE Wrestling's Money in the Bank contract and defeated the World Heavyweight Champion Edge, bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back to Raw.
The most recent theme song for SmackDown was "Rise Up!" by Drowning Pool, a remake of SmackDown's fifth anniversary instrumental theme song. It was performed by then-lead singer Jason "Gong" Jones and featured on the WWE Wrestling ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6 album. Currently however, the theme song for the SmackDown! brand is "Rise Up 2006" by Drowning Pool, a new version of "Rise Up!" performed by new lead singer Ryan McCombs and featured as a bonus downloadable track on the WWE Wrestling Wreckless Intent album.
In early to mid-2002, WWE Wrestling underwent a process they called the "Brand Extension". WWE Wrestling divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. Raw and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split was a result of WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW. The brand extension was publicly announced during a telecast of WWF Raw on March 25, 2002, and became official the next day.
On June 9, 2006, Tazz left the SmackDown! brand to join the new ECW brand, leaving the color commentator position on SmackDown! vacant. However, on June 11 at One Night Stand 2006, JBL revealed that WWE Wrestling would be the new color commentator for SmackDown! He stayed in that position until December 2007 when WWE Wrestling left SmackDown! to become an in-ring competitor on Raw. Jonathan Coachman replaced him afterwards.