<P> Eventually Vince McMahon brought back Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall to reunite the nWo at the No Way Out pay - per - view in February 2002 . However, the storyline proved unpopular with fans and Hogan soon turned face at WrestleMania X8 after his classic match with The Rock . On the March 25, 2002 on Raw the World Wrestling Federation had the first time ever WWF draft lottery, which meant the WWF superstars are separated between two brands, Raw and SmackDown! . This became effective from April 01, 2002 on Raw, thus leading to a brand new era, and ending the Attitude Era . </P> <P> In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark . World Wrestling Federation was forced to rebrand itself, and in May 6, 2002 the company changed its business name to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc . (WWE). Shortly thereafter, they eliminated all elements that used the term Federation; this affected licensed merchandise such as action figures, video games, and home video releases with its previous logo, which was replaced by a new "scratch" logo . The last - ever WWF - branded pay - per - view event was the UK - exclusive Insurrextion in May 4, 2002 . During this time, the company launched WWE Studios, which was originally formed as WWE Films . </P> <P> In April 01, 2002, with an excess of talent employed as a result of having purchased WCW and ECW, WWE needed a way to provide exposure for all of its talent . This problem was solved by introducing a "Brand Extension", with the roster split in half and the talent assigned to either Raw or SmackDown! in a mock draft lottery . Wrestlers, commentators and referees became show - exclusive, and the shows were given separate on - screen General Managers . Shortly thereafter, on the June 24, 2002 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon officially referred to the new era as "Ruthless Aggression". Later in 2002, after WWE Champion Brock Lesnar announced himself exclusive property of the SmackDown! brand and with the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, all the championships became show - exclusive too . Additionally, both Raw and SmackDown! began to stage individual pay - per - view events featuring only performers from that brand--only the major four pay - per - views Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series remained dual - branded . The practice of single - brand pay - per - view events was abandoned following WrestleMania 23 . In effect, Raw and SmackDown were operated as two distinct promotions, with a draft lottery taking place each year to determine which talent was assigned to each brand . This lasted until August 2011, when the rosters were merged and the Brand Extension was quietly phased out . </P> <P> The two top stars of the Attitude Era, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, eventually left the company in 2003 and 2004 respectively, while newcomers such as Brock Lesnar, who would become the youngest WWE Champion and Randy Orton, who became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion, saw huge success . Triple H would also be featured prominently during this time, winning several of his fourteen world championships, as would The Undertaker whose WrestleMania win streak started gaining fame . Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Rob Van Dam were also given main event opportunities and all ended up becoming multiple - time world champions . From mid 2002 to 2003, WWE brought several prominent WCW stars to the company, including Eric Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Ric Flair . The Great American Bash, originally a WCW pay - per - view event, made its debut in WWE . </P>

When did the wwe ruthless aggression era start