Bragging Rights was a professional wrestlingpay-per-viewevent produced annually by WWE. The event was established in 2009, replacingCyber Sunday in the late October slot of WWE's pay-per-view calendar. The concept of the show involves a series of interpromotional matches for "bragging rights" between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDownbrands with a Bragging Rights trophy awarded as a prize. Among the matches, a 14-man tag team match is held between the two brands. In 2009, the show that won the most matches out of the series won the trophy. However, in 2010, the winning brand was simply determined by the 14-man tag team match. The SmackDown brand won the trophy both times the event was held. Since its origin, the event has been held only in indoor arenas in the United States. Championship bouts are scheduled on every card, with the lower-tier titles featured on the undercard and the top-tier featured on the main card. Non-interpromotional matches for the card are restricted by the Brand Extension, where WWE assigns its performers to either the Raw or SmackDown, causing these matches to only be set up between wrestlers on the same show. In 2011, Bragging Rights was replaced by a returning WWE Vengeance as the October scheduled event. However, in 2012, WWE opted to have only one pay-per-view in October, WWE Hell in a Cell, scrapping Vengeance and moving Hell in a Cell to the last Sunday in October. From 2016 onwards, WWE incorporated the concept of interpromotional matches into their long-standing Survivor Series event.
Concept
The concept of this pay-per-view is that there were a series of matches to determine which WWE brand, Raw, or SmackDown would receive the bragging rights trophy. The interpromotional matches that took place include the United States Champion vs. the Intercontinental Champion, and a 14-man tag team between Raw and SmackDown. In 2009, there was an interpromotional six-diva tag team match, but that was scrapped in 2010. Also, the 14-man tag team match was under elimination rules in 2010. In 2009, the winner was determined by who won the most matches, but in 2010, the tag team match determined the winner.
