WWE issued the following today:

WWE®’S DESTINY LIVE ON SMACKDOWN®NEW YORK and STAMFORD, CONN – June 20, 2016 – The destiny of all WWE Superstars will be determined on the first-ever live SmackDown on Tuesday, July 19 from 8-10 pm ET/PT on USA Network. A draft will be conducted by respective General Managers as to which talent will be chosen exclusively for Monday Night Raw® or SmackDown.

For the first time in history on back-to-back nights, these two distinctive brands (Monday Night Raw and Tuesday’s SmackDown) will compete with each other for television ratings, live events, and pay-per-views.

“This is an exciting new era for WWE in which we will yet again reinvent ourselves by creating a second night of compelling live television,” said Kevin Dunn, Executive Producer, WWE.

“We’re already hearing the excitement among WWE fans for SmackDown’s new live format, and our audiences are eagerly anticipating the live draft and what it means for their favorite Superstars,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.

With 878 original episodes, SmackDown is the second longest-running weekly episodic program in U.S. television history, only behind Monday Night Raw at 1,203 episodes.

Source: WrestlingINC

We noted yesterday via a Prowrestling.net reader that WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler told fans at a weekend convention that the company is planning on holding monthly pay-per-view events for RAW and SmackDown when the Brand Extension kicks off next month, with the exception of WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series. In an update, PWInsider says that when the original Brand Extension announcement was made, there were people under the impression that the company would be doing more WWE Network specials and/or pay-per-view events to accommodate the roster changes.

Source: WrestlingINC

A ProWrestling.net reader who attended the 38th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois this weekend reports that Jerry Lawler said there will be two monthly pay-per-views for the Brand Extension – one for RAW and one for SmackDown, except for the top four events – the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Survivor Series.

The same reader was told by Lawler at the 2015 Superman event about SmackDown going live on Tuesday nights for the USA Network and that is obviously happening now.

Source: WrestlingINC

In case you missed it, before kicking Teddy Long out of the building in a backstage segment on last night’s RAW, Stephanie McMahon claimed that she would be in charge of SmackDown, which would presumably leave Shane McMahon in charge of RAW. It’s not clear if that was the official announcement, or the start of an angle between Stephanie and Shane on who would run the show.

“My father wants someone in charge [of SmackDown] who is intelligent, who is young, who is vivacious, who is smart, who has business acumen, someone who is going to bring in the New Era right!” Stephanie said. “That’s not my brother Shane McMahon, I’m going to let you in on a little secret Teddy… it’s going to be me!”

Joseph Bonaccorso has an article at Seeking Alpha looking at how the brand split can boost WWE’s bottom line. It noted that it can attract older fans who no longer follow the product, as well as lead to excitement with the current fan base. It also noted that the shows can deliver better content with the separate rosters, and can lead to an increase in WWE Network subscriptions.