On this day in 2002, the WWE did something it had never done before.Yes, we all know Vince McMahon loves a good first, but this one was a real high-point in the world of professional wrestling.Around one year earlier, the WWE finally won the Monday Night Wars with WCW when they purchased their competition and with that, they potentially secured a wealth of talent.Unfortunately, it would take the WWE 13 years to convince Sting to jump and the likes of the NWO, Scott Steiner and Goldberg came in staggers after the original 'invasion' angle that had so much potential.By the time March 2002 rolled around and that year's WrestleMania had been and gone, McMahon decided he had enough talent to create the competition of the Monday Night Wars in-house and make it a brand battle between Monday Night Raw and SmackDown.In 2016, the WWE did the same thing after a few years of having all the talent across both shows, but it's fair to say they didn't have the wealth of talent the company had on its hands back in 2002.Take a look at the graphic below to see just how special both brands really were.

Wow - that's literally mental! Four members of this year's Hall of Fame class are across the two shows and with names like Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Edge, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho on the Blue Brand (although, Y2J didn't stay long), SmackDown was taken deadly seriously.

Despite that, Hogan wasn't a week-in, week-out talent, The Rock would soon swan off to Hollywood and Edge went down with the serious neck injury that would later end his career early in his Tuesday night tenure (which was actually Thursdays back then).

Raw was certainly still treated like the flagship show. Shawn Michaels made a stunning return after a four-year hiatus in the summer of 2002 and, of course, signed with Raw.

Both brands battled hard to sign Scott Steiner towards the end of the year and even though then-SmackDown general manager Stephanie McMahon essentially offered to have sex with him (in storyline, guys), Big Poppa Pump went to Raw because she made him wait too long. Wow.

Then, in 2003, Goldberg would debut in the WWE the night after WrestleMania on, you guessed it, Raw. Who would he feud with? The Rock, a man who inexplicably returned to Monday nights to set-up his third and final match with Stone Cold Steve Austin prior to WrestleMania 19.

SmackDown consistently got the short straw, but they got one huge win when Brock Lesnar took himself and the WWE Championship to the Blue Brand following SummerSlam 2002 and he would remain there until his departure after WrestleMania 20.

They were also given a returning Eddie Guerrero who would then become WWE Champion some 18 months later. Two young guys named John Cena and Randy Orton would also make their separate debuts in the summer of 2002 - you may have heard of them. The Undertaker also made his way over after a WWE title run in 2002 and would stay there for the rest of his full-time career.

While Orton would rather quickly make his way to Raw, Cena stayed to become a staple of Tuesday nights and plenty of other talents in the following years would make their mark on SmackDown before given the chance to shine on Raw.

Mr. Kennedy, MVP, Carlito, Nathan Jones - ok, not him, but look him up! - all started on SmackDown and it's clear the WWE sees that show as the proving ground before someone can make a mark on Raw.

With a Superstar Shakeup rumoured for after WrestleMania 34, the WWE needs to give SmackDown the top stars they did back in 2002 to restore some balance and help give emerging superstars the true platform they deserve.

How would you do a draft today? Let us know in the comments.