Professional wrestling promotion

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A professional wrestling promotion (also federation or fed) is a company or business that performs regular shows involving professional wrestling. 'Promotion' also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event (see promoter).

Currently, the major wrestling organizations in North America are World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) (all based in the United States), and the Mexican lucha libre promotions Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. There are federations throughout Europe and in Japan, South America, Puerto Rico, and the rest of the Caribbean.

There are also a number of small independent wrestling organizations that are upstarts or the creations of former wrestlers from the bigger promotions. Some of the smaller organizations include Ring of Honor, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, Border City Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, and Ohio Valley Wrestling.

[edit] Structure

Most promotions are self-contained, organized around one or more championship titles and do not acknowledge or recognize the legitimacy of other promotions' titles. Others, such as the NWA, act as an umbrella organization which governs titles that are shared among multiple promotions.

Major promotions have a permanent roster of talent under exclusive contract to them. Independent promotions may have contracted workers but are just as likely to utilize free agents who are not under exclusive contract with any promotion.

In the United States and Canada, the typical business cycle consists of "standard" shows held at regular intervals (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) which build up to a more expensive supercard event. This cycle lasts anywhere from four to twelve weeks. For smaller groups, supercards may only be held a few times a year. For larger groups such as WWE, the standard shows are broadcast on television weekly (semi-weekly in the last boom period) and the supercards on pay-per-view monthly.