Card

In sports, a card comprises a listing of the matches taking place in a title-match combat-sport event. Organizers divide overall cards into a main-event match and the undercard, which encompasses the rest of the matches. Matches are scheduled to occur in ascending order of importance.^{[citation needed]}

Division

Undercard

The undercard, or preliminary matches, consists of preliminary bouts that occur before the headline or "Main Event" of a particular boxing,^[1] professional wrestling,^[2] horse racing,^[3] auto racing, or other sports event. In auto racing, however, the term "support race" is more common. Typically, promoters intend the undercard to provide fans with an opportunity to see up-and-coming fighters or fighters not so well-known and popular as their counterparts in the main event. The undercard also ensures that if the main event ends quickly fans will still feel that they received sufficient value for the price of their admission.

In boxing, undercard matches usually only last for four rounds, to ensure that the crowd does not have to wait too long for the main event. In professional wrestling, undercard matches usually last for five to ten minutes, as the crowd does not have to wait too long for the Main Event and the promoters often have to fulfill contractual television agreements. Also in professional wrestling, the undercard is unofficially subdivided into uppercard, midcard and lower card matches,^[4] which roughly correlate to the fame and quality of performance of the wrestlers involved.

Main event

A main event is a the final match of a title match system sporting event. The term occurs primarily with reference to combat sports such as boxing, professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. The main event is generally the most prestigious match on the card, and the one with most promotion behind it. The match is commonly a contest for a top championship, though may feature another special attraction. Sometimes, multiple matches of equally high importance are held at the end of a card in succession, and billed as a double main event or, rarely, a triple main event. Advertisement for sporting events focuses primarily on their main event.

Supercard

A supercard consists of a title match combat sport event which comprises multiple high-level matches and/or special attractions.^[5] Supercards are heavily advertised and often cost more than standard card events.

Supercards serve as the focal point of professional wrestling promotions and can function as a primary source of revenue for such promotions.^[6] In current mainstream American pro wrestling, supercards are held at least yearly and air on pay-per-view (PPV) television. While the two major companies, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), run PPV events every month; only a few are classified as "supercards". Wrestling supercards often recur annually; WWE's WrestleMania is the most famous of these, and has run since 1985. WWE runs three other supercards per year (SummerSlam, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series), but none of them are promoted at the level of WrestleMania. TNA has three supercards: Bound for Glory, Lockdown, and Slammiversary. Bound for Glory is the superior of the three and has been held annually since 2005. Examples of non-pay-per-view supercards include Saturday Night's Main Event and Clash of the Champions.

In other sports, such as boxing and mixed martial arts, supercards occur more rarely. They usually involve a "dream fight" and multiple title defenses.^[7]

References