A professional wrestling promotion (or federation) is a company or business that performs regular shows involving professional wrestling. 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. Of these, WWE is by far the largest and most influential. 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.
Structure
Most promotions are 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 stable 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. 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.
Timeline of various major promotions
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id:line value:gray(0.8)
Period = from:1927 till:2007 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1927 gridcolor:line AlignBars = justify BarData=
bar:NWAs bar:JCP bar:CMLL bar:GCW bar:NWA bar:SW bar:CWF bar:AWA bar:WWE bar:WCCW bar:AJPW bar:NJPW bar:WWC bar:UWA bar:WCW bar:AAA bar:WAR bar:ECW bar:JAPW bar:NOAH bar:Z1 bar:ROH bar:TNA
PlotData=
width:18 fontsize:S textcolor:black anchor:from align:left bar:NWAs color:orange from:1928 till:1949 shift:(2,-5) text:National Wrestling Association bar:JCP color:orange from:1931 till:1988 shift:(2,-5) text:Jim Crockett Promotions bar:CMLL color:orange from:1933 till:end shift:(2,-5) text:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre bar:GCW color:orange from:1944 till:1984 shift:(2,-5) text:Georgia Championship Wrestling bar:NWA color:orange from:1948 till:end shift:(2,-5) text:National Wrestling Alliance bar:SW color:orange from:1948 till:1989 shift:(2,-5) text:Stampede Wrestling bar:CWF color:orange from:1949 till:1987 shift:(2,-5) text:Championship Wrestling from Florida bar:AWA color:orange from:1960 till:1991 shift:(2,-5) text:American Wrestling Association bar:WWE color:orange from:1963 till:end shift:(2,-5) text:World Wrestling Entertainment bar:WCCW color:orange from:1966 till:1990 shift:(2,-5) text:World Class Championship Wrestling bar:AJPW color:orange from:1972 till:end shift:(2,-5) text:All Japan Pro Wrestling bar:NJPW color:orange from:1972 till:end shift:(2,-5) text:New Japan Pro Wrestling bar:WWC color:orange from:1973 till:end shift:(2,-5) text:World Wrestling Council bar:UWA color:orange from:1975 till:1995 shift:(2,-5) text:Universal Wrestling Association bar:WCW color:orange from:1991 till:2001 shift:(-150,-5) text:World Championship Wrestling bar:AAA color:orange from:1992 till:end shift:(-174,-5) text:Asistencia Asesoría y Administración bar:ECW color:orange from:1992 till:2001 shift:(-150,-5) text:Extreme Championship Wrestling bar:JAPW color:orange from:1997 till:end shift:(-110,-5) text:Jersey All Pro Wrestling bar:WAR color:orange from:1992 till:2000 shift:(-110,-5) text:Wrestling Association R bar:NOAH color:orange from:2000 till:end shift:(-100,-5) text:Pro Wrestling NOAH bar:Z1 color:orange from:2001 till:end shift:(-130,-5) text:Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX bar:ROH color:orange from:2002 till:end shift:(-70,-5) text:Ring of Honor bar:TNA color:orange from:2002 till:end shift:(-150,-5) text:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
</timeline>
