In sports, acard lists thematches taking place in atitle matchcombat-sport event. Cards include amain event match and theundercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into amidcard and alower card, according to the perceived importance of the matches. Promoters schedule matches to occur in ascending order of importance.
The undercard, or preliminary matches (sometimes preliminary card), consists of preliminary bouts that occur before the headline or "main event" of a particularboxing,[1]professional wrestling,[2] horse racing,[3] or other sports event. 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. Inboxing, undercard matches usually last between four and eight rounds, depending on the experience of the boxers in those matches (entry-level boxers, often making professional debuts, have four rounds, while boxers at the intermediate level are given between six and eight rounds), with some undercards on major championship cards being ten rounds if the boxer is at the advanced level but not participating in a championship match. If an undercard match is a championship match (less popular weight class or regional championship), the undercard match is also twelve rounds, owing to regulations.
In professional wrestling, undercard matches usually last for five to ten minutes: the audience does not have to wait too long for the main event and the promoters often have to fulfill contractual television agreements. Professional wrestling unofficially subdivides the undercard into uppercard, midcard and lower card matches,[4] which roughly correlate to the fame and quality of performance of the wrestlers involved. WWE'sNXT brand (which was originally positioned as a feeder for its mainRaw andSmackDown rosters) previously held events in its "TakeOver" series as support for its flagshippay-per-views (Royal Rumble,WrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series); these events were held on the day prior to the PPV, and typically shared the same venue (or, at the very least, host city) as the corresponding main roster event.
In auto racing, support races occur not just before the feature race, they occur on qualifying day where attendances are typically low and after the completion of the feature race, purposely to lessen the effect oftraffic congestion outside venues common in major championship rounds, as spectators make their way home. Examples of notable support races includePorsche Supercup andFIA Formula 2, both supporting theFormula One World Championships, although the latter is considered to be a feeder series (for young drivers who desire to make the final step to Formula One). TheIndy Lights series supports theIndyCar Series, and theNASCARXfinity Series andCraftsman Truck Series effectively support the top-tierNASCAR Cup Series. In some series (most notably on oval tracks), the support races take place on both practice and qualifying days, and there is no support race on the day of the feature (as in the case of the Cup Series, where all support races are held on days leading to the feature, although it can be run on feature day if inclement weather forces such).
Since 2008, theRugby League World Cup has been aggregated with the World Cup competitions forwomen's andwheelchairrugby league in an arrangement known as the "Festival of World Cups". The festival includes support tournaments that are held as a lead-up towards the centrepiece tournaments, such asphysical disability rugby league,masters (over 35, typically retired professional players),university, police teams, and armed forces teams.
Theopening act is a similar concept in non-sports entertainment.
A main event usually takes place as the final match of a title-match-system sporting event. The term occurs primarily with reference to combat sports such as boxing, professional wrestling andmixed martial arts. The main event, generally the most prestigious match on the card, has the most promotion behind it. The match commonly involves a contest for a topchampionship, but may feature another special attraction.
Theheadliner is a similar concept in non-sports entertainment.
Sometimes, multiple matches of equally high importance take place on a card, occasionally at intervals throughout (to sustain spectator interest for its duration), but generally at the end in succession. This can be billed as a "double main event" or "double-header" or (rarely) as a "triple main event" or "triple-header". Advertising for sporting bouts focuses primarily on their main events.
A supercard consists of a title match combat sport event which comprises multiple high-level matches and/or special attractions.[5] Promoters advertise supercards heavily, and tickets typically cost more than at standard-card events.
Supercards serve as the focal point ofprofessional wrestling promotions and can function as a primary source of revenue for such promotions.[6] Mainstream American pro wrestling holds supercards at least annually and broadcasts them onpay-per-view (PPV) television. The largest company,WWE, runsPPV events every month. Alternatively the second-largest,All Elite Wrestling (AEW) initially ran 4 annual PPV's over the year (Revolution,Double or Nothing,All Out andFull Gear), though addedForbidden Door as a fifth annual PPV in 2022 in collaboration with Japanese companyNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and in 2024 ran nine pay per views in total. Elsewhere,Impact Wrestling (formally TNA), formerly ran monthly PPVs, but now only runs four a year. Wrestling supercards often recur annually; WWE'sWrestleMania, arguably the most famous of these, has run since 1985. WWE runs three other supercards per year (Royal Rumble,SummerSlam andSurvivor Series), but does not promote these at the level of WrestleMania. With TNA's 2013 change to running only four PPVs a year, all four are now considered supercards:Genesis (not a supercard before 2013),Lockdown,Slammiversary, andBound for Glory. All four events were first held in 2005, and all have taken place annually since then except for Genesis, which was not held in 2008. Examples of non-pay-per-view supercards includeSaturday Night's Main Event andClash of the Champions. Promotions outside the United States also run annual supercards. The two largestlucha libre promotions in Mexico,Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) andLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), respectively run theCMLL Anniversary Show andTriplemanía. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) runs theJanuary 4 Dome Show (branded since 2007 as Wrestle Kingdom) at theTokyo Dome.
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]
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