Undercard The undercard, or preliminary matches (sometimes preliminary card), consists of preliminary bouts that occur before the headline or "main event" of a particular
boxing,
professional wrestling, horse racing, 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. In
boxing, 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, which roughly correlate to the fame and quality of performance of the wrestlers involved.
Support series 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 of
traffic congestion outside venues common in major championship rounds, as spectators make their way home. Examples of notable support races include
Porsche Supercup and
FIA Formula 2, both supporting the
Formula 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). The
Indy Lights series supports the
IndyCar Series, and the
NASCAR Xfinity Series and
Craftsman Truck Series effectively support the top-tier
NASCAR 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). In often case, the support series can outshadow the main event, most notably Japan's
Super Silhouette series (1979–1984) for
Group 5 'Special Production Cars'. Intending to be a support to the
Fuji Grand Champion Series, it found itself to become out-dwarfed for spectator popularity as those races were often frequented by
bōsōzoku members and fans of zokusha to take inspiration for their cars. Since 2008, the
Rugby League World Cup has been aggregated with the World Cup competitions for
women's and
wheelchair rugby 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 as
physical disability rugby league,
masters (over 35, typically retired professional players),
university, police teams, and armed forces teams. WWE's
NXT brand (which is positioned as a feeder for its main
Raw and
SmackDown rosters) previously held events in its "
TakeOver" series as support for its flagship
pay-per-views (
Royal Rumble,
WrestleMania,
SummerSlam, and
Survivor 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. While the TakeOver branding has since been discontinued, NXT has continued to hold an annual support event on WrestleMania weekend, now known since 2021 as
Stand & Deliver. The
opening act is a similar concept in non-sports entertainment.
Main event 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 and
mixed 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 top
championship, but may feature another special attraction. The
headliner is a similar concept in non-sports entertainment.
Multiple main events 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. == Supercard ==