Wikipedia:WikiProject Professional wrestling/Notability

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This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how notability may be interpreted within their area of interest.

This information is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

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This page in a nutshell: A professional wrestler is presumed to be notable if the person has worked for a major professional wrestling promotion on a regular basis or won a significant championship, as listed on this page, and so is likely to have received significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the subject.

Pofessional wrestling notability, is an essay to give some guidance on whether or not a topic related to professional wrestling, be it a person, a professional wrestling promotion, event etc. is likely to meet the general notability guideline, and thus merit an article in Wikipedia. The article must provide reliable sources showing that the subject meets the general notability guideline or the professional wrestling specific criteria set forth below. It is a specific supplement to the overall policy of Wikipedia:Notability relating to professional wrestling and in no way supersedes it.

These guidelines were created by WikiProject Professional wrestling to help assess the notability of the subjects of articles. Feel free to discuss improvements on the project talk page or the discussion area for this page (WT:PW/N).

If the article does meet the criteria set forth below, then it is likely that sufficient sources exist to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article. Failing to meet the criteria in this guideline means that notability will need to be established in other ways (e.g. the general notability guideline, or other, topic-specific, notability guidelines).

Please note that the failure to meet these criteria does not mean an article must be deleted; conversely, the meeting of any of these criteria does not mean that an article must be kept. These are merely rules of thumb which some editors choose to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to keep an article that is on articles for deletion, along with relevant policies and guidelines such as Wikipedia:Verifiability and Wikipedia:Reliable sources.

Applicable policies and guidelines

All information included in Wikipedia, including articles about professional wrestling, must be verifiable. In addition, standalone articles are required to meet the General Notability Guideline. The guideline on this page provides bright-line guidance to enable editors to determine quickly if a subject is likely to meet the General Notability Guideline. Information about living persons must meet the more stringent requirements for those types of articles. It is not intended that this guideline should apply to professional wrestling promotions; for these the specific notability guideline is WP:ORG.

Subjects that do not meet the professional wrestling-specific criteria outlined in this guideline may still be notable if they meet the General Notability Guideline or another subject specific notability guideline.

Basic criteria

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A person is presumed to be notable if they have been the subject of multiple published^[1] non-trivial^[2] secondary sources which are reliable, intellectually independent,^[3] and independent of the subject.^[4] The guidelines on this page are intended to reflect the fact that professional wrestling figures are likely to meet Wikipedia's basic standards of inclusion if they have, for example, worked on a regular basis for a major professional wrestling promotion at the highest national level.

Trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may be used to support content in an article, but it is not sufficient to establish notability. This includes listings in database sources with low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion, such as cagematch.com or wrestlingdata.com.
Primary sources may be used to support content in an article, but they do not contribute toward proving the notability of a subject.
Some sources must be used with particular care when establishing notability, and should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Local sources must be clearly independent of the subject, and must provide reports beyond routine results coverage.
Wikipedia:WikiProject Professional wrestling/Sources can be used to help navigate sources that are professional wrestling specific for establishing notability.

Professional wrestling biographies

Professional wrestlers

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Have appeared consistently over the course of 3 months or held a championship for a combined reign of 30 days for one of the below-stated professional wrestling promotions. Not just dark match or squash match appearances

Post territory days (1990s–present)

US

WWE

Main roster in a "non-jobber", not one-off appearance role.
NXT and NXT UK in a significant role (such as appearing in two matches on WWE Network events)
Just being signed to a developmental deal is not enough by itself, must have other achievements

World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
Total Nonstop Action/Impact Wrestling (TNA/IW) (May 2004 until December 2018)
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW; Not while it was "Eastern Championship Wrestling") (1994–2001 only)
All Elite Wrestling (AEW)
Ring of Honor (ROH)
Major League Wrestling (MLW) (Post April 20, 2018 only)

Mexico

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) (if they work regularly in Arena Mexico, the "main roster")
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA)

Canada

Stampede Wrestling

Puerto Rico

World Wrestling Council (WWC)

Japan

Territory days (through 1980s)

US

Specific National Wrestling Alliance Territories

Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)
World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW)
Continental Wrestling Association/United States Wrestling Association (CWA/USWA)

World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (excluding while Capitol Wrestling Corporation)
American Wrestling Association (AWA)

Mexico

Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL)
Universal Wrestling Association (UWA)

Canada

Stampede Wrestling

Japan

Puerto Rico

World Wrestling Council (WWC)

Europe

Joint Promotions
World of Sport Wrestling (WOS)

Individuals who do not meet the criteria above are not presumed to meet Wikipedia's standards for notability. To establish that one of these is notable, the article must cite published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable sources, and promotion's sites are generally not regarded as independent of the subject. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves to establish notability.

Other professional wrestling personnel

Promoters
Commentators
Referees
Managers
etc.

To establish that one of these is notable, the article must cite published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable sources, and promotion's sites are generally not regarded as independent of the subject. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves to establish notability.

Just being signed to a deal with an above promotion is not enough by itself, must have other sourcing.

Groups

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Tag teams
Stables

Have appeared consistently as a tag team or group over the course 3 months for one of the above-mentioned professional wrestling promotions
Have held the tag team championship for over 100 consecutive days at one of the above-mentioned promotions.

Tag teams or groups who do not meet the criteria above are not presumed to meet Wikipedia's standards for notability. To establish that one of these is notable, the article must cite published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable sources, and promotion's sites are generally not regarded as independent of the subject. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves to establish notability.

Promotions

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Promotions must meet the criteria at Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies).

Subject of multiple independent articles/documentaries (WP:CORPDEPTH, WP:ORGIND)
Promotes a large number of events annually--the more events it has promoted, the higher the likelihood it is notable.
Has actively been in business for several years – the longer the organization has been around, the likely it is notable.
Having a notable professional wrestler compete or hold a title does not make the organization inherently notable. (WP:INHERITORG)

Television programs

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Generally, an individual television program is likely to be notable if it airs on a network of television stations (either national or regional in scope), or on a cable television channel with a broad regional or national audience. It is far less likely to be notable if it airs in only one local media market.

Championships

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If promotion is notable, the championship can be broken out into its own article once its surpassed approximately 50k bytes (see WP:SPLIT)
- Consistent with Wikipedia:WikiProject Professional wrestling/Style guide#Reigns the reigns list should not be broken out until it has 10 reigns
Championships not tied to a promotion should meet the criteria as Promotions above
In general, championships of promotions not deemed notable are not notable

Events and tournaments

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Supercards events held by the above mentioned list of promotions. Supercards must have storylines that are moved forward or concluded at the events, and must be released for home viewing (VHS, DVD or OTT streaming)
Pay-per-view (including internet pay-per-view) events held by the above mentioned list of promotions
Major, named, tournaments held by the above mentioned list of promotions
An event that is the precedent or conclusion of something which meets WP:LASTING

Once the name and date for a notable event or tournament has been announced, it is deemed to have met this criteria. Events which do not meet the criteria above are not presumed to meet Wikipedia's standards for notability, as described in WP:NEVENTS. To establish that one of these is notable, the article must cite published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable sources, and promotion's sites are generally not regarded as independent of the subject. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves to establish notability.

Matches, controversies and incidents

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Individual professional wrestling matches, controversies or incidents are not inherently notable.

Individual matches should generally be discussed on their event's page if applicable, large matches with WP:LASTING impacts such as The Undertaker vs. Mankind would be too detailed to be included in King of the Ring (1998) and need to be broken out in accordance with WP:SPLIT.
Controversies and incidents should similarly be kept with their tied event, unless there is not specific event page in the case of Fingerpoke of Doom or Mass Transit incident (professional wrestling). Major incidents such as the Montreal Screwjob need to be broken out in accordance with WP:SPLIT

Articles on these topics should satisfy the general notability guideline.

Research links

The following are some potential places to look for sources to establish professional wrestling notability:

Chronicling America Library of Congress, historic newspapers from 1836–1922 (free)
Google news search (mostly free)
Newspaper archive Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)
NewsLibrary Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)
Newspapers.com Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)

Notes

^ What constitutes a "published work" is deliberately broad.
^ Non-triviality is a measure of the depth of content of a published work, and how far removed that content is from a simple directory entry or a mention in passing that does not discuss the subject in detail. A credible 200-page independent biography of a person that covers that person's life in detail is non-trivial, whereas a birth certificate or a 1-line listing on an election ballot form is not. Database sources such as Notable Names Database, Internet Movie Database and Internet Adult Film Database are not considered credible since they are, like wikis, mass-edited with little oversight. Additionally, these databases have low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion.
^ Sources that are pure derivatives of an original source can be used as references, but do not contribute toward establishing the notability of a subject. "Intellectual independence" requires not only that the content of sources be non-identical, but also that the entirety of content in a published work not be derived from (or based in) another work (partial derivations are acceptable). For example, a speech by a politician about a particular person contributes toward establishing the notability of that person, but multiple reproductions of the transcript of that speech by different news outlets do not. A biography written about a person contributes toward establishing his or her notability, but a summary of that biography lacking an original intellectual contribution does not.
^ Autobiography and self-promotion are not the routes to having an encyclopaedia article. The barometer of notability is whether people independent of the subject itself have actually considered the subject notable enough that they have written and published non-trivial works that focus upon it. Thus, entries in biographical dictionaries that accept self-nominations (such as the Marquis Who's Who) do not prove notability.

[note2-1] What constitutes a "published work" is deliberately broad.

[note5-2] Non-triviality is a measure of the depth of content of a published work, and how far removed that content is from a simple directory entry or a mention in passing that does not discuss the subject in detail. A credible 200-page independent biography of a person that covers that person's life in detail is non-trivial, whereas a birth certificate or a 1-line listing on an election ballot form is not. Database sources such as Notable Names Database, Internet Movie Database and Internet Adult Film Database are not considered credible since they are, like wikis, mass-edited with little oversight. Additionally, these databases have low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion.

[note3-3] Sources that are pure derivatives of an original source can be used as references, but do not contribute toward establishing the notability of a subject. "Intellectual independence" requires not only that the content of sources be non-identical, but also that the entirety of content in a published work not be derived from (or based in) another work (partial derivations are acceptable). For example, a speech by a politician about a particular person contributes toward establishing the notability of that person, but multiple reproductions of the transcript of that speech by different news outlets do not. A biography written about a person contributes toward establishing his or her notability, but a summary of that biography lacking an original intellectual contribution does not.

[note4-4] Autobiography and self-promotion are not the routes to having an encyclopaedia article. The barometer of notability is whether people independent of the subject itself have actually considered the subject notable enough that they have written and published non-trivial works that focus upon it. Thus, entries in biographical dictionaries that accept self-nominations (such as the Marquis Who's Who) do not prove notability.

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