Wikipedia:WikiProject Professional wrestling/Sources

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Below is a guide for sources to be used within professional wrestling articles established by consensus among participants of WikiProject Professional wrestling. Please discuss this guide on the WikiProject talk page if you have any ideas about how to fine tune these guidelines. Only use reliable sources to verify facts and claims in articles; if a claim is not verified by a source deemed reliable, it could be challenged and removed.

Search all reliable secondary sources for professional wrestling.

Search only websites dedicated to covering professional wrestling.

Search only mainstream websites.

Official promotion websites[edit]

WWE.com – Contents of pay-per-view match previews are replaced with the match results when they are available. Any content taken from the preview articles should be archived (see below).
AllEliteWrestling.com
TNAWrestling.com
ROHWrestling.com
NJPW1972.com
Official websites of other promotions

Resources[edit]

Wayback Machine – A great way to find information from a reliable source that may have been deleted. This website can also be used to archive webpages.
Archive.is – Same usage as above. If you cannot find an archived version of a webpage on one, try the other.
Webcitation.org – About the same as the two above, but not as easy to search.
FindArticles – May be useful for finding articles on a specific subject.

Reliable sources[edit]

Industry specific[edit]

Name	Media	Years	Language	Notes	Owner
Box y Lucha	Online, Print	1954–	Spanish	The magazine and website has an established staff of writers.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated	Online, Print	1979–	English	The magazine and website has an established staff of writers.	Kappa Publishing Group
Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online	Online, Print	1980–	English	The newsletter released by Dave Meltzer and its website, co-authored by Bryan Alvarez; reliable for results and historical information.^[1]	Independent
Pro Wrestling Torch	Online, Print	1987–	English	This organization has an established staff of writers and newsletter.	TDH Communications Inc.
Super Luchas	Online, Print	1991–	Spanish	Former print magazine with an established, documented editorial process.	Independent
WrestleView	Online	1997–	English	Has an established staff and editors.	Independent
The History of WWE	Online	2002–2015	English	Maintained by Graham Cawthon, a journalist who has written several books on the history of professional wrestling. Source has results of every single WWE, WCW and ECW program. Has full-detailed results of some shows and matches. Defunct since 2015.	Graham Cawthon
PWInsider	Online	2004–	English	The website has an established staff. Writer Richard Trionfo has a knack for inventing names for finishing or signature moves – "IEDDT", "Blackpool Slam", "Fandangobama Jam", etc. – do not use his reports to cite move names.	Independent
Solowrestling.com	Online, Print	2004–	Spanish	The website has an established staff. Former print magazine with an established, documented editorial process.	Independent
Prowrestling.net	Online	2008–	English	The website has an established staff.	Last Row Media LLC.
Pro Wrestling Sheet	Online	2015–2018	English	The website was controlled by Ryan Satin, who has a background in news, and it also had an editorial staff. Satin sold the site to Collider in 2018, who rebranded it to The Sportster, and it is no longer considered a reliable source.	Ryan Satin LLC.
Fightful	Online	2015–	English	The website has an established staff. The website is controlled by Sean Ross Sapp, who has an extensive background in news.	James Vanderlinden
POSTWrestling	Online	2017–	English	The website has an established staff.	John Pollock and Wai Ting
Wrestlenomics	Online	2019-	English	The website has an established staff. The Wrestlenomics website and brand is owned and operated by Brandon Thurston, formerly a professional wrestler himself and now a Journalist specialising in professional wrestling news.	Brandon Thurston

Mainstream[edit]

Name	Media	Notes and limitations	Owner
The Baltimore Sun	Online, Print	American newspaper in the state of Maryland; inaccessible in EU	Tribune Publishing
CBS Sports	Online	Sports division of the American television network CBS.	CBS Interactive
Digital Spy	Online	British-based entertainment news website.	Hearst Communications
ESPN	Online	U.S.-based global television channel, added a wrestling vertical in 2016.	ESPN Internet Ventures
Fox Sports	Online	Sports division of the American television network Fox Broadcasting Company, with its own dedicated regional and national cable channels.	Fox Sports Interactive Media
The Independent	Online, Print	British newspaper.	Evgeny Lebedev
The Masked Man (via Grantland)	Online	Columnist and podcast host David Shoemaker is an author of a book on professional wrestling. However, this does not mean other Grantland columnists are reliable. Grantland closed down in October 2015.	ESPN Internet Ventures
Miami Herald	Online, Print	American newspaper for the region of South Florida.	The McClatchy Company
Rolling Stone	Online, Print	Popular culture magazine published in the United States.	Jann Wenner
Sky Sports	Online	Website for the British-based group of sports television channels.	Sky UK
SLAM! Wrestling	Online	Includes detailed television and pay-per-view results, as well as wrestler biographies back to 1997. Independent from Canadian Online Explorer as of May 2020.	Postmedia Network
Sports Illustrated	Online, Print	American sports magazine.	Meredith Corporation

Limited reliable sources[edit]

Use with caution, mainly for uncontroversial claims such as the attendance of the event, as these sites do not have proven fact checking.

Name	Media	Notes and limitations	Owner
411mania	Online	This website has reports on many PPV and weekly events (dating back to mid-2000), as well as numerous columns. Stay away from news articles that are crediting sources we consider unreliable.
Cagematch.net	Online	Match results regularly cited by other reliable sources such as Wrestling Observer Newsletter, SuperLuchas, Pro Wrestling Torch, ESPN and POST Wrestling. Has volunteer staff and editorial oversight. Do not cite user comments in the ratings section or anything outside of match results.	Philip Kreikenbohm
Bleacher Report	Online	Can be used for minor claims such as interviews or match results. Refrain from using pre-2013 articles as some are user-generated.	WarnerMedia News & Sports
Internet Wrestling Database	Online	Only reliable for match results, and not for other BLP information. Has results for various wrestling promotions in the world, including WWE, AEW, TNA, ROH, NWA, WCW, ECW, NJPW, AJPW and NOAH.
WWENetworkNews	Online	Only reliable for additions and removals to the WWE Network.

Unproven sources[edit]

Name	Media	Notes	Owner
1Wrestling	Online	This website was around from 1997–2020 and employed many well known wrestling reporters, including Bill Apter	Bob Ryder
InsidePulse	Online	This website has named writers and has been around for several years.
NZPWI	Online	Has editors [7]
Online Onslaught	Online	This source has detailed results of every WWF/E PPV, along with results of Raw, SmackDown, Heat and Velocity. Has not been updated since 2016.
Pro Wrestling History	Online	This website list results of matches, pay-per-views, tournaments, history of promotions, buyrates, and attendance for events.
So Cal Uncensored	Online	News, reviews, rankings, interviews, and more on the Southern California wrestling scene.
Solie	Online	This website has exhaustive listings of title histories.
Total Wrestling Magazine	Online, Print
Wrestling Perspective	Online, Print
Uproxx	Online	Has editorial staff [8]	Warner Music Group
WrestlingData	English German	Largest database of wrestlers and results on the web, extensively cross-referenced.
Wrestling Titles	Online	A comprehensive listing of title histories.
WrestlingWorldNews	Online

Dead sources[edit]

May be found in archives.

Puroresu Spirit – English results for many Japanese promotions.

Aggregators[edit]

News aggregators are websites that collects headlines from other pro wrestling news sites, but does not copy it. Might be worth looking at to see who broke a story.

The Professional Wrestling Database
SLAM.NEWS
Classic Wrestling Articles – This source provides articles from newspapers and magazines dating from 1852, but since it is a blog, it is recommended not to directly cite it, but instead use it to find the original articles to cite from.
Wrestling.delivery

Unreliable sources[edit]

Avoid using these sources. They report rumors, speculation, and have no reliable sourcing (where they get their information from).

References[edit]

Cited below are references associated with stated reasons for listing a website as unreliable.

^ Long considered reliable, routinely relied upon as a source by mainstream outlets and other reliable sources, 2024 discussion on it found here
^ Article writers use screen names only
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Fan website with no visible oversight
^ Blog owned by SB Nation
^ See previous discussions:[1],[2]
^ ^a ^b See talk page discussion
^ ^a ^b British tabloid paper. Listed at Wikipedia:Potentially unreliable sources. Not suitable for BLPs. See here.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Marked "generally unreliable" by WP:RSP
^ Cites other unreliable sources. No proven oversite. Can be used for interviews, per talk page discussion.
^ The Forbes website is listed at Wikipedia:Potentially unreliable sources. Much of the content is created by paid "contributors". They may qualify under the self-published source criteria, but must never be used as third-party citations on statements relating to living persons.
^ Uses Facebook as a source [3]
^ Managing Editor is Jamie Greer who previously wrote for Wrestlezone
^ [4] – Has used Sportskeeda, Ringside News, and other unreliable sites as a sources
^ Per Reliable Source notice board – [5].
^ 19 November 2015 PWPIX claimed "Becky Lynch is taking some time off from the road. After working WWE's entire European tour, she returned to her hometown of Dublin, Ireland and therefore missing this week's Raw and SmackDown events — she's still in Dublin. She's expected back before the end of the year."
19 November 2015 Lynch tweeted "I'm not taking any time off"
^ As per discussion – [6]
^ Is a forum
^ "Wrestling News | WWE News and Rumors". Ringside News.
^ Per a discussion on WT:PW, editors find The Sportster to be generally unreliable.
^ Fog, Darren (July 29, 2015). "On a échappé à un live de Limp Bizkit à WrestleMania 32". VoxCatch.
^ http://www.worldofwrestling.it/it/dettaglio.php?tab=mkp_news&id=67828
^ As per discussion
^ http://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/news/39699/WWE-Wants-Limp-Bizkit-For-WrestleMania-32-But-Fred/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3f4mfj/just_to_let_you_guys_know_pretty_sure_the_limp/

[1] Long considered reliable, routinely relied upon as a source by mainstream outlets and other reliable sources, 2024 discussion on it found here

[2] Article writers use screen names only

[fansite-3] Fan website with no visible oversight

[4] Blog owned by SB Nation

[5] See previous discussions:[1],[2]

[WrestleTalk-6] See talk page discussion

[tabloid-7] British tabloid paper. Listed at Wikipedia:Potentially unreliable sources. Not suitable for BLPs. See here.

[RSP-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Marked "generally unreliable" by WP:RSP

[9] Cites other unreliable sources. No proven oversite. Can be used for interviews, per talk page discussion.

[10] The Forbes website is listed at Wikipedia:Potentially unreliable sources. Much of the content is created by paid "contributors". They may qualify under the self-published source criteria, but must never be used as third-party citations on statements relating to living persons.

[11] Uses Facebook as a source [3]

[12] Managing Editor is Jamie Greer who previously wrote for Wrestlezone

[13] [4] – Has used Sportskeeda, Ringside News, and other unreliable sites as a sources

[14] Per Reliable Source notice board – [5].

[15] 19 November 2015 PWPIX claimed "Becky Lynch is taking some time off from the road. After working WWE's entire European tour, she returned to her hometown of Dublin, Ireland and therefore missing this week's Raw and SmackDown events — she's still in Dublin. She's expected back before the end of the year."
19 November 2015 Lynch tweeted "I'm not taking any time off"

[16] As per discussion – [6]

[17] Is a forum

[18] "Wrestling News | WWE News and Rumors". Ringside News.

[19] Per a discussion on WT:PW, editors find The Sportster to be generally unreliable.

[20] Fog, Darren (July 29, 2015). "On a échappé à un live de Limp Bizkit à WrestleMania 32". VoxCatch.

[21] ttp://www.worldofwrestling.it/it/dettaglio.php?tab=mkp_news&id=67828

[22] As per discussion

[23] ttp://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/news/39699/WWE-Wants-Limp-Bizkit-For-WrestleMania-32-But-Fred/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3f4mfj/just_to_let_you_guys_know_pretty_sure_the_limp/

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