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{{trope}}
[[Professional Wrestling]] federations tend to end up with more wrestlers than they know what to do with. They tend to sign people simply so that the competition can't, snatch up hot young talents in hopes of figuring out how to put them in the show later, or hire guys as a favor to somebody in the office. Naturally, the average wrestling fed can't squeeze all these guys onto their main "A Show", so they eventually put together a
A
A wrestler who manages to develop a following on a
{{examples
* ''HEAT'' has long been [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]'s
* Long before ''HEAT'', the WWF aired ''Shotgun Saturday Night'', which was unique in that it was set up in incredibly intimate venues (and when we say "intimate venues", we mean places like bars and subway stations). Eventually this became prohibitive, however, and was replaced with a standard
▲* ''HEAT'' has long been [[WWE]]'s [[B Show]]. It's no longer aired on television, but was viewable on WWE.com for quite a while, until it was canceled completely. In the modern WWE, ''Superstars'' now fills this role.
▲* Long before ''HEAT'', the WWF aired ''Shotgun Saturday Night'', which was unique in that it was set up in incredibly intimate venues (and when we say "intimate venues", we mean places like bars and subway stations). Eventually this became prohibitive, however, and was replaced with a standard [[B Show]].
** It also existed in other forms depending on the market. There was a custom version for NY stations called WWF NY, though SSN would still air on another NY station. Markets not airing the show on Saturday night got Shotgun or Shotgun Challenge. Canada got Canadian Superstars. Eventually, they were replaced with Jakked and Metal, which had the same matches in different order with different commentary and recaps intended for different aged audiences.
** [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] has ''Raw'' and ''Smackdown'' as its A-Shows. ''WWE NXT'' serves as a kind of B-show, with its emphasis on developing talent straight out of the independent circuit (The "Rookies" are competing for a shot on an A-Show). More to the point is ''WWE Superstars'', a show on WGN, which features a match from ''Raw'', ''Smackdown'', and ''ECW'' and often recaps the events of the other shows.
*** Oddly, ''Smackdown'' serves in a fashion as a B-Show to ''NXT'' now. Since the former is in the [[Friday Night Death Slot]], it's recorded at the same time and location as ''NXT'', which airs live. Though ''Smackdown'' has many more of the A-Show names on it, mostly to cling to the dreadfully small pool of ratings it has, several A-Show talents appear on ''NXT'' as mentors to the new talent.
*** Lately ''Smackdown'' has featured very lengthy recaps from ''Raw'' with very few matches of it's own, and perhaps is being demoted to a B Show once again.
* ''TNA Xplosion'', which is syndicated in a handful of markets.
* ''[[WCW]] Saturday Night'' used to be WCW's flagship show, but was demoted to
** ''[[WCW]] Thunder'' counted as a
* Power Pro Wrestling was the B-show to Mid-South Wrestling/Universal Wrestling Federation. At first, it aired a mix of old matches, house show matches, and matches from other territories featuring wrestlers who were coming to the territory soon. In October 1986, it switched to the same format as UWF, with original matches taped specifically for TV, plus the added twist of being taped at the Cowtown Coliseum in Ft. Worth Texas every week so they could promote the idea that country stars might drop in after performing next door at Billy Bob's Texas ("The world's largest honky tonk!"), as well as positioning the show as an alternative to World Class Championship Wrestling out of Dallas/Ft. Worth, which the promotion was now competing against directly.
* In the Memphis-based/CWA/Jarrett territory, the B-show had the same name as the main show (Championship Wrestling), but focused on house show matches from a few weeks earlier. It usually aired in markets like Tupelo, MS and Jackson, TN that got the main show in from Memphis and needed their own show to promote the local house shows.
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