One thing you don't see much in terms of mentions in the professional wrestling industry is the push rank well in the search engines and now, in early 2026, the AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and others. Consider this to be "inbound" marketing, reaching people who actively are looking for information in the ways which they are seeking information.
Most people in the wrestling industry are relying on "word of mouth" or "social media" or occasionally YouTube to help get eyeballs on their promotions, the individual wrestlers, or wrestling-related industry products and services. However, the ability to rank well for high-demand keywords (queries) can provide those parties with consistent online traffic month in and month out.
At the time of this post, here is the AI Overview (Gemini) result in Google for the search term "independent professional wrestling":
Only a handful of promotions and services are mentioned: Beyond Wrestling, Reality of Wrestling, DEFY Wrestling, and Revolution Pro Wrestling (in the UK). When you consider the number of independent pro wrestling promotions, only these entities are getting consistent traffic each month from those who are searching for the first time on the topic of "independent professional wrestling".
However it is possible to get into these coveted top spots such as Google's organic ranking, Gemini (AI Overview), ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and even Bing Copilot's results. The reason is that top rankings in these platforms and/or YouTube can help draw money consistently by any of the following:
- Selling tickets
- Increasing TV ratings or at least social media follows & YouTube views
- Other social media engagement, including shares/re-posting/likes
- Selling merchandise online, such as gifts for Christmas or birthdays
- Other ways in which a promotion or 3rd party can monetize traffic, including getting people to join email newsletters
Sticking just with the search engines, Google also has additional sections in its search results beyond just regular rankings and the new AI algorithms. These include: Images, News, Google Videos (and "Short Videos"), Maps/Places (for those searching for "professional wrestling shows near me"), Books, Shopping, and additional sections.
Using the above example on independent professional wrestling, if you were to have a quality promotion and want more traffic then you could study SEO from legitimate professionals to help you understand the topics such as:
- On-page SEO (title tags, header tags, etc.)
- Page speed optimization and deliverability for different devices
- Image optimization and content depth. In this age of AI, formatting long-form content in sections (like FAQ, questions people ask in the real word in Header tags, etc.) is needed. This flies in the face of the "keep it simple because people have short attention spans" philosophy which is so prevalent
- Link building for SEO reasons
- Using announcement mechanisms to generate links & branded traffic such as online press releases and local event calendars which permit links to the website + notify those event directories' subscribers
- Schema
All of the above and more also can be learned at advanced SEO conferences (like SEO Rockstars in Dallas in 2026). The benefits of these are both the speakers themselves as well as learning techniques from conversations during lunch and after the day's sessions are finished. If done properly, an upstart independent pro wrestling promotion can gain awareness and market share and nationwide (or at least a good-sized region) exposure for those looking. Social media shares and follower engagement can be used to complement the SEO strategy, rather than a promotion being reliant mainly on that plus some paid ads.
Learning how to get exposure on different platforms for the same search is an art form. Conferences like the above may offer actionable steps to take based on the quality of the speakers.
For example, the same "independent professional wrestling" search done in ChatGPT, entered at the same as the earlier Google example, yields different results. GCW, PWG, and DEFY are mentioned - but there is no mention of Beyond Wrestling nor Reality of Wrestling.
Finally, a platform like YouTube can serve at least 4 ways to grow awareness:
- Ranking #1 for a keyword being searched
- Promoting a specific video through the use of targeted ads, such as targeting pro wrestling fans in a 10 mile radius around the location of the upcoming show
- Getting enough views and watch time and viewer engagement (comments, likes, shares, etc.) to get "passively" referred as a "suggested" ("related") video by YouTube's algorithm
- People who watch the video(s) on your channel will share the videos on their social media, texting friends, and other ways to share your content
Pro wrestling companies also may consider alternatives to the main platforms such as posting content on Gab, Rumble, Vimeo, Flickr and other platforms. The more brand mentions with links pointing back to the website can help with the search rankings and AI platform exposure.
This is a new topic for many working in the pro wrestling industry, so feel free to leave comments on how you believe new rankings and AI platform answers can help a new, or struggling existing, wrestling promotion - or even an individual wrestler - gain new awareness and new fans across the country.