Ultra Wrestling Federation

The  (UWF), formerly known as NWA Ultra, is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in. Founded by Frank St. John, Jeremy Richards and Frank Ranford, it is currently owned and operated by Richards and his wife Bonnie through their company New Media Partners. Originally fashioned as a no-frills, "old-school"-style promotion, the promotion's current style mixes elements of various different styles of pro wrestling, including rasslin', hardcore wrestling, lucha libre and puroresu.

The promotion runs two TV shows, UWF Brawl, which airs locally on WHWN-TV and is carried nationally on Max and in first-run syndication in the United States, and UWF Scions, which airs nationally on Qubo. Both shows are also streamed worldwide on YouTube and VidSpace.

Formation and early years
Former WWF writer Frank St. John, North Carolina booker/promoter Jeremy Richards and veteran wrestler "Bad Boy" Frank Ranford created the promotion in 1996 as NWA Ultra after signing an affiliation agreement with the, hiring former Lake Tahoe Championship Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Las Vegas owner Fred Buffett as an advisor. The promotion was backed financially by businessman, philanthropist and record label founder. The first events and TV tapings were held in August and October 1996, and matches from these shows were first shown in February 1997. Ranford was the first NWA Ultra Heavyweight Champion, winning the championship in a tournament held at Port City Slam on May 18, 1997 in. The first NWA Ultra Tag Team Champions were crowned in a tournament final at a TV taping on April 20, 1997 in, when The Bad Humor Men defeated The Flying Gilford Brothers.

NWA Ultra promoted itself as a "no frills", family-friendly alternative to the adult-oriented, "mature" content of promotions at the time such as World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and ECW, running events with the tagline "Ultra Excitement, Not Ultraviolence." Play-by-play announcer Louie Herlihy would proclaim at the start of every show that NWA Ultra was "old-school pro wrestling that's just the way you like it." NWA Ultra's brand of old-school "good guys and bad guys" wrestling was in stark contrast to the pro wrestling norm of the time, wherein edgy angles, "tweeners" and anti-heroes had mostly taken precedence over clearcut heroes and villains.

Originally, the promotion's biggest towns included Wilmington, North Carolina, and. NWA Ultra event tours also included smaller arenas, high school gyms and fairs in cities throughout, and. The promotion also ran a few house shows at the in.

Evolution and growth
After the NWA Ultra TV program began gaining popularity on the tape trading circuit, in 1999 NWA Ultra signed a deal with to syndicate NWA Ultra TV outside of the Wilmington area, which expanded the promotion's reach and visibility.

In 2001, NWA Ultra held their first pay-per-view event, NWA Ultra: Here It Goes!, at the in.

Leaving the National Wrestling Alliance
On August 1, 2007, Jeremy Richards announced that the promotion had left the NWA. Shortly afterwards, they re-branded as the Ultra Wrestling Federation after acquiring the UWF trademark previously used by the Universal Wrestling Federations run by and  respectively.

Recent years
In May 2017, UWF held a PPV event, Go South, at the in. The event was attended in-person by 3,000 people and featured El Hijo del Jaguar Enmascarado against Lord Maximum as the main event, with El Hijo del Jaguar Enmascarado taking the UWF Ultra Champion title from Lord Maximum.

In June 2021, UWF held the pay-per-view event New Dimensions at the in.

Partnerships
UWF currently has working relationships with Ridge Incorporated, CORE Lucha Libre, Arito Archipelago Pro-Wrestling, Sandia National Pro Wrestling, Gold Standard Wrestling, Action Power Valor Wrestling, Dimension Pro Wrestling, Fighter's Code Wrestling, Pro Wrestling FX and L'Européenne Lutte Professionnelle.

Current

 * Wrestler's Paradise
 * This Ain't No Pool Party
 * Go South
 * Go Big Summit
 * New Dimensions
 * Halloween Takeover
 * Christmas Calamity
 * Anarchy in the USA