Ultimate (sports entertainment)

Ultimate is a brand of sports entertainment. It is closely related to professional wrestling, and borrows much of its terminology, but also incorporates physical challenges as well as an element of genuine competition. Like in professional wrestling, participants are 'characters', with designed personalities and staged feuds and conflicts. The actual matches, though, are usually (but not always) genuinely competitive.

Premise and format
In Ultimate, competitors are staged against each other - either individually or in small teams - in matches. A match consists of several rounds and, in turn, a round is either a bout or a game. A championship might consist of several matches over several weeks or months, with participants competing against each other either in a round-robin league format or in an elimination tournament. In addition, rounds are interspersed with promotions (or promos) which, although not directly related to the competition, are an integral part of Ultimate.

Matches and championships are designed to maximise entertainment value, ensuring that popular competitors appear more often and that in-character feuds and rivalries are regularly revisited.

Bouts
A bout is fundamentally a wrestling match. Bouts take place in a ring, which, like in professional wrestling, is an elevated platform topped with shock-absorbing foam padding and a canvas cover (the mat). The ring is surrounded by three ropes, which are made of elasticated natural fibre wrapped in tape. The ropes are held in position and tension by turnbuckles, which are in turn supported by padded posts.

The aim of a bout is to cause the opponent to fall, which, depending on the bout type, can be achieved by: The most common type of bout lasts for a set number of falls, with the first side to achieve the number being declared the winner. The standard for most modern rounds is one fall, though occasionally (especially in the final stages of a championship) a round might be wrestled to three or even five falls. Alternatively, a round might last for a prescribed period of time (usually 10 minutes), with the side causing the most falls being declared the winner.
 * Pinning both of the opponent's shoulders to the mat, typically for three seconds
 * Throwing the opponent clear of the ring
 * Forcing the opponent to submit
 * The opponent remaining outside the ring for too long (a countout)
 * The opponent being disqualified.

Games
Ultimate's use of games is unique in sports entertainment. Each game has a specific objective, with a fall awarded against the unsuccessful participant or team. The games used vary from event to event, with some of the most frequently-used shown in the table below.

Promotions
A promotion (or promo) is an in-character interview or monologue and, as in professional wrestling, serves the purpose of reinforcing the competitor's character, personality or reputation, and of establishing or advancing a particular storyline or feud. The theme and outcome of a promotion is scripted in advance, but are largely improvised by competitors and, in any case, are presented as 'real'.

Promotions usually take place on the arena floor or backstage (where they are relayed on giant screens) and fill the time while games are set up and dismantled. Occasionally, though, a promotion may be more elaborate and become the focus of an entire event, such as staged 'kidnapping' of Blade in the 2017 Halloween Special.

Participants
Participants (referred to as competitors or opponents), like in professional wrestling, are very much 'characters', with designed (and often exaggerated) personalities and scripted feuds and conflicts. Ultimate demands not only high levels of physical fitness but also sophisticated acting and characterisation skills.

Competitors are usually played as faces (heroic "good guys") or heels (villainous "bad guys"), with the two typically pitted against each other in matches. Faces are typically polite to referees and respectful to the crowd, while heels are egotistical and disrespectful, openly drawing boos and jeers.

A competitor's character - their personality and heel or face alignment - may change with time or remain constant over its lifetime. At times a character may "turn", altering their face/heel alignment. This may be an abrupt, surprising event, or it may slowly build up over time. It almost always is accomplished with a markable change in behaviour on the part of the character. If a character repeatedly switches between being a face and heel, this lessens the effect of such turns, and may result in apathy from the audience.

Attire
Each competitor wears a distinctive costume or attire, which is linked to and reinforces their character and its personality. Face competitors generally wear lycra or spandex costumes (similar to the singlets worn by amateur wrestlers) in light or metallic colours. Heel characters, on the other hand, tend to wear darker and heavier costumes, often including leather.

In addition to the ring attire worn during bouts, most competitors have a dress attire which is worn during promotions, entrances and any other time the competitor appears 'in character'. Most dress attires consist of robes, capes or jackets worn over the ring attire.

It is relatively common for a competitor's attire to change over time according to differing styles and preferences, or to reflect a 'turn' in the character's personality or alignment. Some attires, though, are so firmly associated with the competitors who wear them that they are unlikely to change. Examples of this include "Kestrel" Sullivan's leathers, Spectre's featureless black bodysuit and Jordan Wade's tiny briefs.