Opera Cup | |
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Promotions | Major League Wrestling |
First event | 2019 |
The Opera Cup tournament is a professional wrestling single-elimination tournament held by Major League Wrestling (MLW). The event is a revival of the Professional Wrestling Opera House Cup, which had been last held in 1948. MLW hosted their first edition in 2019 and it has since become a recurring event for the promotion.
Opera House Cup was annually held as a professional wrestling tournament for nearly fifty years in various cities in the United States until 1948, when Stu Hart won the tournament and it was discontinued. Hart kept the possession of the Opera Cup trophy since then.
On July 21, 2019, Major League Wrestling announced that it would be holding an event on December 5 at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York City, New York which would be a set of television tapings for MLW Fusion . [1] On July 24, it was reported that Stu Hart's grandson and MLW wrestler Teddy Hart would be donating an inherited "family heirloom" to MLW. [2] On July 30, MLW.com announced that the family heirloom was Stu Hart's Opera Cup trophy and MLW would be bringing back the Opera Cup tournament on the December 5 supercard. [3]
Year | Winner | Times won | Finals date | Runner-up | Venue | Location |
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2019 | Davey Boy Smith Jr. | 1 | December 5, 2019 | Brian Pillman Jr. | Melrose Ballroom | Queens, New York, New York |
2020 | Tom Lawlor | 1 | December 23, 2020 | Low Ki | GILT Nightclub | Orlando, Florida |
2021 | Davey Richards | 1 | November 6, 2021 | TJP | 2300 Arena | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
2023 | Davey Boy Smith Jr. | 2 | April 8, 2023 | Tracy Williams | 2300 Arena | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
2024 | Mistico | 1 | September 14, 2024 | Kenta | Center Stage | Atlanta, Georgia |
Edward Ellsworth Annis is a Canadian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Teddy Hart. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit. He wrestled on a National scale for Major League Wrestling (MLW) as the leader of The Hart Foundation, where he held the MLW World Middleweight and MLW Tag Team championships. He has also wrestled for AAA, the short-lived Wrestling Society X, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Dragon Gate USA. He operates a wrestling school in Edmonton. He is the son of Georgia Hart of the Hart wrestling family and wrestler B. J. Annis. He is also the nephew of former professional wrestlers, Bret Hart and Owen Hart. Hart achieved an early degree of fame when he became the youngest wrestler to be signed to the World Wrestling Federation. His subsequent release, controversial actions while wrestling on the independent circuit and various legal problems have earned him a measure of infamy.
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New Era Hart Foundation was a professional wrestling stable in Major League Wrestling, consisting of Teddy Hart, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Brian Pillman Jr. The group was the latest incarnation of the Hart Foundation which was formed by MLW in 2018. The trio enjoyed success as they are former one-time World Tag Team Champions within the promotion, defending the title under the Freebird rule. In addition, Teddy Hart is a one-time World Middleweight Champion as part of the group. Hart was released by MLW on December 6, 2019 and Smith left the promotion on December 2, 2020, thus ending the group.
Saturday Night SuperFight was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the Major League Wrestling (MLW) promotion, which took place at the Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on November 2, 2019. It was MLW's first pay-per-view event and the second event under the Superfight chronology. The event aired live on traditional PPV outlets and FITE TV. It would be the last MLW event to be broadcast live until Never Say Never in 2023, and their last event to take place at Cicero Stadium until Azteca Lucha in 2024.
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SuperFight (2019) was a professional wrestling event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW). It took place on February 2, 2019, at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event aired live on television as a two-hour special episode of Fusion on beIN Sports, and it was the first event under the SuperFight chronology.
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Fury Road (2019) was a supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW), which took place on June 1, 2019 at the Waukesha County Expo Center in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The event aired as a live special episode of MLW's television program, Fusion, on beIN Sports. It was the second event under the Fury Road chronology.
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Opera Cup (2019) was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW), which took place on December 5, 2019 at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York City, New York. The event was a set of television tapings for Fusion featuring the inaugural namesake Opera Cup single-elimination tournament.
Opera Cup (2020) was a professional wrestling tournament produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW), which took place at the GILT Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It was the second edition of the MLW Opera Cup. The event was featured in episodes of Fusion that aired between November 25 and December 23, 2020 on Fubo Sports Network and MLW's YouTube channel.
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Opera Cup (2021) was the third Opera Cup professional wrestling tournament produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW). The first two rounds were held at Fightland on October 2, 2021, while the finals took place at War Chamber on November 6, 2021.
War Chamber (2021) was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW), which took place on November 6, 2021, at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the second event under the War Chamber chronology, and featured the finals of the 2021 Opera Cup.
War Chamber (2023) was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW), which took place on April 6, 2023, at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York. It was the third event under the War Chamber chronology, and featured the opening of the 2023 Opera Cup.
Opera Cup (2023) was the fourth Opera Cup professional wrestling tournament produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW). The first two rounds were held at War Chamber on April 6, 2023, while the finals took place at Battle Riot V on April 8, 2023. These matches aired on later episodes of Fusion.
Opera Cup (2024) was the fifth Opera Cup professional wrestling tournament produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW). The first round started at Battle Riot VI on June 1, 2024; the matches would air on tape delay as part of the "MLW Anniversary '24" special on June 22. The first round continued on July 12 at Blood & Thunder as well as the "Never Say Never" special which aired on August 10. The quarterfinals were held on August 29 at Summer of the Beasts, and the semifinals and final were held on September 14 at Fightland.
Summer of the Beasts was a professional wrestling event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW) that took place on August 29, 2024, at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York. The event streamed live on MLW's YouTube channel. A "surprise" streaming special called "Summer of the Beasts: Part 2", featuring unseen dark matches from the event, and the Bobby Fish vs Timothy Thatcher match that was cut from the live broadcast due to technical issues, would be uploaded to YouTube on September 7.