This article needs to be updated.(January 2011) |
On various occasions in professional wrestling, a single-elimination tournament of varying match types are held, often to determine a champion for a vacant or newly-created championship or to determine the number-one contender for a championship. It has been known for promotions to use title tournament that are fictitious in nature (that is, the title may have been simply awarded under the pretext of winning a tournament elsewhere) - notable ones include the tournaments that established the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and the WWE United States Championship (the latter when it was the NWA United States Championship).
In tournaments with a fixed bracket, a multiple-disqualification or a multiple-countout eliminates all parties involved, and those who are slated to face the winner of such a match simply partakes in a match with one less opponent (or simply does not wrestle, if no opponents remain). Tournaments, however, rarely have a final match where only one such finalist remain, with no others qualifying for the final round.
Tournaments may employ a single match type throughout, or may vary match by match or round by round.
When Drew Mcintyre was fired from the WWE, the title became vacant, so the WWE organized an Intercontinental Championship tournament. Kofi Kingston was the winner, but Drew returned and was reinstated as the Intercontinental Champion, so Kingston became the number one contender.
After CM Punk won the WWE Championship by defeating John Cena at WWE Money in the Bank and walked out of the company with the title, Vince McMahon set up a tournament to decide a new champion the following night on Raw. A week later in the final, Rey Mysterio defeated The Miz in the opening match of the broadcast to become WWE Champion. However, Mysterio would lose the title later that night to Cena, who would win the title for a WWE record ninth time. CM Punk then returned to the WWE with the title he won, meaning that, for the first time in WWE history, two men had a claim to the championship. The issue was settled at SummerSlam where Punk won a controversial rematch with Cena to become Undisputed Champion, though he would lose the title to Raw Money In The Bank winner Alberto Del Rio seconds later.
Since 2000, ECCW has held an annual tournament called the ECCW Pacific Cup, considered to be the Canadian equivalent of such American tournaments as the East Coast Wrestling Association's Super 8 Tournament. The first edition of the tournament took place on November 24, 2000, in New Westminster, with Asian Cougar defeating Havoc and Tony Kozina in the final; beginning with the 2002 edition (it was not held in 2001), the event was moved closer to the start of the year and alternated between Surrey and Vancouver in later years. As well, in 2004 ECCW held the first, and so far only, tag version of the Pacific Cup.
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