| Punk | |
|---|---|
 Woodley in 2018 | |
| Current team | |
| Team | FlyQuest |
| Games | Street Fighter VI |
| Personal information | |
| Name | Victor Woodley |
| Nationality | American |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 2009–present |
| Team history | |
| 2017–2018 | Panda Global |
| 2018 | Echo Fox |
| 2018–2019 | Team Reciprocity |
| 2020–2022 | Panda Global |
| 2023–present | FlyQuest |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Victor Woodley, better known under the name Punk, is an American Street Fighter player.
Punk began playing Street Fighter professionally after the release of Street Fighter IV in 2009. Though he occasionally visited local events, Punk primarily played Street Fighter online while focusing on his education. When Street Fighter V was released in 2016, Punk had completed high school and began attending tournaments more frequently. Punk first appeared on the professional scene when he qualified for the 2016 Red Bull Battlegrounds (the North American Capcom Pro Tour regional finals) through netplay. Here, Punk defeated various high-level players such as Filipino Champ|Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez, Chris Tatarian, and Justin Wong, and settled on third place after losing to Tokido and NuckleDu. In the months after, Punk took home first place three tournaments in a row: Northeast Championships, Winter Brawl, and The King of New York. At the Austin, Texas tournament Fighters Underground in March 2017, Punk defeated players such as NuckleDu, Yusuke Momochi, and Arman "Phenom" Hanjani in the group stage, but was defeated by Justin Wong and Filipino Champ and ended up tied for seventh place. [1] [2]
On March 8, 2017, Panda Global announced that the company had signed Punk, with CEO Alan Bunney predicting that Punk would be "one of the dark horses of 2017." This contract came ahead of South by Southwest (SXSW) 2017 and the ELeague Street Fighter V Invitational that ran from March 27 to May 26. [2] At SXSW Conference's Fighters Underground, Punk beat NuckleDu, Yusuke Momochi, Filipino Champ, and K-Brad in the group stages, but quickly bottomed out on day 2 because he felt unusually nervous. At the Eleague opening event on March 27, Punk was able to defeat all opponents except for Evo 2016-champion Lee "Infiltration" Seon-woo. [3]
During Eleague and the early 2017 Capcom Pro Tour, Punk's dominating play-style with the character Karin and his trash-talk during interviews became frequently discussed. After winning West Coast Warzone 6, Punk stated that he wanted "to do well at tournaments so people can't talk [shit] about me. I like when people boo me. It motivates me to keep winning. I don't even have to respond back." Punk noted that people would get frustrated while playing against him. [4] When Punk competed in California again during the 2017 NorCal Regionals, he was routinely teabagging his opponents Long "Circa LPN" Nguyen and NuckleDu in an effort to taunt them. After winning the tournament, Punk told Kotaku that he uses teabagging to undermine and distract his opponents, stating that the taunt "gets in certain people's heads and messes them up." Though this behavior was answered by laughs and cheers from the crowd, Punk's teabagging proved controversial throughout the fighting game community. [5]
Punk went on to win the 2017 Eleague Street Fighter V Invitation, defeating Arman "Phenom" Hanjani in the finals. Phenom kicked Punk into the loser's bracket during their first match-up in the tournament, but when Punk faced Phenom's character Necalli again in the grand final, he won the match 4–2, taking home $150,000 USD in prize earnings. [6] [7]
Punk placed second at Evo 2017, losing to Street Fighter veteran Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi. After defeating Itabashi Zangief and Kazunoko, Punk faced Tokido's Akuma in the winner's finals, but eventually lost against him 6–1. [8] [9] After accepting his second-place medal, Punk buried his face in his hands. Later that night, Punk sent out the Twitter message: "Let everyone down I'm so disappointed in myself." [10]
Punk competed once more at the Red Bull Battlegrounds, which served again as the Capcom Pro Tour North American regional final. This time, Punk was a high ranking player, and he went up against a new player – Derek "iDom" Ruffin – in the finals. Punk defeated iDom 3–2, taking the title and the US$12,000 first-place prize. In a post-match interview, Punk stated that "[Winning this tournament] actually means a lot," as he originally entered the scene through Red Bull Battlegrounds one year prior. [11]
After having won a large number of tournaments in the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour, Punk entered the Capcom Cup as the top seed. However, Punk tied for ninth place after losing to Last Chance-qualifier Naoki "Nemo" Nemoto and fellow newcomer Naoki "Moke" Nakayama. [12]
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Woodley was only 18 years old when he became a professional Street Fighter player in 2016, much younger than most of his competitors. In an interview with Red Bull in April 2017, he stated: "I actually like having a target on my back. It's good that everyone wants to beat me. I like the feeling of people being scared or nervous when they see me in their pool. I really like that." [1] Punk chose his screen name in honor of pro wrestler Phillip Jack Brooks, who goes by the ring name "CM Punk". [10]
Daigo Umehara is a Japanese esports player and author who competes competitively at fighting video games. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the West and "Umehara" or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous Street Fighter players and is often considered its greatest as well. His longevity is seen as an incredibly rare thing in the world of competitive video games. He currently holds a world record of "the most successful player in major tournaments of Street Fighter" in the Guinness World Records and is a six time Evo Championship Series winner.
Capcom Cup is an annual fighting game tournament specifically focused on the Street Fighter series. The event's first incarnation was in 2013 which featured Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition version 2012, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter X Tekken version 2013 as the three main games each with 8 qualifiers. In 2014, Capcom Cup was an Ultra Street Fighter IV exclusive tournament with 16 qualifiers. The 2015 Capcom Cup was doubled to a 32-man format. The series of qualifying events for the tournament are known as the Capcom Pro Tour and include many of the largest, most prestigious pre-existing fighting game tournaments such as Evolution Championship Series and DreamHack.
Yusuke Momochi, better known as Momochi, is a Japanese professional fighting game player, particularly of ones in the Street Fighter series by Capcom. Momochi won the Capcom Cup 2014 championship, as well as winning the EVO 2015 title for Ultra Street Fighter IV.
Capcom Cup 2015 was a professional Ultra Street Fighter IV video game tournament that was held at Moscone Center in San Francisco on December 6, 2015. 32 players qualified for the tournament by winning one of the 16 Capcom Pro Tour Premier Events or by acquiring points at them. Kun Xian Ho won three of the Premier Events, coming in third place at the Capcom Cup. Many high-profile players, including Justin Wong and Bonchan, lost two consecutive matches during the early rounds of the Cup and were eliminated. The Grand Final was a match between Mad Catz' Daigo Umehara playing as Evil Ryu and Kazunoko playing as Yun, the latter winning the match 3–2.
Du Dang, more commonly known by his nickname NuckleDu, is an American fighting game player known for playing Guile and Decapre in Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guile and Zangief in Street Fighter X Tekken, and Guile and Rainbow Mika in Street Fighter V. NuckleDu was ranked as the 13th best player in Ultra Street Fighter IV by EventHubs, and was ranked at #19 in the previous year and #32 in 2013. In Street Fighter V, he was undeniably the most successful player in the latter half of Season 1.
Stunfest 2016 was a fighting game tournament that took place on May 21–22 in Rennes, France. Being a Premier Event of the Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the event would qualify for the 2016 Capcom Cup. The Grand Finals of Stunfest 2016 were dominated by Asian players such as Tokido and Daigo Umehara, with European players like Luffy being eliminated on day 1. Japanese players Fuudo and Yusuke Momochi faced off in the final round, with Momochi winning the tournament.
NorCal Regionals 2016 was a Street Fighter V tournament that took place in Sacramento, California on March 25–27. Being one of the eleven Premier Events of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the tournament automatically qualified for the Capcom Cup in December 2016. As the 14th NorCal Regionals event, NCR 2016 featured a "Pool of Death", where players registering "at the door" rather than in advance were punished by being placed in the same pool with one another. The Pool of Death was won by Vietnamese player Marn, who was knocked out of the Top 8 by Tokido. The tournament was won by Infiltration, who dominated the competition throughout the finals.
Capcom Cup 2016 was a Street Fighter V video game tournament that was held in December 2016. 32 players qualified for the tournament by winning one of the eleven Capcom Pro Tour Global Premier Events, Evo 2016, one of the four regional events, and/or by scoring high on the game's leaderboards. Street Fighter V was released shortly before the start of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, replacing Ultra Street Fighter IV from the previous season.
Hajime Taniguchi, better known as Tokido, is a Japanese fighting game player who plays the King of Fighters and Street Fighter franchises. He is known for playing multiple fighting games on a competitive level in addition to Street Fighter, including Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom 3, and BlazBlue. Tokido is a three-time EVO champion, having won Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2002 as well as winning Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 2007 and Street Fighter V ten years later. Tokido has had 19+ Evolution top 8 finishes in 9 different games across 15 years, a feat surpassed only by Justin Wong.
The regional finals of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour were a series of closed Street Fighter V tournaments held throughout the world. The champions of the four different regions – North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia – automatically qualified to compete at the 2016 Capcom Cup. People qualified to compete in their regional finals by scoring highly on their regional leaderboard or winning ranking events during the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour. The four tournaments all took place between October 15 and November 19, 2016.
Canada Cup 2016 was a fighting game event that took place in Toronto, Canada on October 28–30. The seventh incarnation of the Canada Cup hosted 14 tournaments: games that were played at the event ranged from Street Fighter II Turbo to The King of Fighters XIV. The Street Fighter V tournament held at Canada Cup 2016 was the last Premier Event of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour: its champion NuckleDu automatically qualified to compete in the 2016 Capcom Cup.
The Canada Cup is an annual Canadian fighting game event founded and organized by Lap Chi Duong. The event was launched as the Calgary Cup in 2009 and was initially held in Calgary, Alberta, but the tournament moved to Toronto, Ontario shortly after, returning to Calgary every few years. The Canada Cup is a major Street Fighter tournament, generally being the final event in the annual Capcom Pro Tour.
The 2017 Capcom Pro Tour was the fourth edition of the Capcom Pro Tour, an annual season of Street Fighter V tournaments that are officially sponsored by Capcom. The 2017 Capcom Pro Tour followed several months after the "Season 2" update of Street Fighter V and started off with Final Round 20 on March 10. Much like the 2016 season, this season featured fifteen Premier Events, a few dozen smaller tournaments, several online tournaments, and the Evolution Championship. In these tournaments, competitors gained points needed to qualify for the 2017 Capcom Cup, which was held in December.
ELEAGUE Street Fighter V Invitational, also known as ELEAGUE Season 3, was the third season of ELEAGUE. After two seasons with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the league announced that it would expand to fighting games with Street Fighter V. The season ran from March 27, 2017, to May 26, 2017, and was broadcast on cable television on TBS and online on Twitch. The season featured 32 players overall and 24 players in the main tournament from across the world to compete.
NorCal Regionals 2017 was a Street Fighter V tournament that took place in Sacramento, California on April 14-16. Being one of the eleven Premier Events of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the tournament automatically qualified for the Capcom Cup in December 2017. This was the 15th NorCal Regionals event and the second to feature a "death pool" for competitors who failed to register ahead of time. The tournament was won by Victor "Punk" Woodley, who spent much of the final match taunting his opponent NuckleDu.
The 2017 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 14–16 that was part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various fighting games, such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Injustice 2. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Tekken 7 receiving double the number of players from the previous year.
Combo Breaker 2017 was a fighting game event that took place in St. Charles, Illinois, on May 26–28, 2017. Twenty different tournaments were held during this event, including a 2017 Capcom Pro Tour Premier Event for Street Fighter V, which was won by NuckleDu. Combo Breaker was the debut of the Injustice 2 Pro Series, a tournament which was won by SonicFox.
Capcom Cup 2017 was a Street Fighter V video game tournament that was held in December 2017. 32 players qualified for the tournament by scoring high on the game's leaderboards during the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour. The tournament spanned three days during the PlayStation Experience weekend, and took place in the Anaheim Hilton Hotel and Anaheim Convention Center. The first day of the tournament featured a Last Chance qualifier, which was won by newcomer Naoki "Nemo" Nemoto. The finals were won by Dominican newcomer Saul Leonardo Mena "MenaRD" Segundo, who defeated Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi in the final match.
The regional finals of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour were a series of closed Street Fighter V tournaments held throughout the world. The champions of the four different regions – North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia – automatically qualified to compete at the 2017 Capcom Cup. People qualified to compete in their regional finals by scoring highly on their regional leaderboard or winning ranking events during the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour. The four tournaments all took place between October 1 and November 19, 2017.
Capcom Cup 2018 was a Street Fighter V tournament that was held in December 2018. 32 players qualified for the tournament by scoring high on the game's leaderboards during the 2018 Capcom Pro Tour. The tournament spanned three days from December 14–16, and took place in the Esports Arena in the Luxor Hotel & Casino. The first day of the tournament featured a Last Chance qualifier, which was won by newcomer ZJZ. The finals were won by newcomer Kanamori "Gachikun" Tsunehiro, who defeated Hiromiki "Itabashi Zangief" Kumada.