2005 TNA Super X Cup Tournament
2005 TNA Super X Cup Tournament | |
---|---|
TNA Impact! Zone | |
Location | Orlando, Florida |
Start date | July 19, 2005 |
End date | August 14, 2005 |
Competitors | |
Champion | |
Samoa Joe |
The 2005 TNA Super X Cup Tournament was a
The tournament featured eight TNA wrestlers:
Background
TNA editor Bill Banks announced the tournament in July 2005 in his "Bank Shot" column, adding that the final would be held at TNA's Sacrifice PPV event on August 14, 2005. The 2005 tournament was the second Super X Cup held. The first was the 2003 TNA Super X Cup Tournament, won by Chris Sabin in September 2003. Winners of Super X Cup tournaments receive trophies and a future TNA X Division Championship match.[4]
TNA announced the final list of eight participants in July 2005:
Tournament
The 2005 TNA Super X Cup Tournament featured seven matches involving numerous wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and
The tournament consisted of three rounds: the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The quarterfinals and the semifinals took place on TNA's television program TNA Impact!, while the finals were held at Sacrifice. The quarterfinals were taped on July 19 and aired on the July 22 and July 29 episodes of Impact!.[9] The semifinals were also taped on July 19 before airing on August 5 and August 10 episodes of Impact![9] Then-TNA X Division Champion Christopher Daniels provided commentary for each encounter. Daniels nicknamed the competition the "Christopher Daniels Invitational".[1]
- Quarterfinals
In the first of two quarterfinal matches aired on July 22, Samoa Joe fought Sonjay Dutt in a match lasting 9 minutes and 32 seconds. Joe won after forcing Dutt to submit with his signature
The third and fourth quarterfinal bouts aired on July 29. Alex Shelley fought Shocker in the first match of the episode, winning with a
- Semifinals
Joe, Shelley, Styles, and Williams advanced to the semifinals. The first match took place on the August 5 episode of Impact! between Joe and Shelley. Joe slammed Shelley back-first into the mat with his signature Muscle Buster maneuver and then choked him unconscious with the Coquina Clutch at 9 minutes and 4 seconds to win and advance to the finals.[13][14] In the second semifinal match on August 10, Styles defeated Williams with a small package pin at 9 minutes and 19 seconds.[15][16]
- Finals
The tournament final between A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe took place on August 14 at Sacrifice. As Styles laid against the ring ropes at the beginning of the match, Joe ran across the ring and
Joe's win gave him the Super X Cup trophy and made him the number-one contender for the TNA X Division Championship. He earned a title match against Daniels at TNA's Unbreakable PPV event on September 11.[3]
- Tournament bracket
Quarterfinals (TV – TNA Impact!) | Semifinals (TV – TNA Impact!) | Finals (PPV – Sacrifice) | ||||||||||||
Samoa Joe | Submission[11] | |||||||||||||
Sonjay Dutt | 09:32 | |||||||||||||
Samoa Joe | Submission[13] | |||||||||||||
Alex Shelley | 09:04 | |||||||||||||
Alex Shelley | Pinfall[1] | |||||||||||||
Shocker | 05:28 | |||||||||||||
Samoa Joe | Submission[2] | |||||||||||||
A.J. Styles
| 15:15 | |||||||||||||
A.J. Styles
| Pinfall[11] | |||||||||||||
Matt Bentley | 10:53 | |||||||||||||
A.J. Styles
| Pinfall[15] | |||||||||||||
Petey Williams | 09:19 | |||||||||||||
Chris Sabin | 11:45 | |||||||||||||
Petey Williams | Pinfall[1] |
Reception
James Caldwell of
Reviews of the semifinal matches on August 5 and 10 were also generally positive. Caldwell said the Joe versus Shelley contest was "another outstanding Samoa Joe match."[13] Sokol said the Styles versus Williams bout was a "back and forth match", and Caldwell said it was "a solid match" that was "nothing spectacular or particularly breathtaking, but it didn't need to be because the crowd was into the match simply because of who was in the ring."[15] He went on to say that the wrestlers "didn't need to pull of a four star match with amazing spots to wow the crowd because they had the audience captivated from the get-go."[15]
Canadian Online Explorer columnist Corey David Lacroix reviewed Sacrifice, giving the Super X Cup Final an 8 out of 10 rating. Lacorix wrote that the Super X Cup Final "could have been a certified Match of the Year contender if someone in the back had not decided to make Daniels interfere in this contest."[2] He went on to say the match "was a thing of beauty that got stained."[2] Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch gave the Super X Cup Final four stars out of five, calling it a "four star match that was begging to be given an extra ten minutes to be a match of the year candidate."[3]
Aftermath
A.J. Styles suffered a tendon injury during his title bout with Samoa Joe at Sacrifice. TNA management kept him out of the following Impact!
After winning the 2005 TNA Super X Cup tournament, Samoa Joe was set to face Christopher Daniels for the TNA X Division Championship at Unbreakable. On the August 19 episode of Impact!, however, Styles assaulted Daniels in an act of revenge for Daniels' interference at Sacrifice.[20] Daniels demanded Styles be suspended for this action. NWA Championship Committee member Larry Zbyszko denied the request, and instead added Styles to the planned encounter at Unbreakable, thus making it a Three Way match for the TNA X Division Championship.[21] TNA promoted the match as an X Division "Dream Bout" pitting the top competitors in the division against each other for the championship.[22] Styles won the match and the title by pinning Daniels.[23] Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer bestowed a rare 5 Star match rating to the bout between A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe.[24]
The three-way match began an extended storyline involving its participants. At TNA's
Due to the popularity of the rivalry between the three in 2005 and 2006, TNA held another three-way match at TNA's
Most of the wrestlers involved in the 2005 TNA Super X Cup Tournament, excluding Bentley, Styles, and Joe, went on to compete in the
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Caldwell, James (2005-07-30). "7/29 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Petey vs. Sabin, Shelley vs. Shocker, Sabu's return". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ )
- ^ a b c Keller, Wade (2005-08-14). "Keller's TNA Sacrifice PPV report 8/14: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live event". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2005-07-10). "TNA News & Notes – No Surrender PPV, new set, & Super X Cup returning". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2005-07-19). "No Surrender video highlight, Sacrifice PPV and Super X Cup participants". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2005-07-13). "TNAwrestling.com Notes –Two new videos, match added to No Surrender". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
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- Discovery Communications. Archived from the originalon 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ^ a b Martin, Adam (2005-07-20). "Impact! Taping Results from Orlando, FL for the next four weeks". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ )
- ^ a b c d James, Caldwell (2005-07-23). "7/22 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Joe vs. Dutt, Styles vs. Bentley, Sacrifice hype". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
- ^ )
- ^ a b c Caldwell, James (2005-08-06). "8/5 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Joe vs. Shelley, Raven & Sabu, Naturals vs. Canada". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
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- ^ a b c d Caldwell, James (2005-08-11). "8/10 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Styles vs. Petey, Rhino vs. Sabin, Sacrifice hype". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
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- ^ Martin, Adam (2005-08-16). "AJ Styles suffers injury, Matt Bently update, & former WWF star at PPV". WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
- ^ a b Allen, Ryan (2005-08-25). "Update on the injuries to TNA stars AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, & Alex Shelley". WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
- ^ "Past Events". Ring of Honor. ROH Wrestling.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
- ^ a b Caldwell, James (2005-08-20). "8/19 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Naturals vs. Team Canada, Candido Cup, Unbreakable hype". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2005-08-28). "8/26 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Raven vs. Roode, Waltman & Shelley, Unbreakable hype". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2005-09-05). "Press Release on Triple Threat X Division Title Match at Unbreakable PPV". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
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- ^ Caldwell, James (2006-04-16). "Caldwell's Impact report 4/13: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of show". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
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- ^ Caldwell, James (2005-09-10). "9/9 TNA Impact: Caldwell's review of Raven & Sabu vs. Rhino & Abyss, Candido Cup, Unbreakable". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-02-24.