TNA 2005 Super X Cup Tournament

The 2005 Super X Cup Tournament was a professional wrestling X Cup tournament held by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.^[1] Then X Division Champion Christopher Daniels provided guest commentary for a number of the matches, where he coined the unofficial nickname for the tournament: "The Christopher Daniels Invitational".

The tournament began with eight wrestlers, and culminated in a final match live at Sacrifice on August 14, 2005.^[2] The tournament was won by Samoa Joe, who won a shot at Christopher Daniels for the TNA X Division Championship at the Unbreakable pay-per-view.^[3]

The other participants in the tournament were Sonjay Dutt, Matt Bentley, A.J. Styles, Alex Shelley, Shocker, Chris Sabin and Petey Williams.^[1]

Results

The quarterfinals of the tournament were televised during the TNA Impact! episodes on July 22 and July 29, 2005.^[4][5] The semi-finals of the tournament were televised on the August 5 and August 10, 2005, episodes of TNA Impact!.^[6][7]

• Quarter-Final: Samoa Joe defeated Sonjay Dutt (July 22)^[4]
  • Joe forced Dutt to submit with the Coquina Clutch.
• Quarter-Final: A.J. Styles defeated Matt Bentley (w/Traci Brooks) (July 22)^[4]
  • Brooks distracted the referee while Bentley went for one of her shoes to knock out Styles.
  • America's Most Wanted came out and James Storm gave the Superkick to Bentley while the referee was still distracted by Traci, allowing Styles to get the pin.
• Quarter-Final: Alex Shelley defeated Shocker (July 29)^[5]
  • Shelley pinned Shocker after a La casita/head-scissor pin combination.
• Quarter-Final: Petey Williams defeated Chris Sabin (July 29)^[5]
  • A-1 came out and distracted the referee.
  • Williams pinned Sabin after a hockey stick shot and a Canadian Destroyer.
• Semi-Final: Samoa Joe defeated Alex Shelley (August 5)^[6]
  • Joe caused Shelley to pass out after a Muscle Buster followed by a Coquina Clutch.
• Semi-Final: A.J. Styles defeated Petey Williams (August 10)^[7]
  • Styles pinned Williams with a small package.
• Final: Samoa Joe defeated A.J. Styles (Sacrifice)^[2]
  • Christopher Daniels interfered and attacked Styles
  • Joe forced Styles to submit to the Coquina Clutch.

The tournament brackets were:

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Samoa Joe

Sub

Sonjay Dutt

Samoa Joe

Sub

Alex Shelley

Alex Shelley

Pin

Shocker

Samoa Joe

Sub

A.J. Styles

A.J. Styles

Pin

Matt Bentley

A.J. Styles

Pin

Petey Williams

Petey Williams

Pin

Chris Sabin

Aftermath

On the August 19 episode of Impact!, Christopher Daniels tried to assault Joe with the X Division belt after Joe's match with Jerrelle Clark. Daniels was tossed out of an attempt to put Joe in the Angel's Wings. A.J. Styles came out and attacked Daniels in kind. As a result of the melee, TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko added Styles to the match at Unbreakable.^[3]

A.J. Styles won the match and the X Division Championship by reversing the Angel's Wings by Daniels into a bridge pin combination.^[3] Samoa Joe was not defeated, but did not win the X Division title. Joe would not win the title until Turning Point, over A.J. Styles.^[8] This match is considered by many wrestling fans to be the best match in TNA history, and it got a rare 5 stars rating by Dave Meltzer.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "TNA Super X Cup Tournament 2005". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/tournament/super_x_cup_05/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "TNA Sacrifice 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/ppv/sacrifice/2005/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "TNA Unbreakable 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/ppv/unbreakable/2005/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "TNA Impact! 22 July, 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/impact/2005/0722/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "TNA Impact! 29 July, 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/impact/2005/0729/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "TNA Impact! 05 August, 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/impact/2005/0805/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "TNA Impact! 10 August, 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/impact/2005/0810/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
8. ^ "TNA Turning Point 2005 Results". Pro-Wrestling Edge. http://www.wwe-zone.com/tna/results/ppv/turning_point/2005/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 

External links

• TNAWrestling.com (Official Website of TNA Wrestling)