TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament

The TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament was a professional wrestling X Cup Tournament staged by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in April and May 2006. The tournament pits stables of X Division-style wrestlers from around the world against one another in a series of singles and tag team matches, with the teams earning points for victories.

Team USA won the World X Cup for the second time in a row after team captain Chris Sabin defeated Team Canada captain Petey Williams to break a 5-5 tie on the May 18, 2006 edition of "TNA Impact!". This is Chris Sabin's second World X Cup Championship, as he was a member of Team USA in 2004.

Several matches leading up to the World X Cup were billed as "World X Cup preview matches", including a six-man tag team match between members of Team USA and Team Japan at "Lockdown", in which Team Japan were victorious; and the aforementioned four-way match at "Destination X", featuring Chris Sabin, Petey Williams, Puma and Sonjay Dutt, representing the United States, Canada, Japan and India respectively (Puma and Dutt would go on to compete for Mexico and the US).

History

The 2004 World X Cup took place in May 2004, with Team USA defeating Team Canada, Team Japan, Team Mexico, and Team Britain. In October 2005, TNA website manager Bill Banks announced that, as a result of the working relationship between TNA and the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, TNA were considering hosting a second World X Cup, this time featuring members of the NJPW roster.

On the February 18, 2006 episode of "TNA Impact!", it was announced that the World X Cup was to return in 2006. Later that evening, Jay Lethal defeated "The Prince of Punk" Shannon Moore and Roderick Strong in a three way match to become the first member of the 2006 Team USA. On the March 11, 2006 episode of "Impact!", Chris Sabin became the second member of Team USA when he defeated Sonjay Dutt and Alex Shelley in another three way match. On the March 18, 2006 episode of "Impact!", Sonjay Dutt defeated "Maverick" Matt Bentley and "Primetime" Elix Skipper in a third three way match to become the third member of Team USA. On the April 8, 2006 episode of "iMPACT!", Alex Shelley defeated Roderick Strong and Chase Stevens to become the fourth and final member of Team USA.

Team Mexico and Team Japan were quickly announced as competitors in the 2006 World X Cup, much like they were in the 2004 World X Cup. Team UK was planned, but they were eventually scrapped as the team was replaced by Team Canada. The rumored members were Nigel McGuinness (Captain), Doug Williams, Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch.

Rules

The competition is divided into three rounds.
*In Round One, there are two tag team matches. The two winning teams get two points apiece.
*In Round Two, there are two singles matches. The winners get three points for their respective teams.
*In Round Three, there will be a gauntlet involving all 16 wrestlers. The last two remaining wrestlers receive two points apiece for their respective teams. The winner gets an additional three points for his team. If the final two are on the same team, then they will automatically receive all seven points, and thus win the tournament.
*In the event of a tie, the captains of the two teams will compete in a singles match in order to determine the champion.

Teams

*flagicon|USA Team USA:
**Chris Sabin (Captain)
**Jay Lethal
**Sonjay Dutt
**Alex Shelley
*flagicon|CAN Team Canada:
**Petey Williams (Captain)
**Eric Young
**Johnny Devine
**Tyson Dux
*flagicon|MEX Team Mexico:
**Shocker (Captain)
**Puma
**Magno
**Incognito
*flagicon|JPN Team Japan:
**Jushin "Thunder" Liger (Captain)
**Hirooki Goto
**Minoru Tanaka
**Black Tiger

Results

Round 1 - Tag Team Matches

*"TNA Impact!": April 27, 2006
**flagicon|USA Team USA (Sonjay Dutt and Alex Shelley) defeated flagicon|JPN Team Japan (Hirooki Goto and Minoru)
*"TNA Impact!": May 4, 2006
**flagicon|MEX Team Mexico (Shocker and Magno) defeated flagicon|CAN Team Canada (Eric Young and Johnny Devine)

Round 2 - Singles Matches

*"TNA Impact!": May 11, 2006
**flagicon|USA Team USA's Chris Sabin defeated flagicon|MEX Team Mexico's Puma ¹
*"TNA Sacrifice": May 14, 2006
**flagicon|JPN Team Japan's Jushin "Thunder" Liger defeated flagicon|CAN Team Canada's Petey Williams

Round 3 - The Gauntlet

*"TNA Sacrifice": May 14, 2006
**16-man Gauntlet: flagicon|CAN Team Canada's Petey Williams won, last eliminating flagicon|MEX Team Mexico's Puma ²

Entry and elimination order

The order of entry in the gauntlet match included a pattern: Japan, Mexico, Canada, USA. This is identical to the final standings in reverse.

Round 4 - Tie-breaker

*"TNA Impact!": May 18, 2006
**flagicon|USA Team USA's Chris Sabin defeated flagicon|CAN Team Canada's Petey Williams

Final Scores

The standings for the 2004 and 2006 World X Cups were identical; in both, Team USA was ranked first, Canada second, Mexico third and Japan fourth.

*flagicon|USA Team USA: 6
*flagicon|CAN Team Canada: 5
*flagicon|MEX Team Mexico: 4
*flagicon|JPN Team Japan: 3

Footnotes

:¹ In addition to defeating him in the Gauntlet Match, Petey Williams previously defeated Puma in the finals of the 2005 ECWA Super 8 Tournament.:² Puma also lost to Chris Sabin at "Destination X 2006" in a four-way match, as he did in the second round.

References

* TNA iMPACT! results (February 18, 2006)Fact|date=March 2007
* [http://www.tnawrestling.com/columns/bankshot/full2.php?bank=289 "TNA News And Views In The New Bank Shot" (October 30, 2005)]

External links

* [http://www.tnawrestling.com TNAWrestling.com (Official Website of TNA Wrestling)]