| Crockett Cup | |
| Promotion: | National Wrestling Alliance |
| Date: | June 3–4, 2023 |
| Venue: | Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex |
| City: | Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Liveevent: | Y |
| Lastevent: | NWA 312 |
| Nextevent: | NWA 75th Anniversary Show |
| Event: | Crockett Cup |
| Lastevent2: | 2022 |
| Nextevent2: | 2024 |
The 2023 iteration of the Crockett Cup (formerly known as the Sixth Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament) was a two-day professional wrestling tag team tournament produced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The event took place on June 3 and 4, 2023, at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the United States. It was the sixth iteration of the Crockett Cup.
The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament is a tag team tournament first held in April 1986.[1] National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), headed by Jim Crockett Jr., hosted the Crockett Cup, held in honor of Crockett's father, JCP founder Jim Crockett Sr. and saw participation of teams from various NWA territories. JCP held the tournament again in 1987[2] and 1988,[3] before JCP was sold to Ted Turner later that year.[4] In July 2017, the Crockett Foundation, with Classic Pro Wrestling, held the "Crockett Foundation Cup Tag Team Tournament" in New Kent, Virginia, which was not affiliated with the NWA. Bobby Fulton, The Barbarian, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express, all former Crockett Cup participants, took part in the event as a link to the original tournaments.[5]
The original concept of the Crockett Cup was a single elimination tag team tournament, with the storyline prize of $1,000,000.00 given to the winning team along with a large trophy.[6] The 1986 and 1987 tournaments featured 24 teams,[1] [2] while the 1988 version had 22 teams competing.[3] Each tournament was split over two shows to encompass all 23 tournament matches as well as non-tournament matches; in 1986, JCP held a show in the afternoon and another in the evening,[1] while the 1987 and 1988, the tournament was spread out over two days instead.[2] [3]
On April 7, 2023, at NWA 312, it was announced that the Crockett Cup would return and would be held in on June 3–4, at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[7]
The event will feature a number professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines. Wrestlers are portrayed as either heels (those that portray the "bad guys"), faces (the "good guy" characters), or tweeners (characters that are neither clearly a heel or a face) as they follow a series of tension-building events, which culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches as determined by the promotion.[8] The thirteenth season of the NWA's weekly flagship program, Powerr, will feature storylines leading up to the event along with the seventh season of NWA USA.
The main feature of the event is the titular Crockett Cup, a tag team tournament where, in addition to the namesake trophy, the winners will earn a match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. 27 teams will be involved in the tournament.
The following twenty three teams have been announced or have qualified for the tournament:
Seeding was announced during a May 18th special YouTube show where it was also announced that the twenty fourth seed would be determined in a four-way tag team match between the following teams:
At NWA 312, EC3 defeated Cyon to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. Later in the night, "Thrillbilly" Silas Mason won the Bob Luce Memorial Battle Royal to earn a match for the championship on Night 1 of the Crockett Cup.[12]
During the May 15th episode of "This is the NWA" podcast/YouTube show, it was announced that on night one of Crockett Cup that a women's hardcore team war match would happen pitting all 4 members of Pretty Enpowered (Ella Envy, Roxy, Kenzie and Kylie Paige) against the team of Samantha Starr, La Rosa Negra, and the NWA Women's World Tag Team Champions M95 (Madi Wrenkowski and Missa Kate). Also it was announced that on night two that Kenzie Paige would defend the NWA World Women's Television Championship against an as of yet unnamed opponent and that the new championship belt would be unveiled before the match.
| Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missa Kate | Roxy | Pinned after a Codebreaker | Team Jay, Starr and M95 | |
| Roxy | Madi | Pinned after the Reality Check | Team Pretty Empowered | |
| Kylie Page | Madi | Submitted after being locked in a hockey stick-assisted camel clutch | Team Pretty Empowered | |
| Madi | Kenzie Paige | Pinned after Paige hit a cookie tray on her head | Team Jay, Starr and M95 | |
| Ruthie Jay | Kenzie Paige | Team Jay, Starr and M95 | ||
| Kenzie Paige | Samantha Starr | Eliminated after being thrown over the top rope | Team Pretty Empowered | |
| Ella Envy | Samantha Starr | Pinned after being knocked out with a coal miner's glove | Team Pretty Empowered | |
| Samantha Starr | N/A | Team Jay, Starr and M95 | ||
| Eliminated | Team | Entered | Eliminated by | Method | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The NOW (Hale Collins and Vik Dalishus) | 2 | Magnum Muscle | Pinfall | 2:22 | |
| The Fixers (Jay Bradley and Wrecking Ball Legursky) | 3 | Magnum Muscle | Pinfall | 4:51 | |
| Magnum Muscle (Dak Draper and Mims) | 1 | Daisy Kill and Talos | Pinfall | 7:08 | |
| Daisy Kill and Talos | 4 | TNT | Pinfall | 9:05 | |
| TNT (Terrell Hughes and Terrence Hughes) | 5 | The Spectaculars | Pinfall | 11:03 | |
| The Spectaculars (Brady Pierce and Rolando Freeman) | 6 | SVGS | Pinfall | 13:05 | |
| Los Vipers (Arez and Toxin) | 8 | SVGS | Pinfall | 14:52 | |
| SVGS (Jax Dane and Blake "Bulletproof" Troop) | 7 | The Country Gentlemen | Pinfall | 17:42 | |
| The Country Gentlemen (AJ Cazana and Anthony Andrews) (c) | 9 | ||||