This tournament should not be confused with the "King of Europe Tournament", held in 2006 by the Austrian wrestling promotion Rings of Europe.
| King of Europe | |
| Size: | 200px |
| Venue: | Liverpool Olympia |
| Location: | Liverpool, England |
| Champion: | Nigel McGuinness |
The King of Europe Cup (KOE cup) was a European professional wrestling tournament in the style of the Battle of Los Angeles, King of Indies, Super 8, and Ted Petty Invitational tournaments of the United States.[1] The tournament was hosted at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool, England on 28 and 29 April 2007 and was the brainchild of two UK wrestling veterans Alex Shane and Doug Williams. In what was considered a historic event in British wrestling history, the tournament to crowned the KOE cup holder and involved 16 promotions and wrestlers from across the world.
The following ideas were advertised on the web-site prior to the tournament, but were not implemented.
For the first time in modern British wrestling, fans were given the opportunity to make voluntary donations for match of the night. This money was then added to a £1000 match of the night cash prize which was donated by event organizers, giving £500 a night for the best match on each day. Fans were given score sheets at the start of the show and were asked to put their top three matches from that night in order. The votes were collected and the three matches with the most votes were decided. The fan donated money was then added to the $1000 prize fund giving grand cash reward.
The participants who fans selected to have the best 3 matches each night then received the prize money at the end of each night with 55% for 1st prize, 35% for second, and 10% for third prize, improving the earnings of the wrestlers who give fans the best matches.[2]
At the end of night one, fans were asked upon leaving to select two matches using the eliminated 8 wrestlers from round one. Once again these suggestions were collected and the matches with the most audience votes were made for the following evening.[2]
| King of Europe Cup | |
| Promotion: | Inter-promotional |
| Date: | 28 April 2007 29 April 2007 |
| Venue: | Liverpool Olympia |
| City: | Liverpool, England |
| Attendance: | up to 1700 |
Some promotions handpicked wrestlers to participate in the King of Europe Cup, while others held qualifying matches to determine their representatives in the tournament.
Chikara held a qualifying match to determine its representative for the King of Europe Cup and Westside Xtreme Wrestling's 16 Carat Gold Tournament.
Though involved with the pre-show, was not originally scheduled to enter a wrestler into the tournament.[1] However, this was changed in February 2007 when it was revealed that IPW:UK would in fact be entering Pac.
International Wrestling Syndicate held a qualifying match to determine its representative for the King of Europe Cup and 16 Carat Gold Tournament.[3]
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla held a qualifying match to determine its representative for the King of Europe Cup and 16 Carat Gold Tournament.[4] [5]
Real Quality Wrestling's representative for the King of Europe Cup was determined through a one-night tournament for the vacant RQW Heavyweight Championship.[6]
Are$ qualified for the wXw spot after winning wXw's point system which saw any wrestler scoring a direct pinfall over another wrestler during one of wXw's shows was awarded one point; and whoever scored three points first would represent wXw in both this tournament and their own 16 Carat Gold Tournament. As the promotion is based on the pure effect of the sport, points are not given for a disqualification, countout, or draw or even if your tag team partner scores the fall. Wrestlers are unable to lose the points.
| Promotion | Country | Representative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One Pro Wrestling | United Kingdom | Jody Fleisch | |
| Chikara | United States | Claudio Castagnoli | |
| Combat Zone Wrestling | United States | Chris Hero | |
| Dragon Gate | Japan | Ryo Saito | |
| Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South | United States | Matt Sydal | |
| International Wrestling Syndicate | Canada | El Generico | |
| United Kingdom | PAC | ||
| Premier Promotions | United Kingdom | Doug Williams | |
| Pro Wrestling Guerrilla | United States | Davey Richards | |
| Pro Wrestling Noah | Japan | Go Shiozaki | |
| Pro Wrestling Unpluged | United States | Trent Acid | |
| Real Quality Wrestling | United Kingdom | Martin Stone | |
| Ring of Honor | United States | Nigel McGuinness | |
| Total Nonstop Action Wrestling | United States | Rhino | |
| Westside Xtreme Wrestling | Germany | Ares | |
| World Association of Wrestling | United Kingdom | Zebra Kid |
King of Europe Cup received mixed reviews upon the DVD release of the event.
Arnold Furious of 411Mania praised the event with "an easy thumbs up", rating it 9.5. According to him, the tournament had "a number of excellent bouts". He felt that "The first night of the tournament seemed a little OTT with an assortment of finishers getting killed. It seemed in a few matches like it’d only end when someone was dead or in the case of Jody Fleisch, in hospital. That said night one contained some thrilling encounters and at the end a great and unexpected effort from Rhino of all people. The second night boasted some improved technical wrestling including a very strong final between Doug Williams and Nigel McGuinness. It’s a pity the semis were skipped over so quickly but the lack of filler meant the tournament needed a strong final and that was the only way to preserve it."[7]
The Wrestling Revolution staff felt that the tournament featured "some great, British-style wrestling, but mostly from just Nigel (McGuinness), Doug (Williams), (Chris) Hero, Claudio (Castagnoli), and Ares" and "The lack of DQ’s was a big surprise". They praised the tournament final between McGuinness and Williams as "an awesome match", but "nothing on this show was truly special", as "many of the matches feel the like the same match over and over, especially on night one" and had "just a whole bunch of enjoyable wrestling matches".[8]
Several matches from International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom took place on the afternoon card before the tournament matches in the evening of both dates. The two-hour pre-shows were billed as containing no interval, but due to travel problems for Rhino, the day one pre-show actually had two intervals. These pre-shows gave one of the UK’s fastest growing independent companies a chance to be seen in front of their largest audience ever.
| Fall: | Scoring Wrestler | Method | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pac | Pac pinned Generico with a cradle | |
| 2 | El Generico | Generico pinned Pac after a Brainbustahhh!! | |
| 3 | Pac | Pac pinned Generico after a modified Dragonrana. | |
| Winner: | Pac | ||
The results of the main King of Europe card for both days are as follows:
| Eliminated: | Wrestler: | Eliminated by: | Method: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trent Acid | Atsushi Aoki | Submission | |
| 2 | Atsushi Aoki | Ares | Pinfall | |
| 3 | El Generico | Claudio Castagnoli | Pinfall | |
| 4 | Ares | Martin Stone | Pinfall | |
| 5 | Claudio Castagnoli | Martin Stone | Pinfall | |
| Winner: | Martin Stone | |||
16 wrestlers, chosen or qualified from sixteen separate promotions around the world, faced off in a single-elimination two-night tournament, to ultimately crown the King of Europe cupholder.