The idea of a Pro Wrestling World Cup was always one near and dear to my heart, so whenever there was excitement for an iteration of a “Wrestling World Cup” being announced, it would always immediately be squashed by disappointment that wrestlers of only three different countries were part of it. The only installment that I really loved was the version that Whatculture produced a few years ago. Still, that one didn’t consider the rosters of many major promotions. For that reason, while very enjoyable, it left a lot on the table.
With Kazuchika Okada recently mentioning his desire for a Wrestling World Cup as well, I thought it would be a fun thing to fantasy book one in the current state of the Wrestling World.
What promotions are part of the Cup?
Obviously, not all companies will agree to cooperate and coproduce events and be able to accept the booking decisions. With those that I settled on, I tried to at least make it somewhat realistic with how the figureheads will react to it. And to make it easier, I would only use male talent.
The prime candidate for a scenario like this is obviously All Elite Wrestling, who have previously brought numerous promotions together to enhance the quality of their shows. Next up, of course, is their main partner New Japan Pro Wrestling with another incredibly deep roster. Other Japanese companies will be participating as well. Although there are a lot of companies in Japan battling for market share and the number two position, they have also worked together numerous times. Dramatic Dream Team and Pro Wrestling NOAH are both owned by Cyberfight. NOAH and NJPW are about to have another cooperative event on February 21 for Keiji Mutoh’s retirement, in which AJPW, DRAGONGATE, and DDT are participating as well. NOAH and DRAGONGATE cooperate a lot too.
Mexico is mainly going to be represented by CMLL, Europe is represented by German Wrestling Federation and Westside Xtreme Wrestling in Germany, and Rev Pro in Britain. Wrestlers will compete for the country they were born in, not the country of the company they have a contract with. That way, the focus is less on the companies, which would presumably create much more drama between them, but instead on the wrestlers getting a great spotlight individually. Additionally, I would imagine Impact Wrestling would take part with its wrestlers as well.
Of course, you probably noticed some notable exceptions. Some reasons behind those are:
WWE: I don’t see them cooperating that much. The Cup would just promote other promotions instead of helping the WWE, really. And they would never cooperate with AEW.
AAA: We already saw at Forbidden Door that mixing AAA and NJPW talent doesn’t work, because of New Japan’s cooperation with CMLL. Aside from that, there’s no way that we would be able to see both AAA and CMLL talent with their rivalry.
Quick side note: Since, in my scenario, the dates of the World Cup have been known by the involved parties for a long time, the promoters don’t schedule any big events in that timeframe, knowing that some of their top talents might be missing.
The System
I decided on an approach similar to the WCPW World Cup, just far bigger this time around.
There will be Qualifiers, consisting of either 8 or 16 wrestlers, for each of the 8 regions/countries, in which 4 wrestlers each will secure their way to the group stage. The Qualification round is basically a single elimination tournament, just without the final and semi-finals. The Qualification round can take place over the course of a few months. The groups will consist of 4 wrestlers drawn at random. Each member of a group will face all other participants in the group. A win gives you 2 points, a draw 1 point, and a loss no points. You could describe it as a mini round-robin tournament. After all group matches, the top 2 wrestlers of each group will go on to the Knockout stage where, as soon as you lose a match, you are knocked out of the tournament. If 2 wrestlers have the same amount of points and one of them could advance, they face each other again to determine a winner. To finish off there will be the randomly drawn Round of 16, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final, to determine the World Cup Champion. The whole process (without the Qualification rounds) will be around 2 weeks long with around 6 matches per day and a 30-minute time limit for each.
The Qualifiers
USA
Bryan Danielson vs Adam Cole
Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley
Bryan Danielson vs Jon Moxley – Bryan Danielson qualifies
Samoa Joe vs Sammy Guevara
Dax Harwood vs Daniel Garcia
Samoa Joe vs Daniel Garcia – Samoa Joe qualifies
Darby Allin vs Low Ki
Swerve Strickland vs Alex Shelley
Darby Allin vs Swerve Strickland – Darby Allin qualifies
Orange Cassidy vs Keith Lee
Ricky Starks vs Wheeler Yuta
Orange Cassidy vs Ricky Starks – Orange Cassidy qualifies
Canada
Kenny Omega vs Stu Grayson
Christian vs Eric Young
Kenny Omega vs Christian – Kenny Omega qualifies
Chris Jericho vs Tyler Breeze
PCO vs Shawn Spears
Chris Jericho vs Shawn Spears – Chris Jericho qualifies
Mike Bailey vs Steve Corino
El Phantasmo vs Daniel Makabe
Mike Bailey vs El Phantasmo – Mike Bailey qualifies
Josh Alexander vs Petey Williams
Rene Dupree vs Ethan Page
Josh Alexander vs Ethan Page – Josh Alexander qualifies
Japan
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Konosuke Takeshita
Kazuchika Okada vs Konosuke Takeshita – Kazuchika Okada qualifies
Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii
Kazusada Higuchi vs Takuya Nomura
Katsuyori Shibata vs Kazusada Higuchi – Katsuyori Shibata qualifies
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kento Miyahara
Kzy vs Kenoh
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kenoh – Kaito Kiyomiya qualifies
Shun Skywalker vs Yuki Ueno
Shingo Takagi vs Naomichi Marufuji
Shun Skywalker vs Shingo Takagi – Shun Skywalker qualifies
Mexico
Bandido vs Atlantis Jr.
Daga vs Rush
Bandido vs Rush – Bandido qualifies
El Soberano Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr.
Black Terry vs Volador Jr.
El Soberano Jr vs Volador Jr. – El Soberano Jr. qualifies
Komander vs Juventud Guerrera
Mistico vs Titan
Komander vs Mistico – Komander qualifies
Templario vs Aramis
Rey Horus vs Arez
Templario vs Rey Horus – Templario qualifies
UK
Will Ospreay vs Paul Robinson
Big Damo vs Michael Oku
Will Ospreay vs Michael Oku – Will Ospreay qualifies
PAC vs Joe Hendry
Chris Brookes vs Ricky Knight Jr.
PAC vs Ricky Knight Jr. – PAC qualifies
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Drew Parker
Grado vs Nigel McGuinness (if he can’t, replace him with Kip Sabian)
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Nigel Mcguinness – Zack Sabre Jr. qualifies
Cara Noir vs Trent Seven
Gabriel Kidd vs Nick Aldis
Cara Noir vs Nick Aldis – Cara Noir qualifies
Europe
Bad Bones vs Da Mack
Bobby Gunns vs Axel Tischer
Bad Bones vs Axel Tischer – Bad Bones qualifies
Malakai Black vs Senza Volto
Aigle Blanc vs Levaniel
Malakai Black vs Levaniel – Malakai Black qualifies
Claudio Castagnoli vs Absolute Andy
Tristan Archer vs Marius Al-Ani
Claudio Castagnoli vs Tristan Archer – Claudio Castagnoli qualifies
Francesco Akira vs Pascal Spalter
Oskar Leube vs David Finlay
Francesco Akira vs David Finlay – Francesco Akira qualifies
Oceania
Buddy Matthews vs Robbie Eagles – Buddy Matthews qualifies
Kyle Fletcher vs Mark Davis – Kyle Fletcher qualifies
Hartley Jackson vs Mikey Nicholls – Hartley Jackson qualifies
Jay White vs Shane Haste – Jay White qualifies
Rest of the World
Angelico vs Rocky Romero – Angelico qualifies
PJ Black vs Carlito – PJ Black qualifies
Baliyan Akki vs Ho Ho Lun – Baliyan Akki qualifies
Amazing Red vs Jason Lee – Amazing Red qualifies
Groups
I have divided the qualifiers “randomly” into eight groups of four.
Group A
- Will Ospreay
- Orange Cassidy
- PJ Black
- Templario
In this group, my focus was to get another Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy match and use the interest for that to give spotlight to the Luchador Templario. I added PJ Black into the group as well, because he can easily take a pin to put the other guys over.
Group B
- Hartley Jackson
- Katsuyori Shibata
- Darby Allin
- Bad Bones
Darby is one of those people that I wanted to really push in this competition. Thus, I put him in a group with two huge monsters in Hartley Jackson and Bad Bones John Klinger. However, the real challenge for Darby is the vicious and brutal Katsuyori Shibata. I want that to be the showcase match of Group B.
Group C
- Buddy Matthews
- Kenny Omega
- El Soberano Jr.
- Baliyan Akki
Similarly to Group A, I want to use the Buddy Matthews vs. Kenny Omega matchup to give some shine to a Luchador, this time El Soberano Jr., but also to Baliyan Akki. Buddy has had some middling performances since bulking up, but if there’s someone that can get that extra bit out of someone, it’s Kenny.
Group D
- Zack Sabre Jr.
- Chris Jericho
- Francesco Akira
- Kazuchika Okada
Instead of using hype for a match to push someone, in this group I’m trying to use the name value of Chris Jericho to make the group appealing to US audiences. Zack Sabre Jr. and Francesco Akira are the talents that I want to elevate and Kazuchika Okada gets that high-profile match against Jericho and a lovely technical bout against ZSJ. Another highlight of this group is the possible trash talk between Jericho and Zack.
Group E
- Jay White
- Josh Alexander
- Angelico
- Bryan Danielson
Obviously, Bryan Danielson comes out victorious in this group, but he can have bangers with every single other participant. The marquee matches are, of course, against Alexander and White. Josh Alexander will be the clear babyface of the group who people will want to see in second place.
Group F
- Mike Bailey
- Komander
- PAC
- Kyle Fletcher
Groups F and G will fly under the radar of most people, but I want to reverse that, by making those two groups high-speed festivals. All of these 4 wrestlers are stellar and I would love to see a match with any of them. The biggest possible matchup is of course Mike Bailey vs PAC, which will be decisive in the outcome of this group.
Group G
- Malakai Black
- Amazing Red
- Cara Noir
- Shun Skywalker
Group G is primarily character focused. There will be a lot of chemistry between Malakai Black, the lovable Cara Noir, the underdog veteran Amazing Red, and the brutal and destructive Shun Skywalker.
Group H
- Claudio Castagnoli
- Bandido
- Kaito Kiyomiya
- Samoa Joe
This group is a mix of everything. You have the name power of Claudio and Joe, the wrestling class of Kaito, and the athleticism of Bandido. With this group, I really wanted to put a spotlight on Kaito Kiyomiya. Partially because he’s amazing and partially because NOAH would likely request it.
Group Stage
With all of that preparation taken care of, the main part of the tournament can finally begin.
Day 1
El Soberano Jr. vs. Buddy Matthews
Templario vs. PJ Black
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Bones
Hartley Jackson vs. Darby Allin
Kenny Omega vs. Baliyan Akki
Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy
We start with a fast-paced opener between El Soberano Jr. and Buddy Matthews, which Soberano wins. PJ Black then beats Templario by holding the tights. Katsuyori Shibata struggles a bit but ultimately takes the victory over Bad Bones quite decisively. Hartley Jackson completely destroys Darby Allin in 10 minutes. Kenny Omega gets an easy victory against Baliyan Akki in a comedic match. The Omega match is followed up by the entrance of Will Ospreay. Will and Orange Cassidy battle in the main event, where Ospreay barely manages to beat Cassidy.
Day 2
Jay White vs. Josh Alexander
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Francesco Akira
Bryan Danielson vs. Angelico
PAC vs. Komander
Mike Bailey vs. Kyle Fletcher
Kazuchika Okada vs. Chris Jericho
Jay White barely beats Josh Alexander in a great opener to get the crowd going. Zack Sabre Jr. wins decisively against Francesco Akira in under 10 minutes. Angelico nearly gets the upset on Bryan Danielson, but eventually loses. PAC and Komander go absolutely crazy with more flippity flip flip than you have ever seen. PAC comes out victorious. Mike Bailey beats Kyle Fletcher for the crowd to cool down again. Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho go all out in the main event in which Okada comes out on top.
Day 3
Shun Skywalker vs. Amazing Red
Cara Noir vs. Malakai Black
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Bandido
Orange Cassidy vs. Templario
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Samoa Joe
Will Ospreay vs. PJ Black
To start off hot, Shun Skywalker beats Amazing Red in a fast-paced match. Malakai Black pins Cara Noir decisively. Hopefully, the crowd get into the character of Cara by now. Bandido manages to get an upset victory over Claudio Castagnoli. Orange Cassidy beats Templario cleanly. Kaito Kiyomiya gets the fall on Samoa Joe, who looked dominant throughout the match. PJ Black gets a great showcase match against Will Ospreay but ultimately comes up short.
Day 4
Kazuchika Okada vs Francesco Akira
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Chris Jericho
Katsuyori Shibata vs Hartley Jackson
Bad Bones vs Darby Allin
Buddy Matthews vs Baliyan Akki
Kenny Omega vs El Soberano Jr.
Okada and Akira kick off day 4. Akira puts up a good fight, but Okada ultimately pins him. Surprisingly, Zack Sabre wins decisively against Chris Jericho by making him submit. Next, Shibata and Jackson go crazy for 8 minutes, but Shibata knocks Jackson out. Darby Allin barely makes it past Bad Bones. Buddy pins Baliyan Akki fairly easily. Soberano Jr. tries everything in his power to beat Kenny Omega, but just fails to do so.
Day 5
Mike Bailey vs. Komander
Angelico vs. Josh Alexander
PAC vs. Kyle Fletcher
Shun Skywalker vs. Cara Noir
Malakai Black vs. Amazing Red
Bryan Danielson vs. Jay White
We start off hot with Mike Bailey facing Komander. Komander gets the victory in a hard-fought battle. We’ll follow that with 2 more one-sided matches where Josh Alexander beats Angelico and PAC pins Kyle Fletcher. Shun Skywalker is rolled up by Cara Noir. After the match, Shun throws a tantrum about his loss. Malakai Black has control over Amazing Red and gets an easy victory. Bryan Danielson and Jay White battle in a grueling main event. Danielson comes out victorious.
Day 6
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Orange Cassidy vs. PJ Black
Bandido vs. Samoa Joe
Will Ospreay vs. Templario
Bad Bones vs. Hartley Jackson
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Darby Allin
To kickstart Day 6, Kaito and Claudio go all out in the full 30 minutes, with neither able to get a fall on the other one. Orange Cassidy and PJ Black have a nice little comedy match in which Orange Cassidy emerges victorious. Bandido comes up short against Samoa Joe. Ospreay has another banger against Templario, which Will wins. Bad Bones and Hartley Jackson brawl all over the ring in a short match. Hartley wins it. In the main event, Shibata beats Darby senselessly, but somehow Darby gets a pin.
Day 7
Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
El Soberano Jr. vs. Baliyan Akki
Kenny Omega vs. Buddy Matthews
Chris Jericho vs. Francesco Akira
Jay White vs. Angelico
Bryan Danielson vs. Josh Alexander
We kick off with a great bout on the second to last day between Okada and Sabre. Zack puts up a good fight but comes up short against Kazuchika Okada. El Soberano Jr. beats Baliyan Akki in quick fashion. As said previously, I want Buddy Matthews to be great again. This match can achieve that. He nearly gets the pin on Kenny Omega but the time limit expires. Chris Jericho and Jay White beat Francesco Akira and Angelico respectively. With Jay White on 4 points, Josh Alexander needs to win against Bryan to tie, but he just comes up short against the time limit.
Day 8
Shun Skywalker vs Malakai Black
Amazing Red vs Cara Noir
Kaito Kiyomiya vs Bandido
Samoa Joe vs Claudio Castagnoli
Komander vs Kyle Fletcher
PAC vs Mike Bailey
Mike Bailey vs Komander vs Kyle Fletcher
Darby Allin vs Katsuyori Shibata vs Hartley Jackson
Shun manages to beat Malakai Black in the opener. Amazing Red and Cara Noir have a short and sweet match. Red comes out victorious but they celebrate together. Kaito Kiyomiya and Claudio Castagnoli secure their way to the Knockout Stages. Kyle Fletcher beats Komander to somehow still have a chance to go through to the knockouts. Mike Bailey and PAC go crazy for over 20 minutes, but PAC gets the hammer out to beat Mike. Since Bailey, Komander, and Fletcher are all in second place, they will all need to compete in a Three Way. After being screwed previously, Bailey pins Fletcher. Shibata, Allin, and Jackson are all on 3 points in 1st place and will have a rubber match. The two men getting a fall will be the ones going to the Round of 16. Shibata gets the first pinfall on Jackson, Darby gets the second.
Standings after all group matches
Group A
Will Ospreay 6
Orange Cassidy 4
PJ Black 2
Templario 0
Group B
Katsuyori Shibata 4
Darby Allin 4
Hartley Jackson 4
Bad Bones 0
Group C
Kenny Omega 5
El Soberano Jr. 4
Buddy Matthews 3
Baliyan Akki 0
Group D
Kazuchika Okada 6
Zack Sabre Jr. 4
Chris Jericho 2
Francesco Akira 0
Group E
Bryan Danielson 5
Jay White 4
Josh Alexander 3
Angelico 0
Group F
PAC 6
Mike Bailey 2
Komander 2
Kyle Fletcher 2
Group G
Shun Skywalker 4
Malakai Black 4
Amazing Red 2
Cara Noir 2
Group H
Kaito Kiyomiya 5
Claudio Castagnoli 3
Bandido 2
Samoa Joe 2
Elimination Rounds – Round of 16
From this point onwards, if a competitor loses a match he will be out of the World Cup immediately.
Will Ospreay vs. El Soberano Jr.
PAC vs. Shun Skywalker
Darby Allin vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kenny Omega
Mike Bailey vs. Jay White
Orange Cassidy vs. Bryan Danielson
Malakai Black vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
The first two matches are both very fast-paced encounters with Ospreay and Skywalker going to the Quarterfinals overcoming Soberano Jr. and PAC. Claudio is a guy that I really wanted to see against Darby, just because he works with smaller guys so well. Darby continues his run, winning with the Last Supper. The Cleaner Kenny Omega beats Zack Sabre Jr. relatively easily. To follow that up, I wanted to do an upset for once. Jay White is a guy that can take a loss in my opinion, so I would use that to elevate someone. Here, that person is Mike Bailey with his Ultima Weapon. To follow that up, Orange Cassidy and Bryan Danielson have a little comedic match, which Bryan wins easily. Shibata vs Black is all about the strikes. Shibata gets the victory. It seems appropriate to have the New Japan and the NOAH Aces face off in this tournament, especially now. For now, Okada wins this one.
Quarterfinals
Will Ospreay vs. Shun Skywalker
Darby Allin vs. Kenny Omega
Mike Bailey vs. Bryan Danielson
Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata
From this point onwards, every match is a dream match. Shun Skywalker showcases everything he can do versus Will Ospreay, however, Will gets the win. The broken and battered Darby Allin is further demolished by Kenny Omega. It gets to the point where Kenny feels uncomfortable continuing the match. After some provoking, Kenny hits the One Winged Angel and pins Darby. Bailey and Danielson follow a similar formula, the only difference being that Bryan, unlike Kenny, doesn’t care about his opponent’s well-being. Thus, Bryan Danielson gets the victory via referee stoppage. The main event revisits the last match Shibata had before being pseudo-retired for years. This time, he actually comes out victorious against Okada.
Semifinals
Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega
Bryan Danielson vs. Katsuyori Shibata
We had this fight only over a month ago, but there could be an endless number of collisions between the two and I would not get bored of the matchup. Will Ospreay gets his revenge on Kenny Omega with the Stormbreaker. Kenny does not get to hit his One Winged Angel.
Bryan and Shibata are both crazy men. I have no idea how far they would go in this battle, but I know that I would love it. Bryan beats Shibata with a headbutt.
Final
Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson
What better way to end it than with the best wrestler of the present and the best wrestler of the future. With no time limit, they are going for it all. After 35 minutes Will Ospreay beats and pins Bryan Danielson.
Now you could go with either of them winning, however, I chose Will, just to have that passing of the torch moment between the two.
Will Ospreay is the World Cup Champion
Thank you for reading! Did you like my ideas? How would you book the Wrestling World Cup? Send me your feedback at @UpcomingWrestl1 on Twitter.
Stay tuned to the Five Star Network for all updates on the world of Joshi, Puro, and more!