page_title: 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament / Reception
caption_attribution_description: Professional wrestler Kaz/Frankie Kazarian in Newark, California
context_page_description: The 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament was a professional wrestling X Cup Tournament produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion. It was the third World X Cup Tournament and the last held as of 2019. The competition began on June 10, 2008 and concluded on July 13, 2008 at TNA's Victory Road pay-per-view event.
  The tournament featured several international wrestlers alongside several TNA wrestlers. The theme of the contest was four competing teams, each representing a specific country or organization. However, the 2008 competition featured the debut of Team International, which represented several countries and cultures. Daivari, Tyson Dux, Doug Williams, Alex Koslov, Averno, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr., Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Puma, Milano Collection A.T., Kaz, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Curry Man all competed in the 2008 installment. They formed the four teams involved: Team International, Team Mexico, Team Japan, and Team TNA. The contest consisted of four rounds, made up of eight matches each, with the third round and finals held at Victory Road.
context_section_description: Wade Keller and James Caldwell of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter each reviewed the matches involved in the tournament. Caldwell said the first round match between The Motor City Machine Guns and the team of Tyson Dux and Daivari was a "high-energy affair with a fast-paced sequence to finish the match." He also said it was "very heavy on forgettable spots", but that it was "the type of in-ring action expected by viewers of this show." He rated it on a scale of 5 stars, giving it 2 1/4 stars. Caldwell reviewed the Team Mexico versus Team Japan contest from round one. He called it "very much a lucha-style match with fast-paced action and plenty of tag team double-teaming" that was a "good X Cup showcase,' which he gave 1 1/2 stars.
  For round two, Caldwell reviewed the World X Cup matches from the July 3 episode of Impact!, while Keller reviewed the bouts from the July 10 broadcast. Caldwell gave the Rey Bucanero versus Alex Koslov bout a 1/2 star rating and said it was "disappointingly short" and that TNA must have given it less time in order to "squeeze in 18 more Kurt Angle skits." The encounter between Milano Collection A.T. and Curry Man was also given a 1/2 star rating with Caldwell commenting that "from a viewer's perspective" it was "too short" and that TNA did not give "enough background on Milano" for the viewers "to care about this." Keller gave the contest between Doug Williams and Masato Yoshino a 1 star rating and quipped that the "win gave Team International 2 points, so that meant that in the standings for those who care... wait. Nobody cares? Okay. Never mind, then." As for the contest pitting Kaz against Último Guerrero, Keller said it was "decent action" and gave it 3/4 of a star.
  Regarding the third round, Keller said the bout was a dream match for some with "lots of cool spots from start to finish", but that it had "little context early" and was more just a "bunch of spots." He also said that the "last ten minutes was better without as many people tagging in and out somewhat indiscriminately." As for the final round, Keller commented that "it had some spectacular (and ridiculously dangerous looking) spots", but that it ended up "feeling short for a match of that caliber." Caldwell stated that the third round bout was "entertaining yet quite long" and that the "crowd was super into Sabin and Shelley." He also said that after the match settled into "one-on-one action" it "turned into a pretty good match." The final round was seen by Caldwell as "one of those rinse and repeat spot fest matches until Kaz busted out the big double foot stomp on Daivari that popped the crowd." Overall, he called it a "one spot match."
  Chris Sokol, Bryan Sokol, and John Waldman all of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer reviewed the Impact! episodes involving the 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament. For the first round, Chris said the bout between The Motor City Machine Guns and the team of Tyson Dux and Daivari "was a really good match." Meanwhile, Waldman reviewed the match between Team Japan and Team Mexico, in which he stated "the action is fast paced and unlike anything we see on North American TV." Bryan Sokol reviewed the first two standard matches of round two, with him commenting on the encounter between Bucanero and Koslov as being an "overall quick match with not much to talk about", but did not give an opinion on the Milano Collection A.T. versus Curry Man bout. Bryan and Chris Sokol reviewed the last two standard matches of round two together, with them saying that the contest pitting Masato Yoshino against Doug Williams was a "nice back and forth match." Neither gave their opinion on Kaz versus Último Guerrero in their review.
  Bob Kapur also of the Canadian Online Explorer reviewed Victory Road. In his review, he gave the third round of the 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament a 9 out of 10, while the final round received an 8 out of 10. Kapur gave several comments regarding the third round bout: "This was a throwback to some of the jaw-droppingly amazing X-Division matches that TNA used 
caption: Kazarian (pictured) was the captain of Team TNA and competed in the final round of the 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament.
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