Wrestling World Cup: Pittsburgh

*This article is about the pay-per-view event. For the tournament of the same name* *also hosted in 2023, please see* Wrestling World Cup (2023).

**Wrestling World Cup: Pittsburgh** was the inaugural Wrestling World Cup professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and the Indie Wrestling Federation (IWF). It was held for wrestlers from WCCW's Battle Zone, Intensity and NexGen brand divisions as well as independent wrestlers from Berzerk Championship Wrestling, Club UK Wrestling, Los Angeles Wrestling, Lucha Libre Mágica and Pro Wrestling Japan. The event took place on November 26, 2023, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attracted 14,429 fans. It was the fourth co-promoted PPV between WCCW and IWF following the two-week event World Class Japan and Breaking Barriers.

## Production

### Background

Wrestling World Cup was first established by WCCW in 2023 as a tournament but was later announced to be an entire pay-per-view event. The event hosts the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final matches of the tournament while the opening rounds play out on television.

### Storylines

The event included matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WCCW's writers on the Battle Zone and Intensity brands and IWF's writers at BCW, Club UK, LAW, LLM and PWJ., while storylines are produced on WCCW's weekly television shows, *Tuesday Night Battle Zone* and *Friday Night Intensity* and IWF's weekly television shows *PWJ Fight Night, PWJ: Joshi Japan, Club UK, Lucha Libre Mágica, Friday Night Adrenaline,* and *Saturday Night Uncensored.*

## Event

### Pre-Show

The event kicked off with the preshow airing on ESPN on ABC and the ESPN+ streaming service as an episode of *Sunday Night Heat*. The opening match was a Club UK Women's Tag Team Championship match between The Bravehearts and The Empire of Pain. Skye Vixen and Becca Van Cisley began the match in the ring for their respective teams, with the Empire utilizing quick tags to remain in control of the matchup. Later, Tia Vixen managed to disrupt their rhythm, taking control for The Bravehearts. Vixen unloaded a barrage of strikes on Becca Van Cisley who managed to tag Ava Starks in while Vixen was gesturing towards the crowd. Despite this, Tia Vixen was prepared and hit Starks with a spear, pinning her for the victory and the tag belts.
The second and final match to air on *Sunday Night Heat* was the featured bout: a BCW Heavyweight Championship match between Barron Blade and challenger Caleb Rivera. Despite spending the last three weeks trash talking Rivera, Barron Blade proved unprepared as Caleb dominated the match from bell to bell, making a mockery of the BCW founder and chairman. Caleb Rivera would earn the pinfall victory in under six minutes.

### Preliminary matches

The broadcast kicked off with the first of four Wrestling World Cup Quarter-Final matches: Flip Maxwell of Los Angeles Wrestling took on Penta El Zero Miedo, representing Lucha Libre Mágica. Although both men were strong in the opening rounds of the tournament, Flip Maxwell came up against a true goliath in Penta who dominated the short match from bell to bell. Penta would end up squashing Maxwell in less than four minutes, earning himself a spot in the semi-finals later in the evening.

Up next, Club UK Heavyweight Champion Hercules Hamilton took on Pro Wrestling Japan's Kota Ibushi. Both men started the match off slow, gauging each other's strengths and weaknesses. Ibushi would strike first, hitting Hamilton with a barrage of strikes before sending him out of the ring where he continued the beatdown at ringside. It was on the outside that Hamilton was able to turn things around and whiplashed Ibushi into the steel steps before throwing back into the ring where he covered him for a two count. As he argued with the ref over the count, Ibushi took advantage of the situation and took back control, pinning Hamilton for the victory and a spot in the semi-finals.

Next, North American Champion Mustafa Ali took on LWO member Carlito in the third Quarter-Final match. Carlito took control early, hitting Ali with a barrage of strikes and a spinbuster before landing a splash from the top rope for the pinfall victory. With the short victory, fans were mixed as some began to boo the many squashes seen early in the event.

In the final Quarter-Final match, Angel took on Giovanni Vinci of Imperium in yet another mismatch. Vinci dominated the entire match, embarrassing Angel by squashing him in just two minutes. This set up Giovanni Vinci to take on Carlito in a semi-final match later on in the evening.

Up next was the first non-tournament, a singles match between rivals Johnny Gargano and R-Truth, making his first WCCW PPV appearance in over a year. R-Truth came to the ring talking trash about Johnny Wrestling but was unable to back it up in the ring as Gargano dominated the match from the opening bell. Insistent on sending a message, Gargano beatdown Truth for the pinfall victory.

In the first of two tournament Semi-Final matches, Penta El Zero Miedo took on Kota Ibushi. Both men were evenly matched with neither truly able to gain the upper hand. They spent the opening stages of the match exchanging blows and one counts. After a few minutes, Kota Ibushi began to take control and after a devastating knee to the jaw followed by two power bombs, Ibushi managed the pinfall victory and earned his moment in the finals.

In the second Semi-Final match, Giovanni Vinci of Imperium took on Carlito of the LWO. Carlito took control of the match early with Giovanni Vinci attempting to find refuge at ringside only to have Carlito follow him. A reverse DDT and a whiplash into the barriers knocked Vinci down long enough for Carlito to return to the ring. Once both men were back in the ring, Vinci managed to take control, hitting a spinning power bomb to earn the pinfall victory and to move on to the finals against Kota Ibushi.

The featured bout on the undercard was the WCCW United States Championship match between "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio and the defending champion Sami Zayn. Both men appeared desperate for the victory, quickly taking the fight to ringside where it turned into an all-out brawl. Mysterio would send Zayn flying into the steel steps before Zayn whiplashed Mysterio over the barricade where the two continued to brawl among the fans. With the ref's count quickly approaching ten, both men made a mad rush for the ring, managing to break the count. In the ring, Dominik took control, hitting Zayn with a barrage of strikes followed by a splash from the top rope for a two count. Mysterio would not let up, continuing to hit Zayn with everything he had. When Rhea Ripley distracted the ref, Mysterio hit Zayn with a low blow, allowing him to cover for the pinfall victory and to begin his first reign as United States Champion.

In the co-main event, Kota Ibushi took on Giovanni Vinci in the Wrestling World Cup Final. The competitors were evenly matched, neither truly able to gain an upper hand. Eventually, Kota Ibushi came out on top.

### Main event

In the main event, 2023 NexGen Future Stars tournament winner Jacob Fatu got his first championship opportunity as he took on Undispued NexGen World Champion Ilja Dragunov..