Queen's Cup V

## Overview

This tournament was mired with controversy surrounding Commissioner Damian Hurley who not only competed in matches himself, even chalking up a win against Jamie-Lynn Sigler, but also made several highly questionable decisions, including a DOUBLE DISQUALIFICATION of Anita Ekberg and Barbara Palvin in the Semi-Final and his allowance of Ana de Armas *lying down* against her opponent 9and fellow Med Event Mafia member) Lauren Jauregui in an event that has become known as The Fingernail of Doom. These events all led to the Pantheon Boycott and Damian's eventual removal from the post and replacement with William Regal, whose previous suspension had expired.

Going into the tournament top stars from The Pantheon, Michelle Pfeiffer and Brooke Shields, stated they were boycotting it, refusing to take part in the scheduled number 1 contenders group owing to the events of WWYD5, in particular Shields-gate, unless Commissioner Damian Hurley was removed from his post. By the end of this Queen's Cup, Jennifer Connelly, Cindy Crawford and Barbara Palvin all joined it too leaving Sir Charles Lynton little choice but to stand down Damian and bring back Regal.

In addition, Med Event Mafia members Monica Bellucci, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek also boycotted the tournament, demanding a special investigation into the final of WWYD5. Prior to the tournament, the Med Event Mafia had abducted Damian and forced him to fix a weak group for Ana de Armas and an even weaker group for the eventual winner Lauren Jauregui. Many commentators, including Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson declared it the worst WWYD tournament in history and stated that Jauregui was an unworthy winner. She defended her win in a long-form interview with Philippa Forrester.

## Storylines and Controversies

After the Med Event Mafia had tilted the draw, most of the strongest competitors were bunched into Groups A and B. This resulted in several high-profile Group-Stage casualties such as Marylin Monroe, Natalie Dormer, Arianna Grande and Elle MacPherson. Meanwhile, Ana de Armas and Lauren Jauregui cruised through Group C and D respectively on 9 points.

The most notable match of the Group stages was undoubtedly Damian Hurley's 55-45 win against Jamie-Lynn Sigler, which marked the remarkable occurrence of a male contestant beating a female one, such was the humiliation for Sigler that a new price The Sigler Spoon has been named after her.

The performance of Barbara Palvin in the tournament finally prompted her to be invited to join The Pantheon by Brooke Shields.

The Semi-Finals were marred by The Fingernail of Doom, when Ana de Armas essentially forfeited her match against Lauren Jauregui and a highly questionable double disqualifications after Special Investigator Robert Mruczek spotted irregularities in the votes and decided that it was not possible to determine who had cheated; Damian Hurley then DQ'd both contestants. Since there was a 5% swing for Anita Ekberg in the final minute of the match, many -- including The Pantheon, who initiated the Pantheon Boycott -- was unfair to her opponent Palvin. Especially egregious was the fact that this decision *handed* the Queen's Cup trophy to Jauregui, who many believed did not deserve the title. William Regal replaced Damian as Commissioner shortly afterwards.

## Links

* Group Stage Round 1
* Group Stage Round 2
* Group Stage Round 3
* Semi-Finals
* Final