Crockett Cup (2022)
The Fifth Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament (also known as the Crockett Cup (2022)), was a professional wrestling tag team tournament produced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The event took place on March 19 and 20, 2022, at the Nashville Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the sixth iteration of the event, and the first to be held since 2019; the 2020 event had been planned, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and no event was scheduled in 2021 because of the lingering pandemic. Production. Background. The Jim Crockett Sr . Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament is a tag team tournament first held in April 1986. National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), headed by Jim Crockett Jr., hosted the Crockett Cup, held in honor of Crockett's father, JCP founder Jim Crockett Sr. and saw participation of teams from various NWA territories. JCP held the tournament again in 1987 and 1988, before JCP was sold to Ted Turner later that year. In July 2017, the Crockett Foundation, with Classic Pro Wrestling, held the "Crockett Foundation Cup Tag Team Tournament" in New Kent, Virginia, which was not affiliated with  the NWA. Bobby Fulton, The Barbarian, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express, all former Crockett Cup participants, took part in the event as a link to the original tournaments. The original concept of the Crockett Cup was a single elimination tag team tournament, with the storyline prize of $1,000,000.00 given to the winning team along with a large trophy. The 1986 and 1987 tournaments featured 24 teams, while the 1988 version had 22 teams competing. Each tournament was split over two shows to encompass all 23 tournament matches as well as non-tournament matches; in 1986, JCP held a  show in the afternoon and another in the evening, while the 1987 and 1988, the tournament was spread out over two days instead. On January 31, 2022, it was announced that the Crockett Cup would return and would be held in on March 19–20 at the Nashville Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee. Storylines. The event will feature a number professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines. Wrestlers are portrayed as either heels (those that portray the "bad guys"), faces (the "good guy" characters), or tweeners (characters that are neither clearly a heel or  a face) as they follow a series of tension-building events, which culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches as determined by the promotion. The of the NWA's weekly flagship program, "Powerr", featured storylines leading up to the event. Tournament matches. The main feature of the event is the titular Crockett Cup, a tag team tournament where, in addition to the namesake trophy, the winners will earn a match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. The tournament will be contested with 16 teams, double the amount of the 2019 event. The following teams have been announced  for the tournament: In addition, Night 1 on March 19 will feature a four-way match to determine the 16 seed in the tournament. The teams are: Other matches. During the full card run-down for Hard Times 2, NWA President Billy Corgan announced the return of the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which has been inactive for five years, with the four-way tournament final to determine the new champion taking place on March 20. Matches from the Junior Heavyweight tournament were taped for the NWA's new weekly series, "NWA USA". The four way match will feature Austin  Aries, Homicide, Darius Lockhart and Colby Corino compete for the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship. At NWA PowerrrTrip, Matt Cardona defeated Trevor Murdoch to win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. After the match, he would be confronted by Nick Aldis, the man who Murdoch beat to become the champion. Aldis would enact his rematch clause to face Cardona for the title at the Crockett Cup. On March 1, it was announced that the ambassador for the event, Jeff Jarrett, will also be the special guest referee for the NWA world title match, at the demands of Cardona for an unbiased  official. At NWA 73, Jax Dane attacked his tag team partner Crimson before the latter's hardcore triple threat match with Thom Latimer and Tim Storm, officially dissolving The War Kings. Two weeks later on "Powerrr", the former partners participated in a slap fight hosted by then-NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch. However, Dane would soon punch instead of slap Crimson in the face, causing a scuffle between the two. On September 17, at By Any Means Necessary, Dane would defeat Crimson in a Steel Cage match. At PowerrrTrip the following February, Crimson, now going by Anthony Mayweather, defeated  Chris Adonis to win the NWA National Championship. On March 4, it was announced that Mayweather will make his first defense of the title against Dane on Night 2 of the Crockett Cup. Results. NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship Tournament. First Round Second Round Final