:''This tournament should not be confused with the "King of Europe Tournament", held in 2006 by the Austrian wrestling promotion Rings of Europe.''
The King of Europe Cup (KOE cup) is a
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an
professional wrestling tournament
On various occasions in professional wrestling, a single-elimination tournament of varying match types are held, often to determine a championship or number-one contendership therein. It has been known for promotions to use title tournament that a ...
in the style of the "King of Indies" and "
Super 8" tournaments of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
["TNA, IPW:UK and RQW now added to KOE Cup"](_blank)
Posted by Sarah Barraclough, Staff Writer at 1 Stop Wrestling. 24 November 2006.
The inaugural event was hosted in
Liverpool, England
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
on the last weekend of April 2007 and was the brainchild of two
UK wrestling veterans
Alex Shane
Alexander Daniel Spilling (born 15 November 1979) is a British professional wrestler and professional wrestling commentator who is best known by his ring name "The Showstealer" Alex Shane. Spilling also works as a promoter, wrestling coach and ...
and
Doug Williams. In what was considered a historic event in
British wrestling history, the first event featured a tournament to crown the first KOE cup holder and involved 16 promotions and wrestlers from across the world.
Interactive aspects
The following ideas were advertised on the web-site prior to the tournament, but were not implemented.
*Prize fighting
For the first time in modern British wrestling, fans were given the opportunity to make voluntary donations for match of the night. This money was then added to a £1000 match of the night cash prize which was donated by event organizers, giving £500 a night for the best match on each day. Fans were given score sheets at the start of the show and were asked to put their top three matches from that night in order. The votes were collected and the three matches with the most votes were decided. The fan donated money was then added to the $1000 prize fund giving grand cash reward.
The participants who fans selected to have the best 3 matches each night then received the prize money at the end of each night with 55% for 1st prize, 35% for second, and 10% for third prize, improving the earnings of the wrestlers who give fans the best matches.
["King Of Europe (KOE) Tournament"](_blank)
Posted by Sarah Barraclough, Staff Writer at 1 Stop Wrestling. 14 October 2006.
*Match suggestions
At the end of night one, fans were asked upon leaving to select two matches using the eliminated 8 wrestlers from round one. Once again these suggestions were collected and the matches with the most audience votes were made for the following evening.
King of Europe 2007
Promotions
"Taste of IPW:UK" pre-show
Several matches from the UK promotion took place on the afternoon card before the tournament matches in the evening of both dates. The two-hour pre-shows were billed as containing no interval, but due to travel problems for Rhino the day one pre-show actually had two intervals. These pre-shows gave one of the UK’s fastest growing independent companies a chance to be seen in front of their largest audience ever.
*Afternoon One (April 28)
:
Rhino
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...
vs.
Martin Stone ended in a no contest when The Untouchables interfered.
:2 Out Of 3 Falls Match:
Pac defeated
El Generico
Rami Sebei ( ar, رامي سبعي; born July 12, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sami Zayn, and is a member of The Bloodline.
Prior to joi ...
.
:* Pac won the first fall by pinfall with a cradle.
:* El Generico won the second fall by pinfall after a brainbuster.
:* Pac won the third and final fall by pinfall after a modified Dragonrana.
:IPW:UK World Title Match:
Andy Boy Simmonz defeated
Spud
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United S ...
by pinfall with the Simulation.
:Dragon Phoenix defeated
Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio Castagnoli ( ; born 27 December 1980) is a Swiss professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is a member of the Blackpool Combat Club stable. Castagnoli also performs for AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Ho ...
by pinfall with a roll-up.
:The Untouchables (Jack Storm & Dave Moralez) defeated Blok-Busta and C-Juice by pinfall with a powerbomb/flying clothesline combination.
*Afternoon Two (April 29)
:IPW:UK Tag Title Match:
Swiss Money Holding (Claudio Castagnoli & Ares) (c) defeated The Dragon Hearts (Spud & Dragon Phoenix) by pinfall to retain the IPW:UK Tag Team Titles after a double-team backbreaker on Phoenix.
:Martin Stone defeated
Zebra Kid by pinfall with a strong-arm lariat.
:IPW:UK World Title Match: Andy Boy Simmonz (c) defeated Blok-Busta by submission to retain the title.
:Dragon Aisu defeated C-Juice by pinfall with a headlock DDT.
:The Untouchables (Jack Storm & Dave Moralez) defeated EntouRAGE (Mark Sloan & Ollie Burns) by pinfall with a powerbomb/flying clothesline combination.
Tournament
16 wrestlers, chosen or qualified from sixteen separate promotions around the country, faced off in a single-elimination two-night tournament, to ultimately crown the first King of Europe cupholder.
''Qualified by/Other notes''
1 Chris Hero was hand-picked by CZW owner John Zandig
John Corson (born April 4, 1971), better known by the ring name John Zandig, is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is the founder and former owner of the promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).
Early life
Corson was born in Se ...
.
² Claudio Castagnoli defeated Mike Quackenbush
Michael Spillane (born March 18, 1976), is an American podcaster, author, professional wrestling trainer, professional wrestling promoter, and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Mike Quackenbush.
He has hosted several p ...
to qualify.
³ Are$ qualified for the wXw spot after winning wXw's point system which saw any wrestler scoring a direct pinfall over another wrestler during one of wXw's shows was awarded one point; and whoever scored three points first would represent wXw in both this tournament and their own 16 Carat Gold Tournament. As the promotion is based on the pure effect of the sport, points are not given for a DQ, Countount, Draw or even if your tag team partner scores the fall. Wrestlers are unable to lose the points.
4 Matt Sydal was chosen by IWA:MS to represent the company.
5 IWS's representative was decided at their "Praise the Violence" show on January 20, where El Generico won a three-way dance involving Jagged and Kid Kamikaze, and was named the official IWS representative for both the King of Europe Cup and for wXw's 16 Karat Gold tournament.
6 RQW representative Martin Stone secured his spot by being the winner of the one-night RQW Heavyweight title tournament from London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
’s York Hall
The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inter ...
on December 16, 2006.
7PWG representative Davey Richards won the right to represent the company by defeating a veteran of the 2006 16 Carat Gold Tournament, Rocky "Azucar" Romero, in a Double Tournament Qualifying Match (winning entry in both tournaments) at their ''Passive Hostility!'' event on December 2.PWG Results from their website
/ref>
8 WAW representative Zebra Kid is the son of WAW owner Ricky Knight.
9 Though involved with the pre-show, IPW:UK were not originally scheduled to enter a wrestler into the tournament. However, this was changed in February 2007 when it was revealed that IPW:UK would in fact be entering Pac.
10 Trent Acid won the right to represent PWU by pinning Gary Wolfe in a qualifying match on March 14.
*Prior to the final of the tournament there was a 6-Man Elimination Match
:Martin Stone,
Atsushi Aoki
was a Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) as a wrestler, president of talent relations and head trainer at their dojo.
Aoki began his career in Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005, where he went on to become a two ...
& El Generico defeated Trent Acid, Are$ & Claudio Castagnoli
Title history
References
{{Reflist
External links
KingofEuropeCup.com (official site)
Professional wrestling shows
Professional wrestling tournaments
Events in Liverpool
2007 in professional wrestling
2007 in England