TNA World Title Series

TNA World Title Series
Information
Promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Date July 22, 2015 – July 25, 2015 (Taped)
January 5, 2016 (Live)
October 7, 2015 – January 5, 2016 (Aired)
Venue Impact Zone
City Orlando, Florida

The TNA World Title Series was a professional wrestling event produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). It was taped between July 22 and July 25, 2015 (except the semifinals and finals, which ran live on January 5, 2016), and aired from October 7, 2015 to January 5, 2016, on Impact Wrestling. The tournament was won by Ethan Carter III (EC3)

Background

On October 7, 2015, it was announced that a tournament would take place, after TNA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Hardy vacated the title a day prior due to a legal injunction filed by former champion Ethan Carter III. The World Title Series placed 32 wrestlers into 8 groups of 4, with the first round being under a round-robin format which was called Group Play.[1] Also, for the first time ever, the Knockouts would have a chance to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship.[2] The tournament was taped in July. On November 12, 2015, TNA announced plans to hold the eliminations rounds of the tournament in Mumbai, India during TNA One Night Only, but the event had to be postponed due to logistical issues, causing them to air the original tournament that was taped back in late July instead. The company announced on the December 9 broadcast of Impact Wrestling that the semifinals and finals of the World Title Series would be held live on January 5, 2016, during the debut of Impact Wrestling on the Pop network.

Each winner in the round-robin matches was awarded 3 points, and a draw was worth 1 point for each participant. Each match had a 15-minute time limit. The two members of each group with the most points (out of a maximum 9 points) advanced to the final 16, where at that point the tournament switched to a single elimination format. There were only three draws: the Aries/Carter and Edwards/Richards matches which each ended in a time limit draw & the Micah/Drake match which ended in a double count out.

The winner of the tournament became the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. The winner of the tournament was Ethan Carter III by defeating Matt Hardy in the finals by pinfall.

Group Play

The first half of the TNA World Title Series took the form of 8 smaller round-robin tournaments. Each Group featured 4 participants who met a certain criteria. All of the participants were chosen by an internal committee. While some specific reasons for nominations were revealed on air (e.g. all current title holders, apart from Bobby Roode, had automatically qualified), most reasons were not explained.

     These wrestlers qualified for the Round of 16 to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
     These wrestlers were mathematically eliminated from the tournament during Group Play.
     The winner of the TNA World Title Series.

  • Group Champions
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Ethan Carter III 7 3
2 Lashley 6 3
3 Austin Aries 4 3
4 Mr. Anderson 0 3
  • Group UK
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Drew Galloway 9 3
2 Bram 6 3
3 Rockstar Spud 3 3
4 Grado 0 3
  • Group Knockouts
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Awesome Kong 6 3
Gail Kim 6 3
3 Brooke 3 3
Madison Rayne 3 3
  • Group Wildcard
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Mahabali Shera 9 3
2 Kenny King 6 3
3 Aiden O'Shea 3 3
4 Crazzy Steve 0 3
  • Group TNA Originals
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Bobby Roode 6 3
Eric Young 6 3
3 Abyss 3 3
James Storm 3 3
  • Group Tag Team Specialists
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Matt Hardy 9 3
2 Davey Richards 4 3
3 Robbie E 3 3
4 Eddie Edwards 1 3
  • Group X Division
Place Wrestler Points Matches1
1 DJ Z 6 4
Tigre Uno 6 4
3 Manik 6 4
4 Mandrews 3 3
  • Group Future 4
Place Wrestler Points Matches
1 Eli Drake 7 3
2 Jessie Godderz 6 3
3 Micah 4 3
4 Crimson 0 3

^1 Group X-Division went to a three-way tie between Manik, DJ Z and Tigre Uno. A triple threat match was scheduled to determine which two would advance to the Round of 16. In this match whoever gained the first pinfall or submission would advance to the Round of 16 and would exit the match. The remaining two participants would then go one-on-one for the right to advance. DJ Z would get the first Qualifying Slot by pinning Manik and Tigre Uno would then also pin Manik to earn the other spot in the Round, thus eliminating Manik.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship tournament

The second half the TNA World Title Series took on the format of a single-elimination tournament. The first round matches were intentionally set up so that two members of the same original bracket would not face-off unless both of them managed to advance to the Semifinals Round, which happened for Group Champions' Lashley and Ethan Carter III. The first 14 matches took place on episodes of Impact. The final episode of this tournament, including the Semi-Finals and finals, took place on January 5, 2016 on the first episode of Impact Wrestling on Pop TV network. The Round of 16 was divided into 4 groups (Group A, Group B, Group C, and Group D, etc.), although this only affected the order in which matches were held in each round.

  Round of 16
(Impact Wrestling 12/2/15)		 Round of 8
(Impact Wrestling 12/9/15)		 Semifinals
(Impact Wrestling 1/5/16)[3]		 Finals
(Impact Wrestling 1/5/16)
                                     
CH  Ethan Carter III Pin  
XD  DJ Z 6:13  
  CH  Ethan Carter III Pin  
    TT  Davey Richards 16:39  
UK  Bram 6:56
TT  Davey Richards Pin  
  CH  Ethan Carter III Pin  
  CH  Lashley 9:09  
CH  Lashley Pin  
UK  Drew Galloway 10:39  
  CH  Lashley Pin
    WC  Mahabali Shera 10:37  
WC  Mahabali Shera Pin
F4  Eli Drake 3:20  
  CH  Ethan Carter III Pin
  TT  Matt Hardy 10:20
XD  Tigre Uno Pin  
KO  Gail Kim 5:33  
  XD  Tigre Uno 12:25
    OR  Eric Young Pin  
OR  Eric Young Pin
WC  Kenny King 6:19  
  OR  Eric Young 8:03
  TT  Matt Hardy Pin  
F4  Jessie Godderz Pin  
KO  Awesome Kong 3:12  
  F4  Jessie Godderz 16:12
    TT  Matt Hardy Pin  
OR  Bobby Roode 6:31
TT  Matt Hardy Pin  

Pin-Pinfall; Sub-Submission; CO-Count out; DQ-Disqualification; DDQ-Double disqualification; DCO-Double Count out; TD-Time Limit Draw; NC-No Contest

CH-Group Champions; F4-Group Future 4; KO-Group Knockouts; OR-Group TNA Originals; TT-Group Tag Team Specialists; UK-Group UK; WC-Group Wildcard; XD-Group X Division

Aftermath

The semifinals and finals were held on the January 5, 2016, live episode of Impact Wrestling, during its debut on Pop TV, in which Ethan Carter III defeated Lashley in the semifinals round and Matt Hardy defeated Eric Young to advance to the finals round. However, in the main event, Hardy was unable to win the TNA World Title Series tournament and therefore unable to win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship as the match was ultimately won by Ethan Carter III, who became the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion for a second time.[4] However, three days later at the Impact Wrestling tapings, Carter lost the title against Hardy in a Last Man Standing match on the January 19, 2016 episode of Impact Wrestling, ending his reign at 14 days. During the match, a double turn took place with Carter turning face for the first time in his TNA career after his bodyguard Tyrus betrayed him before Hardy turning heel.[5]

References

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