NWGP Tour #1 (January - March 2002)
The first tour was obviously dominated by the 16-man tournament to crown the first ever NWGP Heavyweight Champion.
The first round of the tournament saw a few surprises but many of the usual suspects would get victories to advance to the second round. First up, Ken Shamrock absolutely demolished Spanky in a very quick match, forcing him to submit to an Ankle Lock. Christopher Daniels and CM Punk put on quite a show in their matchup and it was CM Punk who would score the win with a stiff kick to the head to get the victory to advance to face Ken Shamrock in the second round. Mike Awesome used his experience to his advantage against AJ Styles to get the victory to advance to the next round. Adam Pearce and Ron Killings surprised everyone with how good of a match they were able to put on but, in the end, Killings got the victory with the Scissor Kick to advance to face Mike Awesome in the next round.
As the first round continued, Eddy Guerrero scored a pretty easy victory over Chris Harris to advance to the next round. Sabu threw all he had at Jerry Lynn in an attempt to get the victory but Lynn managed a rollup to get the win. Bryan Danielson and Low Ki put on what many said was the match of the tournament so far with both men coming close to victory many times but eventually Danielson forced Ki to submit to what he called the Cattle Mutilation. The final match of the first round saw Curt Hennig easily dispatch James Storm with a Perfect-Plex.
Quarterfinals Bracket
Ken Shamrock vs. CM Punk
Mike Awesome vs. Ron Killings
Eddy Guerrero vs. Jerry Lynn
Bryan Danielson vs. Curt Hennig
While the tournament played a big part of NWGP’s first tour, that was not all that went on. The junior heavyweight division got in full swing as Sonny Siaki made his debut in a good match against Jimmy Yang where he claimed victory. Amazing Red would also make his debut shortly after, teaming with Siaki in a loss to the Full Blooded Italians and the NWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion was announced and it was confirmed that the first champion would be crowned during NWGP Tour #2.
Back with the tournament, the quarterfinals kicked off with Ken Shamrock scoring another relatively easy victory against CM Punk, against forcing his opponent to tap out to the Ankle Lock. Mike Awesome and Ron Killings competed in a pretty even match but Awesome would hit him with the Awesome Bomb for the victory. Eddy Guerrero and Jerry Lynn put on a highflying affair in which both men came close to victory on many different occasions and the ending came when Guerrero hit a Frog Splash for the pinfall victory to advance. Bryan Danielson and Curt Hennig’s match shocked the world when Danielson managed to force Hennig to submit to the Cattle Mutilation to get the huge upset victory.
Semifinals Bracket
Ken Shamrock vs. Mike Awesome
Eddy Guerrero vs. Bryan Danielson
As the final four was now set, the other members of the roster looked to make names for themselves such as Samoa Joe who got several victories in a row against local talent before being assaulted by Sabu who would throw a chair at his head, unfazed, Joe would beat Sabu to a bloody pulp before saying that he wants a challenge which would lead to the debut of Kid Kash who would go toe to toe with Joe. The two had several matches over the course of the tour, all of which were won by Joe. Kash would go on to say that he is going to make sure the world knows his name even though he lost by a fluke every single time.
Meanwhile, James Storm and Chris Harris were thrown into a tag team and got a surprising victory over the Full Blooded Italians and proceeded to call themselves America’s Most Wanted. Other teams that formed over the course of this tour was the team of AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. With the tag team division starting to take shape, the NWGP Tag Team Championship was announced, although, no date was set to crown the first champions.
Back in the tournament, Ken Shamrock and Mike Awesome had a very hard-hitting match where both men slugged away at one another, neither seeming to give an inch to one another and, in the end, Shamrock managed to catch Awesome with a right hook, knocking him unconscious to win the match and advance to the finals. Eddy Guerrero and Bryan Danielson put on a barnburner back and forth bout that was seen as the match of the tour. Danielson nearly forced Guerrero to submit at one point but he fought back and managed a Frog Splash to advance to the finals and following this match, Curt Hennig assaulted Danielson, setting up a feud for the next tour.
In the finals of the NWGP Heavyweight Championship tournament that took place on March 19, 2002, Ken Shamrock and Eddy Guerrero gave it their all to become the first champion but it was Shamrock who would lock Guerrero in the Ankle Lock and force him to submit to become the inaugural champion.
With the first tour in the books, the stars of NWGP embark on their 1 month off before tour #2 kicks off which will crown the first ever NWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
