At least as far as we can tell
To be a Triple Crown champion in the realm of horse racing requires the herculean task of winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in the same year, and we just witnessed a very similar and perhaps even more impressive feat accomplished in the fighting game community.
Pakistan’s great Arslan “TM|Arslan Ash” Siddique can now be considered as likely the first true Triple Crown champion for the FGC and also specifically Tekken 7.
After finally taking home his first Tekken World Tour Finals victory this past weekend, Arslan Ash will pretty much go down as the best player of the Tekken 7 era, but his success runs much further than that.
Siddique would become the first player to ever win Evo Japan, Evo and their official game’s pro circuit final all within the same year or season.
That’s coming out on top of 1,400 Tekken competitors at Evo Japan 2023, 1,590 at Evo 2023 and the best 20 in the world at TWT 2023 Finals (plus the hundreds of others who showed up for the last chance qualifier).
And he did so without ever dropping a set in either the group stage or final 8 bracket just to solidify his title further.
TWT Champion! Alhamdulillah! Grateful for Allah’s kindness. Tekken 7 changed my life, and the elusive trophy is finally in my cabinet. This journey has been emotional and surreal. Thanks for the love, prayers, and support! Can’t believe what I’ve achieved. Pakistan Zindabad! pic.twitter.com/hrkuui1AGd
— Arslan Ash (@ArslanAsh95) January 15, 2024
Arslan actually came close to pulling this off in his second year after going pro by coming out of seemingly nowhere and taking Evo Japan 2019 and proving it wasn’t just a fluke by smashing Evo 2019 as well, but he failed to make it past the group stage at the Tekken World Tour Finals that year.
The man helped shine a spotlight on the Pakistani FGC and brought them up to the world stage along with him, proving time and time again that they’ve become one of the strongest Tekken regions on Earth.
And his personal legacy has been cemented at just 28 years old.
To win not only the two largest open bracket tournaments our community has to offer is crazy all on its own, but going the final step and taking the official world champion crown for any game is an astounding accomplishment.
Arslan Ash pushes back and ties the set 2-2! His countrymen in the crowd rallying for him!
FINAL GAME of Winners Final!@tekkenUlsan @ArslanAsh95 // #TWT2023 #TEKKEN7 pic.twitter.com/bv4GLIaPTy
— Bandai Namco Esports (@BNEesports) January 14, 2024
There have been others who’ve come close or reached similar feats like SonicFox in 2019 with Mortal Kombat 11 where they won Summit of Time, CEO, Evo, East Coast Throwdown and Final Kombat (technically in 2020) — though outside of Evo, none of the other open brackets were that close to the same entrant level despite all being labeled as “Tier 1” events by Liquipedia.
We’ve also witnessed some top competitors over the years win both an Evo and a circuit championship but in different years like NYChrisG with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Some could try and make the argument that someone like Justin Wong in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 may apply for a triple crown for their legendary runs, but record keeping back then was very inconsistent and still wouldn’t be on the scale of the modern FGC.
Arslan Ash’s consistency will go down in history alongside Justin Wong, SonicFox, and others like Kazunoko’s 2018 run in Dragon Ball FighterZ among the best our genre has ever seen.
And if assuming our FGC continues to grow and expand even further, reaching a Triple Crown victory is only going to get harder and harder from here, so who knows when we may see another.
Massive congratulations are in order for Arslan Ash for making his dreams become a reality and doing so better than anyone else, and we’re excited to see if he can carry this momentum forward into Tekken 8 as well.
If you missed it before, Arslan Ash’s winners final set against KDF|Ulsan at TWT2023 is also one of the best across all of Tekken 7, so check that out below too.