Thaiger Uppercut 2024 ended up being the last event of the Tekken World Tour leading up to the Tekken World Tour 2024 Global Finals being held on December 5, 2024 and lasting until December 8, 2024. Being that this was also a Master Event, many of the greatest Tekken 8 competitors from all over the world were present in Bangkok, Thailand this weekend.
One young Chinese player, Essence|XCC, had exceeded expectations at the event by defeating QAD|Yagami and T1|Edge, the 20th and 29th seeded players respectively, in the winners bracket. An impressive feat for someone seeded at 68th. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as XCC ended up getting double disqualified at 9th place, just outside of top 8.
According to the official Tekken World Tour 2024 rules, players are only allowed to compete in the tournament series if they hail from the following territories: North America, Central America, South America, West Europe, East Europe, West Africa, South Africa, North & East Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, Central & South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Korea, and Japan.
The rules are very specific about which countries are part of each region. As such, countries such as China and Russia are notably absent from the list of allowed regions. Unfortunately for XCC in this case, he’s a player that hails from China.
Initially, even Katsuhiro Harada expressed confusion over on Twitter about the situation, stating that he was “currently inquiring” about what happened, but noted that he and Michael Murray are not involved with the rules and regulations of the Tekken World Tour. Later, Harada would delete his Tweets as Bandai Namco was preparing an official statement on the matter.
Ultimately though, this statement didn’t really explain why XCC was able to enter the tournament and get as far as he did in the first place. It’s also been reported that there may have been other players competing from disallowed regions that were eliminated before this disqualification occurred.
Leading up to this event, XCC had just been sponsored by Team Essence back in late September as a Tekken competitor. Though Team Essence are still very supportive of XCC, this implies that they also didn’t know about the technicality that prohibits Chinese players from competing at Tekken World Tour events.
Thank you @TeamEssenceEZR for taking me on as a professional tekken player. I will do my best and bring to the global ladder board.
My team 3v3 at @tguteam will include myself, @deeon_grey and @TK_SAINT#tekken #tgu #twt #essence— tk_x c c (@tk_xiaochenchen) September 26, 2024
This is honestly heart breaking!
Our young prodigy worked so hard to be where he is, getting to the winner’s side of the TOP 8 only to be disqualified this is villainous
We will continue to support you @tk_xiaochenchen and fight for you as is your fans are from across the globe https://t.co/P6QmbFd6vW
— TeamEssence (@TeamEssenceEZR) October 6, 2024
Though this was clearly a disappointing outcome for the 18-year-old Chinese player, he still intends to practice Tekken 8. He also notes that he’s been appreciative of the players that have offered him their sympathies at the event.
My first international event @TGUteam
Thank you to all my supporters and Chinese Tekken family. Thank you @Deeon_Grey and @TeamEssenceEZR for sponsoring me.
I am proud to be Chinese and continue practise regardless of my results! #TEKKEN8 @Harada_TEKKEN pic.twitter.com/4moW4F98p1— tk_x c c (@tk_xiaochenchen) October 6, 2024
Thank you to all the players who comforted me at the scene, thank you.
— tk_x c c (@tk_xiaochenchen) October 6, 2024
Of course, XCC’s sudden disqualification this late in the tournament also has many other ramifications considering that he also sent players like Yagami and Edge to the losers bracket throughout his run. Leading up to the top 8, Liquid|Shadow20z and Falcons|Farzeen were both able to advance for free due to XCC’s disqualification.
It’s impossible to determine how the tournament’s results might’ve been affected had XCC been allowed to finish his tournament run or if he had been prohibited entering in the first place. Needless to say, it’s just a bad outcome in every way.
Bandai Namco’s statement:
We had to disqualify a player from Thaiger Uppercut (Master Event) who does not reside in an eligible country under Tekken World Tour 2024 regulations.
Although we did our best to explain the circumstances to the player and followed the official rules, this led to an unprecedented situation.
We understand that this decision has caused disappointment among some members of the community, and we will consider adjusting the official rules for future seasons.
Thank you for your understanding.