The Mad Dash: Every Time a Vacant Belt Was Picked Up
For one reason or another, sometimes it’s just time for the champ to walk away (whether it’s because they moved on, gave up, or even less than stellar circumstances). However, one thing is always true: when that belt is dropped there’s a mad dash to pick it up. Some people hold it for a brief moment, while others prove they should’ve had it all along. Check out every instance where a championship was won because it was left vacant.
Arkham Knights
Many people may remember the Arkham Knights as the first dominant team in Fandom, but some may forget their initial loss of the belts to the first ever team champions, Silver Shamrocks. Paul Oyama stepped back from playing in Fandom, leaving the belts open for the taking. They were picked up by the team that nearly won them in the first place, as Robert Parker and Tim Brzakala began their dominant run by taking out Kings of Winter to pick up the vacant belts.
Mischief Managed
Not much later, Robert would follow in the same footsteps as Paul, leaving the teams and singles belts available for the taking. Starting with teams, a mad dash between Necronomicon, Team 80s, insert name here, and Mischief Managed commenced. It turns out it was really a one horse race the whole time, as Thomas Scully achieved his first of a few belts, this one with Caleb Boatman via knockout.
Dominic Rizzi
With the singles belt vacant as well, Tim Brzakala was an obvious candidate to pick up the belt, given his previous challenge for the title and near win barring some extenuating circumstances. But, he needed a challenger, one that would give Tim the rep of potentially the most screwed over player in Fandom Singles history. I firmly believe Dominic Rizzi is a worthy champion. He beat several people (including Thomas Scully, Nicholas Twohig, RJ, and many more) in a Fandom Gauntlet to challenge Tim for the belt. In a somewhat controversial match (through no fault of the eventual winner), Dominic Rizzi picked up the belt. Eventually he would be recognized as the first official Fandom Singles Champion.
Wookiee Mistake
As you can see, most vacant belts occurred in Fandom. This was due to team and player’s propensity to hold the belts for long periods of time, leading to their eventual retirement in lieu of a defeat. At the end of 2021, that was the case for Nicholas Twohig and the Knights of Ren (yes that’s me, awkward, I’m aware, let’s move on). After charging back to avenge their only loss to DUM-Es, Nick and Tim won the belts back and dropped them. Among the teams in the running were longtime rivals of Ren, Wookiee Mistake, Guns and Ships, rookie team License to Chill 2.0, and former champs the DUM-Es themselves. Wookiee Mistake took them out in a contender match, and barely snatched victory from Guns and Ships for the vacant belts.
Joe Farrelly
So, Joe Farrelly had won the vacant teams belts, but that wasn’t enough. He won a Fandom 5-way contender match to challenge former Champion Thomas Scully for gold. In an underrated title match, Joe Farrelly accomplished multiple things on the Fandom bingo card in one go. He avenged his former loss to Thomas Scully, won the Singles belt, and became the third official double belted champion. Vacant belts can sometimes be considered to be filled by paper champions, but Joe proved that wrong by defending both.
Duel of the Fates
The era of Joe Farrelly continued for about a year, but his teams prospects were ended earlier than his singles ones. Wookiee Mistake lost their belts at Mayhem of 2022 to the revenge-seeking DUM-Es who would become 2-time champions with this win. Wookiee Mistake was set to play the rubber match of a lifetime when they won the Fall teams tournament, but unfortunately had to drop out of the title due to unforeseen circumstances. A title match needed to happen. The Manhattan Project had already retired after their loss in the semi-finals to Wookiee Mistake, but found themself with one last ditch shot at the titles they had yet to play for. With one final push, Manhattan defeated DUM-Es, and both teams retired as planned leaving the belts again up for grabs. All that to say that Brittani and Tyler as Duel of the Fates would pick them up against Galac-Deez Nuts, and not let them go for quite some time.
Wrong Side of the River
For three years in a row, the Fandom Teams belt had been won, and then immediately vacated at the end of the year. At the end of 2023, Wookiee Mistake in their final run would win their final tournament, and then win nothing short of an upset against long standing Champions Duel of the Fates. Having previously announced their retirement regardless of the results, Joe and David became 2-time champs, and then went their separate ways. With the title picture for the “Always a Bridesmaid” Act 1 of 2024 already in place, the teams were now competing not for a shot at the belts, but for the belts themselves. Teams who had never even challenged for the belts were in the running. License to Chill, Pinheads, Molokai Cargo, and Wrong Side of the River faced off, leading to Amaru and Jacoby winning all the horses, and the belts as well.
