The 2026 iteration of the Crockett Cup was a professional wrestling tag team tournament produced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). It was the ninth iteration in the Crockett Cup chronology. The event took place on April 4, 2026, at The OC Theatre in Forney, Texas, later airing on tape delay across several episodes of NWA Powerrr on Comet. The event celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first Crockett Cup tournament, which took place on April 19, 1986, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Reigning All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW) World Tag Team Champions Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe and Talos) defeated The Country Gentlemen (AJ Cazana and KC Cazana) to win the titular tournament. The event was notable for NWA Commentater Joe Galli announcing a new media rights deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group to air NWA Powerrr on Comet, starting with a two-night premiere covering the Crockett Cup on May 1 and 2. This put the NWA back on over-the-air television for the first time since 1996.
Production Background The Crockett Cup is a tag team tournament first held in April 1986. National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), headed by Jim Crockett Jr., hosted the Crockett Cup, held in honor of Crockett's father, JCP founder Jim Crockett Sr. and saw participation of teams from various NWA territories. JCP held the tournament again in 1987 and 1988, before JCP was sold to Ted Turner later that year. In July 2017, the Crockett Foundation, with Classic Pro Wrestling, held the "Crockett Foundation Cup Tag Team Tournament" in New Kent, Virginia, which was not affiliated with the NWA. Bobby Fulton, The Barbarian, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express, all former Crockett Cup participants, took part in the event as a link to the original tournaments.
The original concept of the Crockett Cup was a single elimination tag team tournament, with the storyline prize of $1,000,000.00 given to the winning team along with a large trophy. The 1986 and 1987 tournaments featured 24 teams, while the 1988 version had 22 teams competing. Each tournament was split over two shows to encompass all 23 tournament matches as well as non-tournament matches; in 1986, JCP held a show in the afternoon and another in the evening, while the 1987 and 1988, the tournament was spread out over two days instead.
On February 6, 2026, the NWA announced that first-round matches for the Crockett Cup would take place at the February 21 NWA Powerrr tapings. Nine days later, on February 15, they announced that the rest of the tournament would take place on April 4, at The OC Theatre in Forney, Texas.
Storylines The event featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were played out on the twenty-sixth season of the NWA's weekly series, Powerrr.
On March 15, NWA President William Patrick Corgan announced that All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW) World Tag Team Champions Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe and Talos) would be entering the Crockett Cup. As late entrants, they would compete in a series of play in matches for the #16 seed in the tournament.
Results
Burke Invitational Gauntlet Draw Entrant Eliminated by Order Method of Elimination Eliminations 1Haley JGretta2Pinfall02 Kylie PaigeTiffany Nieves6Pinfall13Shay KarMichaelGretta1Pinfall04GrettaHerself7Over the top rope45Kenzie PaigeKylie Paige5Over the top rope16Morgan MercyGretta3Over the top rope07HerraKenzie Paige4Pinfall08Tiffany NievesWinner——1
2026 Crockett Cup tournament bracket
See also 2026 in professional wrestling
References
External links