Gauntlet Run Sole Survivors

SOLE SURVIVORS


In 2003, X became the victor of the first ever Gauntlet Run Match, which consisted of a mere 14 competitors - the smallest group to ever compete in the contest. With his landmark victory, X would go on to the very first WrestleFest event one month later and win his first BWF World Championship, defeating Champion Brian Fenris and former Champion Ghost inside a Hell in a Cell Match.


The second edition of the Gauntlet Run featured the contest's first appearance in it's now traditional 30 man setting. Former BWF World Champion The Big O returned to action in the Gauntlet Run, after being injured earlier in the year, to win the whole thing and secure a Championship match at WrestleFest II. He opened the show against Toco for the World Heavyweight Championship, where he was unsuccessful in winning the title.


In 2005, X became the first person in BWF history to win two Gauntlet Run Matches, this time achieving victory at the 30 man scale. Unfortunately, this time, X was unable to use the momentum from his historic win to secure victory at the biggest event of the year, and his former X-ecutioners tag partner The Executioner defeated him to successfully retain the BWF World Championship at WrestleFest III.


When November of 2006 came around, the BWF was on hiatus. Not one to miss an opportunity to make money, David Blazenwing booked the first ever "International Gauntlet Run" in Sydney, Australia, featuring a team format for the first time in the event's history. The match ultimately came down to Team USA's "Stutterfly" Starla Gardevoir and Team Japan's Stryker Cloud, but Stutterfly emerged the victor. She did not recieve a title shot for her victory, as the BWF was not active at the time; this was rectified almost five years later, when she was granted a BWF World Title match at WrestleFest VI in 2011 against her future husband, Gabe Shelley. Injured, Katie granted her shot to good friend Emily Corlen (following a precedent that was set four years prior with Raizzor and Chamelion), who (at least momentarily) defeated Shelley at the event to win her first World Title.


In 2007, the Gauntlet Run returned in it's original 30 man rumble format. Many competed for the chance to fight for the title at WrestleFest V, but at the end of the night, it was Raizzor who was standing tall. When he signed his contract to face BWF World Champion Mark McNasty at WrestleFest, he revealed after the fact that he merely signed it "Sommers", before announcing that he was awarding his Championship shot to his younger brother, Mark Sommers, better known as Chamelion. After McNasty fought the decision, management ultimately decided that the shot was Raizzor's, and if he wished to give it to someone else, that was his right. At WrestleFest V, Chamelion defeated McNasty to become the BWF World Champion.


In 2013, Elena Simonova dominated the BWF, winning three World Championships, main eventing WrestleFest VII and becoming the 2013 Female Superstar of the Year. She seemed poised to dominate 2014 in the same fashion, but at Survival of the Sickest in January 2014, everything changed for Simonova. She was brutally attacked backstage, removed from the arena by doctors and stripped of the World Championship she coveted so much. For months, it seemed as though Simonova's domination of BWF was now a bygone era. That all changed at the 2014 Gauntlet Run. The hype around the event was huge, as the match hadn't been seen in BWF since 2007. Many entrants claimed that they would be "the one" to go on and main event WrestleFest VIII, but none of them expected Simonova to make her unannounced return to the ring during the 30-superstar spectacular. The finale of the contest came down to Simonova and Casey Campbell, who had entered the match at #1. Campbell nearly won it all, but Elena proved too capable and capped off her return by winning the first Gauntlet Run Match in seven years. One month later at WrestleFest VIII, Simonova completed her journey by dethroning Emily Corlen in the main event to become the new BWF World Champion.


Going into the 2015 Gauntlet Run Match, the field was wide open for several competitors to potentially win the big match and go on to main event WrestleFest IX. After BWF World Champion AJ Adams successfully defended his title prior to the big 30-man spectacular, the stage was set to determine who would face him at the blockbuster event. As the Gauntlet Run wound down, the final two competitors could not have been more different. On one side, Fenryr Wulfsson, a powerful, hulking, intimidating figure. On the other, the peppy, diminutive (and wildly popular) Sabrina Scott. After a show of power from the much larger Wulfsson, Scott was, figuratively and literally, on the ropes. However, an unlikely source interjected himself into the contest - Adams, who was not only the World Champion, but Sabrina Scott's boyfriend. With Scott watching on in confusion, the crowd excitedly watched Adams eliminate Fenryr himself, leaving Sabrina as the vaunted Sole Survivor. Following the events of Gauntlet Run, Sabrina broke up with AJ, believing that his actions showed a lack of faith in her own ability to defeat Wulfsson. Fenryr, too, was granted another opportunity to gain entry into the WrestleFest IX main event after Adams involved himself, leading to an eventual Triple Threat Match for the BWF World Title at WrestleFest IX that saw AJ Adams successfully retain his title, albeit in villainous fashion. This personality shift was cemented moments after his victory as he viciously attacked Sabrina, turning the crowd against him, but allowing him to leave WrestleFest as, quite literally, the last person standing.


After a seven year hiatus (weirdly the same amount of time between the 2007 and 2014 Gauntlet Runs), the Gauntlet Run Match returned - with a twist! On the April 17, 2022 edition of BWF Sunday Night Shockwave, after a spot opened up in the forthcoming World Title Elimination Chamber Match at Danger Zone, the decision was made to hold the smallest Gauntlet Run yet (but only by four people; the inaugural event in 2003 was a mere 14-person match) to determine who would earn that final spot. Melody Slayton, JAHJAH, Logan Bailey, Talia Areano, Drake Connors, Joanna the Jungle Girl, Luke Marshall, Kurt Hullum, Hanako and even debuting NFW World Champion Tren Descarrilado all fought tooth and nail, but when the smoke cleared, BWF Tag Team Champion Logan Bailey was the sole survivor and moved on to the Elimination Chamber title match.