The Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament was a professional wrestling tag team single-elimination tournament held by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2005. It was held to honor the TNA wrestler Chris Candido, who died in April 2005 as a result of acute pneumonia. It is the only edition held as of 2020 despite it being announced as an annual event. The competition began on August 16, 2005 and concluded on August 16, 2005 at the tapings of TNA's television program. It was broadcast from the August 19 to September 9 episodes of TNA iMPACT! It was known by various names: 2005 Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament, The Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament, and The Chris Candido Cup Tournament.
The concept of the tournament was to have eight teams consisting of one veteran wrestler and one rookie wrestler competing against each other to gain entry into a four way elimination tag team match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at TNA's Unbreakable PPV event on September 11. The tournament featured sixteen TNA wrestlers: Abyss, Shark Boy, Alex Shelley, Sean Waltman, B.G. James, Cassidy Reilly, Chris Sabin, Shocker, Kip James, Petey Williams, Konnan, Lance Hoyt, Mikey Batts, Simon Diamond, Ron Killings, and Sonjay Dutt.
Results[]
| Quarterfinals (TV – TNA iMPACT!) |
Semifinals (TV – TNA iMPACT!) |
Finals (TV – TNA iMPACT!) |
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| Chris Sabin and Shocker | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Mikey Batts and Simon Diamond | 07:01 | |||||||||||||
| Chris Sabin and Shocker | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Ron Killings and Sonjay Dutt | 07:49 | |||||||||||||
| B.G. James and Cassidy Reilly | 04:14 | |||||||||||||
| Ron Killings and Sonjay Dutt | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Chris Sabin and Shocker | 07:20 | |||||||||||||
| Alex Shelley and Sean Waltman | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Abyss and Shark Boy | 04:10 | |||||||||||||
| Alex Shelley and Sean Waltman | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Alex Shelley and Sean Waltman | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Lance Hoyt and Konnan | 04:22 | |||||||||||||
| Lance Hoyt and Konnan | Pinfall | |||||||||||||
| Kip James and Petey Williams | 06:49 | |||||||||||||
Aftermath[]
At Unbreakable, The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens) defeated the teams of Alex Shelley and Johnny Candido, America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm), and Team Canada (A-1 & Eric Young) to remain champions in a four-way elimination tag team match. Johnny was a replacement for Waltman who missed the event due to undisclosed reasons. Shelley began the bout alone, until Johnny, who was in attendance along with several of Candido's family members, jumped the railing to join Shelley as his tag team partner by taking a tag from Shelley. A bit later, Douglas kicked Candido in the crotch and pinned him with a roll-up pin, thus eliminating Shelley and Candido from the contest.