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World Martial Arts Tournament

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The World Martial Arts Tournament.
The World Martial Arts Tournament (天下一武道会, Tenka'ichi Budōkai; Literally meaning "Strongest Under the Heavens") refers to an event in the Dragon Ball manga, and in the anime series Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT.

Contents

[edit] Rules and characteristics

In all the Dragon Ball series there is a World Martial Arts Tournament on Earth, occurring every 5 years (which later changes to every 3 years, and finally every year in Dragon Ball Z). The tournament features Earth's strongest fighters as well as the regular participation of the Z Fighters. Besides the title of World Martial Arts Champion, the winner of the tournament would get the considerable amount of 500,000 zeni (later increased to ten million zeni) as a prize.

In the tournament, anyone who comes into contact outside of the ring, is knocked out for more than ten seconds (which is counted by the commentator), or gives up automatically loses. The tournament forbids any use of weapons or protective body gear (although natural weapons, such as bear claws, are allowed). Poking someone in the eyes or hitting them in the groin is also not allowed. The most important rule is that killing the opponent is not allowed. Anyone who disobeys any of these rules result in disqualification for participating in the tournament. However, more than one villain in the manga has entered the tournament with more interest in killing someone against whom they have a vendetta than in winning the prize.

The tournament has two parts: the preliminaries and the tournament itself. The preliminaries are held indoors and without an audience. In the preliminaries, all the contestants are divided in several groups, usually eight. These eight groups fight in mini-tournaments with a one-minute time limit for each match (matches that last longer than one minute are decided by points). The eight winners, one of each group, move on the the actual tournament.

In the World Tournament Saga, the tournament replaced the preliminaries with a punching contest to reduce injuries. Fighters would punch a machine, which would then calculate the strength of the punches. The sixteen who scored the highest moved on to the actual tournament.

The participants fight in pairs; the order of the fights is decided by each participant taking a random number from a box. As there are usually eight participants, the tournament has three levels: quarter-finals (4 fights), semi-finals (2 fights), and the final fight. It is later increased to sixteen fighters in the World Tournament Saga. The winner of each fight goes on to fight with the winner of the other fights, with a tree diagram showing the order of the fighters, going up on the aforementioned levels.

World Martial Arts Tournaments are hosted, run and announced by the same World Martial Arts Tournament announcer. At the end of Dragon Ball GT he is replaced by his descendant.

[edit] Pattern

All tournaments in the original Dragon Ball series follow a certain pattern:

  • Yamcha always loses in the quarter-finals, often to the main opponent.
  • Goku far outclasses his opponent in the semi-finals.
  • One of the other Z Fighters makes it to the semifinals (usually Krillin, once Tien) but loses to a more powerful opponent (usually the one Yamcha fought).
  • Goku makes it to the finals, and takes on the powerful opponent who has defeated at least one of his friends.

[edit] List of champions

  • Akkuman (two unknown World Martial Arts Tournaments)
  • King Chappa (one unknown World Martial Arts Tournament, possibly the 20th)
  • Jackie Chun (21st World Martial Arts Tournament)
  • Tien (22nd World Martial Arts Tournament)
  • Goku (23rd World Martial Arts Tournament)
  • Mr. Satan (the longest reigning champion, 24th through the 31st World Martial Arts Tournament and possibly one or two more after that)

[edit] Notes

  • King Chappa - Coincidentally, he was Goku's first opponent in both of the preliminary matches of the 22nd and 23rd tournament. King Chappa is mentioned to have won a tournament without even being touched, though it is not specified in the manga if the tournament he competed in was a Tenkaichi Budokai. In the anime, King Piccolo Saga, Chappa was revealed to be one of the targets on Tambourine's hitlist and was killed by the demon, indicating that the tournament he combated in was in fact a World Martial Arts Tournament (or it could be that the hitlist included the preliminary fighters).
  • Master Roshi under Unknown Alias - When Master Roshi is fighting Goku as "Jackie Chun", in episode 27, he says he fought Gohan, Goku's adoptive grandfather, and won. While it is possible Roshi and Gohan fought each other on an occasion outside the tournament, it is unlikely Roshi would have used the Bankoku Bikkuri Sho in a simple sparring match. Roshi would only have used such a devastating attack if he felt he had to win at any cost and the only reason he would feel this way about a pupil he loved was if he was trying to help him as he helped Goku by preventing his victory and keeping his passion alive. It is impossible to estimate how many tournaments Roshi won using this disguise, or in fact if he used different disguises, or even if he disguised himself as Jackie Chun and that it was simply so long ago people forgot about him. Regardless, it is safe to assume Master Roshi won at least one tournament in the days of Gohan and the Ox King's youth.

[edit] List of known World Martial Arts Tournaments

[edit] Dragon Ball

[edit] 21st

Date: 750 A.D. May 7th

Total entrants: 137
Contestants:

Winner: Jackie Chun
Runner Up: Goku

[edit] 22nd

Date: 753 A.D. May 7th

Total entrants: 182
Contestants:

Winner: Tien
Runner Up: Goku

[edit] 23rd

Date: 756 A.D. May 7th

Total entrants: 72
Contestants:

Winner: Goku
Runner Up: Piccolo

  • It is interesting to note that this is the only World Martial Arts Tournament Goku ever won, despite his participation in several before and after. This the first tournament where the outcome determines the fate of the Earth.

[edit] Dragon Ball Z

[edit] 24th

Date: 767 A.D. May 7th

Junior Division Contestants:

  • Videl
  • Other Children Competitors

Winner: Videl
Note: All that is known is that this was the first tournament to feature a Junior Division, and that Videl had won it.

Known Contestants:

Winner: Mr. Satan
Runner Up: Jewel

  • This tournament is not seen in the series, it is only mentioned. However, it creates a plot-hole. Right before the Cell Games, the Z-Fighters (both in the manga and the anime) comment that there hasn't been a World Martial Arts Torunament since the 23rd. This was AFTER May 7th, the date of the 24th Tournament. Furthermore, in the manga Mr. Satan is called the world's wrestling champion, though he is called the world's martial arts champion in the anime. Apparently, in order to mantain this, there was need for a tournament to exist before the Cell Games, but after the 23rd. This tournament was therefore ret-conned, and was later mentioned in the Daizenshuu 7 timeline.

[edit] 25th

Date: 774 A.D. May 7th

Junior Division Contestants:

Winner: Trunks
Runner Up: Goten

Contestants:

Winner: Mr. Satan
Runner Up: Android 18 (bribed to take a dive by Mr. Satan)

[edit] 26th

Winner: Mr. Satan
Runner-up: Mr. Buu (Mr. Buu loses to Mr. Satan on purpose)

[edit] 27th

Winner: Mr. Satan
Runner-up: Mr. Buu (Mr. Buu loses to Mr. Satan on purpose)

[edit] 28th

Contestants/Participants:

Winner: Unknown, due to the cancellation of Uub and Goku's fight. (Mr. Satan still holds his title however)

[edit] Dragon Ball GT

[edit] 31st

Junior Division Contestants:

Winner: Muckley
Runner Up: Goku

  • This is this first tournament where "Kid" Goku fights in the Junior Division. Goku had fought in previous regular tournaments as a child.

Kid Goku lost in the tournament because the Crying Child was tickling Goku and Goku fell out of the ring.

Contestants:

  • Mr. Satan vs. Uub - Uub is pounding him, but after a message from Mr. Buu he is stunned and Mr. Satan defeats him.

[edit] Unknown, possibly: 64th

[edit] Other tournaments

There have been other martial arts tournaments in the series.

[edit] Chiaotzu's Tournament

The tournament held by Emperor Chiaotzu, in Mystical Adventure.

Known Contestants:

Contestants that did not fight:

[edit] Cell Games

Main article: Cell Games Contestants:

Contestants who didn't fight:

"Official" Winner: Mr. Satan
Actual Winner: Gohan
Runner Up: Cell

Note: The Cell Games weren't technically a World Martial Arts Tournament. However, Cell himself stated that he would "revive the World Martial Arts Tournament". This is the only tournament in the series where contestants actually die (there are also deaths in the movie-only Tenka'ichi Grand Tournament, see below). Android 16, Future Trunks, and even Goku die at the hands of Cell. Cell and the 7 Cell Juniors died at the hands of Gohan. This is also the second tournament where the outcome determines the fate of the Earth.

[edit] Tenka'ichi Grand Tournament (Intergalactic World Tournament)

A different tournament was featured in the movie Bojack Unbound. It was sponsored by the millionaire Gyosan Money (X.S. Cash in the FUNimation dub) as a birthday present for his only son Doll (Monty in the FUNimation dub). The tournament was supposed to feature fighters representing the four corners of the galaxy; in reality, the four fighters were actually the pupils of Mr. Satan, made-up to look like aliens. The winner of said tournament would win a prize of 100,000,000 Zeni and gone on to fight Mr. Satan (due to him been the "official" winner of the Cell Games).

However, this tournament was ruined by intrusion of Bojack and his henchmen who killed Mr. Satan's pupils (the fake galaxy warriors), and then fought the contestants in their place. Bojack and his minions were eventually defeated by Gohan (with a little help from Goku).

This is the second tournament where Mr. Satan takes the credit for Gohan's victory. This is technically the third tournament in which the outcome determines the fate of the Earth (and possibly all the four galaxies). This is also the only other tournament, besides the Cell Games, where fighters are actually killed (though, unlike the Cell Games, the killing was against the rules).

Known Contestants:

Final eight contestants:

  • Gohan
  • Trunks
  • Piccolo
  • Krillin
  • Tien
  • Doscoi
  • Udo
  • Sky Dragon

Quarter-finalists:

  • Gohan (defeats Udo)
  • Krillin (Piccolo forfeits)
  • Trunks (Defeats Tien)
  • Doscoi (Defeats Sky Dragon)

Official Winner: Mr. Satan
Actual Winner: Gohan
Runner Up: Bojack

The whole tournament was somewhat flopped, since Bido killed Doscoi. Later, Mr. Satan, who was supposed to fight the winner of the quarter-finals, was introduced in the battle arena as a safety measure against Bojack and crew. Finally, he convinced everyone that he defeated Bojack due to the unavailability of video proof.

[edit] Other World Tournament

The Other World Tournament is where fighters in the Other World compete. Goku and Pikkon both fought in it. This tournament was technically won by Goku (the second time Goku actually won a tournament). This tournament has occurred only twice in the series, once during the anime and later in the 12th DBZ Movie.

Note: Interestingly this is the only tournament where killing an opponent is not a problem as all the fighters are already dead. However, as shown in the Buu Saga, if someone dead dies again, they get erased from existence.

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