[1] In storyline, the championship belt was donated to WNC by the final Smash Champion Dave Finlay, who was also named the head of the WNC Championship Committee, which decides matches for the title.

[5][6][7] Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a scripted match.

[1][7] On October 3, Tajiri and WNC president Tsutomu Takashima decided the first round matchups via random draw.

[8] Three days later, another random draw picked Yusuke Kodama and Adam Angel out of a group of six younger WNC wrestlers to take the "Future" spots in the tournament.

[10] The final first round match took place on November 26 and saw Tommy Dreamer defeat Yusuke Kodama to advance.