Noticing a lack of collaborative streamer events in the North American Fighting Game Community, Sajam came up with the idea for Sajam Slam and pitched it to several companies, many of which passed on the event early on. In January 2024, Bandai Namco launched TEKKEN 8, and Sajam decided it was the right time to try an initial Sajam Slam event. After reaching out to streamers to gauge interest, he received hundreds of responses from people expressing a desire to learn fighting games. Strongly believing in the concept of teaming up relative newcomers with pro players as coaches, Sajam moved forward with the very first event in March 2024, then called the Sajam TEKKEN Slam.
The Teams
Schedule
Mar 8, 2024: Round Robin
Mar 10, 2024: Finals
Jul 19, 2024: EVO Showcase: Beat-a-Pro
Prizes
1st-2nd: All inclusive EVO 2024 trip sponsored by Sajam, Razer Kitsune controller
3rd: TSR:ACT HyperCube controller
4th: JunkFood Arcades: Snackbox controller
Partners
Razer Kitsune
TSR:ACT HyperCube
JunkFood Snackbox
Results
Round Robin
The first ever Sajam Slam had only one Round Robin group stage, where each team played five matches, one against each other team. A match was decided when a team reached three wins, starting from the beginner skill bracket and moving down the list. If the match was decided before all five players on a team needed to play, the remaining matches were skipped.
After an intense day of matches, Team Brawlpro (5-0) and Team Joey Fury (4-1) cemented themselves as the top two teams and the favorites heading into the finals. LazyMattman, Team Brawlpro's anchor, won every match he played without dropping a game, while Team Joey Fury's balanced roster had two 3-0 sweeps among their four wins.
[ Full results of each match ]
Finals
The finals were structured as a double elimination bracket, with the top two seeds (Team Brawlpro and Team Joey Fury) earning byes past the first round. Fireworks started immediately as Team JWong, who went 0-5 in the Round Robin, upset Team MYK in the first round to send them to the losers bracket. Meanwhile, Team Brawlpro and Team Joey Fury won their matches to meet up in the winners final match, where Team Joey Fury won 3-0, avoiding the fight with LazyMattman in the four slot, and guaranteed a top 2 finish and a trip to EVO 2024.
Team MYK recovered from their first round defeat and fought back to the losers finals match, where they played a very intense match with Team Brawlpro, culminating in an exciting coach's match where Brawlpro edged out the win for his team, earning a trip to EVO 2024. In the grand finals, Team Joey Fury once again beat Team Brawlpro 3-0 to become your first ever Sajam Slam champions!
[ Full bracket and match results ]
EVO 2024: Beat-a-Pro
In addition to the two teams that earned trips, many other players decided to attend EVO 2024 to experience the excitement of the biggest event in the FGC calendar. While there, Sajam ran a Beat-a-Pro event, where fans from the audience could challenge a Slammer to a match on stage. The final challenger of this event was TEKKEN game director and producer Katsuhiro Harada, who played against Lilypichu in a fun, memorable match.
Photo: RellFGC
Photo: Terence Rushin
Resources
VODs
Links
Sajam TEKKEN Slam YouTube Playlist
Liquipedia Results Page
LilyPichu, Disguised Toast, Sykkuno Headline Sajam Tekken Slam - Esports Illustrated
24 Twitch streamers will duke it out in 'Tekken' tournament - Tubefilter
Community Spotlight - Sajam TEKKEN Slam - EVO
Evo Attendees Try Their Best to Beat a Pro with the Sajam TEKKEN Slam - EVO