King of Iron Fist Tournament

The King of Iron Fist Tournament (ザ・キング・オブ・アイアンフィストトーナメント Za Kingu obu Airon Fisuto Tōnamento) is a fictional world-wide martial arts competition in the Tekken series that is held sporadically and is hosted by the Mishima Zaibatsu. It draws renowned fighters from all around the globe, and the winner will receive a large sum of money. Starting from the fourth tournament,^[1] the winner also receives ownership of the entire Mishima Zaibatsu. The tournaments act as the main setting of the Tekken games, with each main game taking place in a new tournament.

Sponsors

The sponsors of the tournament act as a host of sorts for the competition and are always the Sub-Boss or Final Boss of the game.

• First Tournament - Heihachi Mishima
• Second Tournament - Kazuya Mishima
• Third Tournament - Heihachi Mishima
• Fourth Tournament - Heihachi Mishima
• Fifth Tournament - Jinpachi Mishima
• Sixth Tournament - Jin Kazama
• Seventh Tournament - Heihachi Mishima

Winners

Starting from the fourth tournament, the winner will be crowned ownership of the tournament (although the winner also unofficially took control after the first and second tournaments).

• First Tournament - Kazuya Mishima

• Second Tournament - Heihachi Mishima

• Third Tournament - Jin Kazama (Paul Phoenix defeated Ogre in the third tournament and, believing himself to be the winner, left. Unknown to Paul, Ogre morphed into his final form, True Ogre, and the tournament continued in his absence. In the end, Jin was proclaimed as the true victor of the third Tournament for being victorious over True Ogre. However, he was shot by his grandfather, Heihachi. Jin later transformed into a devil version of himself, attacked Heihachi, and flew off).^[2]

• Fourth Tournament - Heihachi Mishima (Although Jin Kazama's ending is canon, Heihachi is still the winner of the fourth tournment due to the fact that the battle at Hon-Maru takes place outside the tournment. The Tekken 5 character profile for Kazuya confirms that he lost to his father in the fourth tournment, making Heihachi the King of Iron Fist.)^[3]

• Fifth Tournament - Jin Kazama (Jin actually lost to Hwoarang but he transformed into Devil Jin and defeated him, allowing him to continue progressing through the tournament).

• Sixth Tournament - None (the tournament was canceled due to Jin Kazama's disappearance. While Jin did defeat Azazel in the end, it's unknown if this means he won the tournament itself).^[2]

• Seventh Tournament - None (the tournament was canceled after the Zaibatsu reported Heihachi to be dead).

Trivia

• Heihachi Mishima has sponsored the most tournaments, having sponsored the first, third, fourth and seventh tournaments.
• Every tournament has been sponsored by somebody within the Mishima bloodline, meaning a Mishima has also been an antagonist in every game. Only Jinpachi Mishima and Jin Kazama held the tournaments for non-evil purposes.
• Jin has won the most tournaments out of all the characters in the series, having won the third, fifth, and possibly the sixth tournament. Even though he technically defeated Kazuya and Heihachi in Tekken 4, it took place outside the tournament. He also was defeated by Hwoarang in the fifth tournament, but the tournament officials let him continue after Jin fought Hwoarang again in his devil form.

References

1. ^ http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com/tekken4/
2. ^ ^{a b} TEKKEN Retro Recap - Part 2
3. ^ http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com/tekken5/profile.php?id=kazuya]