Punk makes history, doing what no other American player could do in EVO's 20-year history.
History was made at EVO 2024 tonight. Street Fighter 6 rounded out a full weekend of intense competition. After the Grand Finals, only one player was left standing. Victor 'Punk' Woodley became the 2024 EVO champion for Street Fighter 6 and, in the process, became the first American player ever to win a singles Street Fighter championship at EVO in the event's 20 year history.
.@PunkDaGod becomes the first American player to win Street Fighter at EVO. #Evo2024 #FGC #StreetFighter6 pic.twitter.com/9zZrRSzgQS
— Shacknews (@shacknews) July 22, 2024
Esports luminaries like Rod 'Slasher' Breslau were among those to keep track of this factoid, which factors Street Fighter as a main event title. Street Fighter (starting with 3rd Strike and continuing through Street Fighter 6) has traditionally been dominated by competitors from Capcom's home country of Japan. The only other country to win Street Fighter multiple times has been South Korea with three winners. Countries with one win each include the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, France, Singapore, and Taiwan. Street Fighter titles that were featured as EVO side events were not counted, though an American didn't win Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike this year either.
This victory ends a redemption arc for Punk, who came within inches of winning Grand Finals at EVO 2017. Now at age 25, a seasoned and more mature Punk maintained his poise, recovering from taking a Perfect KO and on the brink of another heartbreaking defeat in the tournament's final set to find an opening and come out on top.
Up next for EVO comes a big expansion. While EVO will return to Japan and Las Vegas next year, the event is also heading to Los Angeles for an awards night, visiting a new venue in France, and venturing out to Singapore in 2026.
Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?
