WARZONE CONCEPT

Updated 19th December 2025

HOW THE REGIONAL WARZONE TOURNAMENTS WORK.

Very short version (as advised by Kieran Morrison):

"Pull when your name is called & don't ask any questions."

Short version:

There are no set weight classes at Regional Warzones.

Everyone weighs in wearing what they will pull in including footwear.
Once all pullers are weighed in, classes of light, middle & heavy are indentified of roughly the same size.

Novices (as per the PAA defintion) are identified at the start, pull each other in the first round so half of them get pins.

Thereafter random automated draw determines order.

Winner stays on for up to 4 pins until 6 people with 10 pins are in overall final.

Pulling continues to get another 6 pullers into a Tier 2 final.

In finals, Heaviest puller starts against next heaviest. Winner stays on & goes against next in weight order. First three pullers to get 15 in total win gold, silver or bronze.

Winner of overall final gets 12 points.

Last place in Tier 2 final gets 1 point.

All points (left & right) are added up to find an overall winner of the Warzone belt at end of season.

Long Version: (Read this fully before emailing questions)

Nationals determine who the champions are at certain weights, usually by double elimination tournaments. This allows for bragging rights, recruitment by independent promotors & progression to international competition.

In the regionals, weight classes have less value. Set categories aren't always well supported. A person could win their weight class & on paper it looks good but there were only a few others. If you cut weight, travel a few hundred miles & find the category isn't running because no one else showed up it might feel like wasted effort, similar to an easy win against a few others. The results lead to people devaluing the effort & the whole set up is unsatisfactory for all concerned.

Warzone solves that & provides multiple opportunities for all of the pullers.

Everyone weighs in on the day between 0930 & 1130 in the clothes & footwear they will pull in.

Scales go away at 1130 & the compulsory safety briefing starts.

Pulling starts at 1200.

Latecomers are considered to be 1kg heavier than the heaviest who weighed in.

Latecomers can join at any time before the finals start.

In round 1, the 2 lightest novices pull each other.

This continues in ascending order until the heaviest Novice is called. If an odd number, he will pull the winner of the last novice match. Once all the novices have pulled round 2 starts.

In round 2, the lightest to heaviest novices compete again but this time winner stays on for up to 4 pins.
After that the lightest of the rest starts & the order continues until the heaviest has pulled.

In round 3 the order is randomised for thereafter.

To contest the overall final, 6 people need 10 pins.

When the 6th qualifies for the final pulling continues until a further 6 have 10 pins. This is for the Tier 2 final.

Winner of overall final gets 12 points

Silver gets 11 points

Bronze gets 10 points

4th = 9 points

5th = 8 points

6th = 7 points

Tier 2 Finals

Winner = 6 points

2nd = 5 points

3rd = 4 points

4th = 3 points

5th = 2 points

6th = 1 point

All the tallies outside of the Overall finals are noted for the positions of the Tier 2 weight classes & some extra playoff matches to determine the top 6 may be done.

If someone pulls out of the final the puller with the next highest tally will be invited to pull instead.

Medals are awarded to the top 3 of each of the categories based on the number of pins gained against others in their class.

Working out the weight classes.
Two lists are created for each arm: Pros & Novices.
If there are less than 20 pullers in total, it's one combined class.

There have to be 5 pullers in each weight class to get a medal.

15 means that there will be light, middle & heavy classes.

If less than 15 but more than 10 its light & heavy.

Everyone pulls in the same Warzone.

In the overall & tier two finals the 1st to 5 pins is the champion. 2nd & 3rd places also have to get 5 pins. 4th, 5th & 6th are determined by the score or playoff if there is a tie.

In the Warzone, winner stays on for a maximum of 4 pins in a row.

Then there is a mandatory break until the next round.

No elimination until 12 people are in the finals.

For large turnouts two tables run at once with the four lightest novices starting & the next puller on the list goes to the first table available. This relies on having enough referees.

Alternatively after the first 3 finalists have gained their 10 pins to secure their place, the threshold for the final three places could be lower.

MASTERS & LADIES OPEN:

LADIES OPEN - if only 2 ladies, it will be a first to 3 supermatch to determine the winner.

If more than 2 the format will be discussed with those attending.

If 5 or more ladies compete they will have a warzone of their own.

Some women have chosen to compete in the main warzone competition when there were no opponents. They are considered to be 10 kilos less than their weight in this instance.

MASTERS are entered into the main roster with extra medals available.

The one with the most pins will win the Gold with the 2nd highest getting silver, 3rd gets bronze.

If any of the top 3 masters have the same amount of pins they pull each other to determine places.

Progressive Safety for Novices

First timers at a tournament are advised to be cautious - pull safely & use the multiple starts to get your timing & gain match experience. If you feel confident go hard with no expectation whilst keeping yourself in safe position. That last piece of advice works well for everyone actually.

PROS - please help the new novices & tier twos progress.

If you know you can win, give them some opportunity to gain position before you pin them.

Give advice afterwards on how to improve.

We want to develop the strongest team possible & export it around the world.

NATIONALS are Triple Elimination Tournament separate from the Warzone League.

Nationals weight classes of -70, -78, -86, -95, -105 & +105, Ladies Open & Masters 50+.

WARZONE WINNERS

Scurtu Viorel won left at Udezumou UK '22

Oleksandr Bilobrovka won right at Udezumou UK '22
Scott Barratt won left at Udezumou UK '23

Nicolae Barbu won right at Udezumou UK '23

James Wall won both arms at Woodthorpe.
James Stewart won both arms at Motherwell.
Lee Webber won both arms at Devon.
Artur Pieczykkolan won Novice left at Armagh.
Mindaugas Mackevicius won Novice right at Armagh.
Dan Hanlon won both arms at Leeds.

Dan Hanlon (3) won Armgods Warzone at Wolverhampton.

Dean Bolt won left at Udezumou UK '24

Stuart Acton won right at Udezumou UK '24

Ervins Trubacs won left novice at Irish Open 24

Petrich Andrusi won right novice at Irish Open 24

Oleg Tudorian won left at Irish Open 24

James Wall won right at Irish Open 24

Tom Mitchell won left at ARMGODS

John Scowby won right at ARMGODS

Karl Crosby won left at Edern.

Paul Maiden won right at Edern.

Reuben Hughes won left at Birmingham.

Josh Davis won right at Birmingham.

Lee Webber (4) won both at Swindon

Sergii Saraiev won left at Motherwell

Adam Kaczor won right at Motherwell

Mateusz Matuszczak won left at Leeds

Rob Frampton won right at Leeds

Sergii Saraiev (2) won left at overall Pro Nationals

Mindaugas Dulskas won right at overall Pro Nationals

Dean Bolt (3) won at Udezumou UK '25

Alexandru Bugan won left novice at Irish Open overalls 2025

Mihail Voncina won right novice at Irish Open overalls 2025

Adrian O'Dwyer won left at Irish Open overalls 2025

Anton Kibitkin won right at Irish Open overalls 2025

Reuben Hughes (3) won left & right at Grantham.

Sergii Saraiev (3) won left at Preston.

Murray Whitehead won right at Preston.

Tom Atherton won left at Ramsgate.

Oto Fogelmanis won right at Ramsgate.

Reuben Hughes (5) won left & right at Motherwell.

Anton bell won novice both at BULLSTRENGTH Lurgan.

Adam Johnston won both at BULLSTRENGTH Lugan.

Lee Webber (5) won left at Royal Wootton Bassett.

Josh Davis (2) won right at Royal Wooton Bassett.

Tom Atherton(2) won left at Leeds.

Murray Whitehead (2) won right at Leeds.

Mantas Daunekis won left at Nationals Overalls.

Murray Whitehead (3) won right at Nationals Overalls.

Karl Crosby (3) won both arms at Udezumou UK in Birmingham.

Next WARZONE is at PRESTON on 28th FEBRUARY 2026

Who will be the next champion?

Warzone multiple winners (each arm class counts, novice warzone winners not counted):

5 wins = Reuben Hughes, Lee Webber.

3 wins = James Wall, Dan Hanlon, Sergii Saraiev, Dean Bolt, Murray Whitehead, Karl Crosby

2 wins = James Stewart, Josh Davis, Adam Johnston, Tom Atherton.

2025 TOP TEN LEAGUE RESULTS.

Note that 10 points was awarded for a win, 9 for 2nd etc.