At the end of the day, the draws for the top 16 bracket were done, all completely randomly, and I had a rough idea for what Barróg Doom’s journey would look like. My main aim for this tournament was to do better than last year, so I was only two fights away from beating my best.

Barróg: Whiteboard VS. Aegis, Impact, Frycook


Hooray, a video I don't have to timestamp!

In between the championship bracket fights, there were numerous side events and whiteboard matches, one of which Barróg entered. This was a lifter fight between Aegis (Rory Charlesworth), Impact (Felix Townsend), and Frycook (Robert Webed Webb), and was a nice laid back fight for the machine to get some driving practice in. Barróg got some nice shoves, lifts, and even a solid grab on Frycook at one point, but the machine was eventually shoved into the wall by Aegis in a way where it was caught, and couldn’t get down. Still a fun fight though!

Barróg Doom: Top 16 VS. Pressure Point MKII


Fight starts at 5:22

This fight would be a rematch against the bot that essentially beat Barróg in one attack, and was even more scary for Doom given its lower height. The plan was to get Pressure Point (Alan Parkin) tipped over ASAP, and use its slow self-righting to my advantage. I was very nearly grabbed at the beginning, but managed to escape just in time. What followed was thirty seconds of an excellent driving tussle, before I managed to get it on its side, where some kind of electrical fault stopped the machine entirely. A disappointing ending for Pressure Point given the remarkable run it had to get to this point, but I was happy to see Barróg Doom move on to match my performance in last year's champs.

Barróg Doom: Quarter-Finals VS. Barghest


Fight starts at 12:18

Barghest (Chris Loblie) was one of the nicest control bots remaining in the competition, and my assumption that the fight would be a significant challenge were soon proven correct. Despite some radio issues that meant that the bot could not reverse, Barghest remained pointed at me constantly no matter how hard I tried, and with its superior front end I found myself getting properly bullied and tossed around for the first time at the event. This was where the differences between Barróg and Barróg Doom truly became apparent, as the machine was able to free itself from any position quite quickly. After two minutes of being utterly dominated, I got one opportunity to get behind Barghest, and with some frantic driving managed to get him into the pit. It was a win by the skin of my teeth, but I managed to make it to the top 4 as I’d hoped I could, and was only two more fights away from a previously unthinkable championship title.

Tag-Team Tournament: Round 1 VS. Fruitcake 2B, Impact
Fight starts at 0:00

Still looking for some action for Barróg, we decided to enter it into a side Tag Team event along with Nigel Barrage, where you would fight in 2v2 matches where your teammate would have to “tag” you in before you could fight. Barróg waited for the first minute of the fight to be tagged in while Nigel Barrage landed the best hit it had gotten in the entire competition. On Barróg. Barróg then tussled with Fruitcake 2B, getting shoved around and nearly getting a good lift in before getting shoved around by Impact, getting tagged out for another minute, and driving around with Impact again before the fight ended, and Barróg and Nigel Barrage lost the judges decision.