Knee Wins Red Bull Golden Letters 2023

This weekend, Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London hosted one of the most unusual Tekken 7 events on our calendar – Red Bull Golden Letters.

The unique format of Red Bull Golden Letters made a comeback, putting players under pressure to achieve perfect play and win in a first-to-three format. Aside from winning in a normal way, players could secure three of Tekken's 'Perfect' or 'Great' scores, also known as the 'Golden Letters,' to win the entire set. These alternative win conditions allowed for the possibility of comebacks and maintained high game intensity. The format led to some unforgettable matches and moments as the best Tekken 7 professionals showcased their poise under pressure, resulting in 26 'Golden Letter' victories throughout the competition.

And the player who made the best use of this system was none other than Knee – he amassed 3 ‘Golden Letter’ victories in the finals.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for him, though. He narrowly lost his Winners Quarter Finals set against HK Jr., and had to run the entire Losers Bracket to reach the Grand Finals. There, he defeated Chikurin, Anakin, Gosain, Super Akouma, and finally, HK Jr. in a revenge match.

Last year’s champion AyoRichie narrowly missed out on Top 4 after his defeat against Super Akouma, all the while another Korean legend, JDCR, was making a beeline to the Grand Finals in the Winners.

Knee and JDCR faced each other many times, and sadly, this wasn’t the closest set they’d been a part of. Knee, coming from the Losers, swept JDCR in a straight 3:0 and then repeated the same scoreline after the bracket reset.

After his victory, Knee made the following comment:

“I really enjoyed competing at Red Bull Golden Letters, it was a very freeing experience playing in front of a live audience! The Golden Letters rule set was also really refreshing, at first I thought getting three Greats or Perfect would be very difficult to do but I found out it was possible and whenever you do it, it’s very exciting for the fans. I also noticed that whenever my opponents had two golden points, I really felt the pressure - this unique format has been great as I found that Tekken 7 has been getting very stale.

“I have played against JDCR for a long time and usually coming from the losers bracket it’s very difficult to beat him, but when I finally got up there in the final I was happy there were two South Koreans in the Grand Final. The European Tekken scene has changed quite a bit and a lot of the players I knew from an older era are now gone but these new young players [like Tetsu and Hk Jr.], if they keep playing, will do very well competitively.”

Red Bull Golden Letters Top 8 Standings:

• 1. Knee

• 2. JDCR

• 3. HK Jr.

• 4. Super Akouma

• 5. Gosain

• 5. AyoRichie

• 7. Anakin

• 7. Joka

DashFight’s coverage of Red Bull Golden Letters continues – stay tuned in the coming days for our interviews with Knee, Chikurin, AyoRichie, and Anakin!