Riptide 2021: Fighting Games Pro injures Arm Celebrating Win

ByDexter LeRuez Hours
Riptide 2021 Title Image

Last Updated on: 14th September 2021, 05:30 pm

At Riptide 2021, the fighting games community finally returned to in-person events. Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic started in March of 2020 the fighting games community at large has struggled to get back on its feet.

Warning: The following article contains Twitter posts that include videos of injuries. Although it is not excessively graphic in nature, viewer discretion is advised.

In a scene where large open tournaments featuring hundreds of competitors is the norm, it was hard for tournament organizers to host events that would follow Covid-19 protocols.

However, things are beginning to change for the FGC as one of the first in-person events since the beginning of the pandemic was held in Ohio last weekend. Riptide 2021 took place in Sandusky, Ohio and featured events for games such as Super Smash Bros: Ultimate, Super Smash Bros: Melee and Splatoon 2.

MKLeo at Riptide 2021
T1’s MKLeo would go on to win the Super Smash Bros: Ultimate Singles event at Riptide 2021 (Image Credit: Beyond the Summit)

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After the long hiatus, the passion from the community was unsurprisingly at an all-time high. However, one competitor took that passion a little too far for their own good. After winning the Rivals of Aether event at Riptide, Alex ‘CakeAssault’ Strobel “popped off” to celebrate his victory. However, he quickly fell to the ground holding his left arm in pain.

To fans, it wasn’t clear what exactly had happened to the newly crowned champ. However, the injury didn’t seem to phase CakeAssault all too much as he would quickly hop back on his feet to keep celebrating with the crowd despite still holding on to his arm.

After the victory, CakeAssault would go on to Twitter to clarify what had happened during his pop-off “-I fell on the ground during that popoff cuz I dislocated my shoulder”.

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This wasn’t the first time a fighting games pro has injured themselves after celebrating. Back in February, Super Smash Bros: Melee legend Juan “HungryBox” DeBiedma collapsed on stream following a victory at a weekly tournament.

Despite the injuries. It is good to see fighting games events back in one form or another. Other victors from this weekend’s event included TSM FTX’s Tweek, Team Liquid’s HungryBox, Panda’s Plup and T1’s MKLeo.