American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off
2026-03-20 – 2026-03-21 · Kansas City, MO · 📍 1701 American Royal Court
Reps: DAVID DYCHE, JO DYCHE · Prize money: $2,000.00
Entries
12
0 judged meats · 1 ancillary
Top score
175.4172
Winning margin
0.5372
GC over RC
Field average
168.79
median 168.84
Perfect 180s
0
Top-10 cutoff
165.6800
10th place overall
Field spread
18.3432
winner to last place
Prize money
$2,000.00
on the line
How hot was the win?
Top 73%
beats 27% of 33 Other wins in the data
Traveled in
50%
of the 12 teams with a home region came from outside MO
Came back for more
27%
4 of 15 teams from the previous edition returned
Form held
Weak
ρ = -0.07 between pre-contest rating and finish
Field strength
1515
avg power rating going in · stronger than 20% of contests
Storylines
👑 A dynasty in the making
Go Ham BBQ has won this contest 2 times across its 5 tracked editions.
🪒 A razor-thin finish
The Grand Championship was decided by 0.5372 points — closer than 91% of every championship in the data.
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
Where the field came from (home regions on file)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-03-25 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | 11 | 173.1544 | Go Ham BBQ | — |
| 2023-03-24 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | — | — | — | — |
| 2024-03-22 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | 10 | 180.0000 | Go Ham BBQ | — |
| 2025-03-21 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | — | — | — | — |
| 2026-03-20 ← this one | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | — | — | — | — |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Other
Overall
12 entries · top 175.4172 · median 168.8400
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HevyQue BBQ | |
| 2 | Sofa King Awesome BBQ | |
| 3 | SadieQ | |
| 4 | KC Meat Sweats | |
| 5 | Sasquatch Smoke N Que | |
| 6 | Nuttycocksbbq | |
| 7 | Rucking Fidiculous BBQ | |
| 8 | Wapatui Smokers | |
| 9 | SASSY SMOKE BBQ | |
| 10 | Karnivor Creations BBQ | |
| 11 | Smokesdidier bbq | |
| 12 | Smokey Bros Barbecue |
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Other — Steak
12 entries · top 175.4172 · median 168.8400
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HevyQue BBQ | |
| 2 | Sofa King Awesome BBQ | |
| 3 | SadieQ | |
| 4 | KC Meat Sweats | |
| 5 | Sasquatch Smoke N Que | |
| 6 | Nuttycocksbbq | |
| 7 | Rucking Fidiculous BBQ | |
| 8 | Wapatui Smokers | |
| 9 | SASSY SMOKE BBQ | |
| 10 | Karnivor Creations BBQ | |
| 11 | Smokesdidier bbq | |
| 12 | Smokey Bros Barbecue |