The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
RJ BBQ has 2 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 149 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team RJ BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-headThey've been 1505 at their best, 30 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with RJ BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 7 years after RJ BBQ did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Head-to-head7 contests to 2: their number has had years to settle where RJ BBQ's is still finding its level.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153.1428 | 153.1428 | 153.14 | top 86% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153.1200 | 152.0116 | 152.57 | top 87% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153.6800 | 153.6800 | 153.68 | top 97% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 146.2628 | 146.2628 | 146.26 | top 92% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| KS | 1 | 0 | top 95% |
| MN | 1 | 0 | top 98% |
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 95% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 98% |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 95% | 84% | 84% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 98% | 21.3% | 21.3% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-07-29 | The Dodge City Days Smokin Saddles BBQ Contest Dodge City, KS | 35 / 37 (605.0972) | 32 (153.1428) | 33 (152.0116) | 36 (153.6800) | 34 (146.2628) |
| 2015-05-29 | Smokin' in Steel Owatonna, MN | 59 / 60 (153.1200) | — | 51 (153.1200) | — | — |