Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
93.1% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 670.2516 at *East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival — 93.1% of a perfect 720.
Big Wigs BBQ ahead in 88% of their meetings
Big Wigs BBQ has come out ahead in 7 of their 8 shared contests.
Brisket is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 4.37 points below their pork ribs, and turns into a call 0% of the time against 25%.
Ahead in 100% of their meetings
They've finished ahead of Royal Smoke in 6 of their 6 shared contests.
Big Wigs BBQ ahead 75% of the time
Even in their strongest meat, Big Wigs BBQ has out-cooked them in 6 of 8 shared pork ribs entries.
Something about June: average finish in the top 33% across 3 contests, versus top 46% the rest of the year.
Their overall lands within ±1.65% of a perfect score of their own average — whatever the field, you know roughly what they'll turn in.
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.
68 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 8, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-headThis is the highest they've ever been rated, 9 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Head-to-headTheir rating is built on 2 Grand Championships in 5 contests, alongside a 60% overall top-10 rate.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 9 years after Heavy Smoke did, first appearing in 2024.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with Heavy Smoke on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headFewer contests behind them than Heavy Smoke has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Head-to-head| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Wigs BBQ | 8 | 1 | 7 | 13% | ⚔ compare |
| Dead Last BBQ | 7 | 2 | 5 | 29% | ⚔ compare |
| B & C SMOKERS | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14% | ⚔ compare |
| Royal Smoke | 6 | 6 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| DUNN UP BBQ | 6 | 5 | 1 | 83% | ⚔ compare |
| Knights of the Holy Grill | 6 | 4 | 2 | 67% | ⚔ compare |
| Griswold Grillers | 6 | 3 | 3 | 50% | ⚔ compare |
| FUNNY FARM BBQ | 6 | 3 | 3 | 50% | ⚔ compare |
| BEAUX HAWG BBQ | 6 | 2 | 4 | 33% | ⚔ compare |
| SOCIAL SMOKERS BBQ SQUAD | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0% | ⚔ compare |
| PORK 'N MINDY | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| KC BUTT-RUBBERS | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| BIG BULLS BBQ BUNCH | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80% | ⚔ compare |
| HUNKA HUNKA BURNIN' RUB | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| Four Men and A Pig | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 173.7716 | 150.2628 | 161.78 | top 55% |
| Pork Ribs | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 173.1428 | 158.2744 | 165.27 | top 39% |
| Pork | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171.4172 | 156.5600 | 164.19 | top 44% |
| Brisket | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171.4172 | 146.7888 | 160.90 | top 48% |
“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.
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival | 3 | 16 | 0 | top 40% | 2017-08-25 |
| 37th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue(OPEN) | 2 | 159 | 0 | top 74% | 2016-10-29 |
| Great Lenexa BBQ Battle-Kansas State Championship | 2 | 24 | 0 | top 20% | 2016-06-24 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +11.8 | Great Lenexa BBQ Battle-Kansas State Championship | 2016-06-24 |
| +8.3 | *East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival | 2017-08-25 |
| +7.8 | Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship | 2015-06-26 |
| +3.7 | East Central State BBQ Cook Off Paola Roots Festival | 2015-08-28 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -3 | Great Lenexa BBQ Battle-Kansas State Championship | 2017-06-23 |
| -1.3 | 37th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue(OPEN) | 2016-10-29 |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 43% | 93.1% | 90.3% |
| 2016 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25% | top 53% | 92.5% | 90.8% |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 34% | 90.6% | 90.4% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-08-25 | *East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival Paola, KS | 16 / 57 (670.2516) | 31 (160.5716) | 7 (173.1428) | 29 (165.1200) | 11 (171.4172) |
| 2017-06-23 | Great Lenexa BBQ Battle-Kansas State Championship 🏅 Lenexa, KS | 106 / 184 (629.5544) | 127 (154.2744) | 52 (164.5256) | 65 (163.9656) | 149 (146.7888) |
| 2016-10-29 | 37th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue(OPEN) Kansas City, KS | 336 / 557 (647.8856) | 177 (168.0000) | 375 (159.4172) | 238 (166.2284) | 410 (154.2400) |
| 2016-10-28 | 37th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue(INVITATIONAL) unrated Kansas City, KS | 159 / 180 (656.4456) | 157 (163.9428) | 129 (165.1084) | 59 (171.4172) | 171 (155.9772) |
| 2016-08-26 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival Paola, KS | 31 / 61 (645.6112) | 46 (157.7144) | 25 (164.5600) | 24 (164.5256) | 34 (158.8112) |
| 2016-06-24 | Great Lenexa BBQ Battle-Kansas State Championship 🏅 Lenexa, KS | 24 / 183 (666.3544) | 6 (173.7716) | 40 (166.8572) | 119 (156.5600) | 22 (169.1656) |
| 2015-08-28 | East Central State BBQ Cook Off Paola Roots Festival Paola, KS | 27 / 65 (651.9656) | 60 (150.2628) | 8 (170.2972) | 21 (166.2972) | 20 (165.1084) |
| 2015-06-26 | Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship 🏅 Lenexa, KS | 50 / 183 (649.0856) | 46 (165.7372) | 100 (158.2744) | 102 (159.3828) | 37 (165.6912) |