2025 is bound to be a massive year for fighting games. With Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 still going strong, fans are hopeful the release of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and Riot Game's 2XKO can keep this positive streak for the genre going.
You might be on the fence about taking a crack at a seemingly impenetrable genre. I've discussed before why you should stop making excuses and start playing fighting games. A recommendation I had was that you watched other newcomers learn one for themselves, mentioning the Sajam Slam.
As it turns out, there's a new one happening, and I'd like to elaborate on why you should tune in to the madness that is the second Street Fighter 6 Sajam Slam.
Why Sajam Slam Is the Perfect Introduction to Fighting Games
If you're completely new to the scene, you're probably asking what is the Sajam Slam. What even is a Sajam?
In short, Stephen "Sajam" Lyon is a fighting game content creator and caster that's become increasingly popular within the community in recent times.
His unique approach to content creation, charisma, and encyclopedic knowledge (or willingness to learn) about fighting games has led him to create popular series such as "Will It Kill?" a monthly game show where viewers vote on whether a combo will, in fact, kill or not. Also, more pertinent, the Sajam Slam.
The Slam is a series of tournaments that pit content creators from different spaces against each other in a team format. The creators are seeded based on their skill level, with each team having a pro-player coach to help them develop during the event.
The tournament itself is exciting, of course. But what makes the Sajam Slam worth watching is everything before teams duke it out. The documentation of the learning process is just as fascinating and inspiring, if not more, than the actual matches being played.
If things like combo notations, execution, playing neutral, or terms used by veterans such as shimmies, meaties, and plus frames intimidate you, thinking all the pros who compete at the highest level are superhumans born to mash buttons, then seeing newcomers pick up and learn the basics will serve as a great reminder that no one is born with all this knowledge.
Take perhaps my favorite story of recent Sajam Slams as an example: Eskay. The streamer has shown she has what it takes to compete against top talent in Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, Valorant, or Deadlock. But fighting games? A whole different challenge.
First competing in the second Tekken 8 Sajam Slam, and later in the two Street Fighter 6 ones, Eskay learned the ropes of both games in a surprisingly short amount of time, going from bottom seed of her team during her first appearance to being selected as first for Sajam Slam 4.
And just like Eskay, there are dozens of streamers and POVs you can tune into at any given moment. Not only you can learn a thing or two about a certain character and how to practice more efficiently, but it'll help ease your expectations when it comes to the learning curve of fighting games: despite what the FGC might tell you about modern games, they are still hard to learn.
The stakes are also at an all-time high for this event, as the top two teams will win a trip to Japan and play in exhibition matches against REJECT Fight Night squads this March. The REJECT organization hosts events similar to the Sajam Slam, with players like Tokido and LeShar taking part.
So, if you were looking for something to watch this weekend, tune in to Sajam's Twitch channel or one of the dozens of other POVs available throughout both January 24, 25, and 26 to see what the hype is about and maybe get inspired to start your own fighting game journey. You won't regret it.