Airwaks and RL Grime become two-time Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am champs

Steven Rondina Published 27/07/2019

Karim “Airwaks” Benghalia and musician RL Grime are Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am champions once again.

The duo came out on top of the Fortnite World Cup’s installment of the event, winning $1 million for charity following a four-game series. With the victory, they became the first two-time Celebrity Pro-Am champions following their previous first-place finish at the second installment of the event, which took place in June.

Korean Fortnite dominates early

Game one started off painfully slow as the duos were reluctant to engage early. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Marshmello took over the mid-game as they built themselves into a fortress at Pressure Plant, which allowed Ninja to show off his sharp aim by tagging players as they flew through slipstreams or bounced off of vents. Ninja ended up getting eliminated but Marshmello showed he was no slouch by eliminating Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo in a close-quarters skirmish. Marshmello was then taken out before the duo could rack up placement points.

It was SinWoo “SinOoh” Jung that ultimately reigned supreme. The T1 player and his partner Oh.King performed well early but came out especially strong late and managed to earn the Victory Royale with 13 eliminations to start with a whopping 23 points.

So close but so far for Cloak in Fortnite Pro-Am

Ali “Myth” Kabbani wasn’t a major factor in the first game, but scored seven quick eliminations to set the pace for game two. Karim “Airwaks” Benghalia surged past him by racking up an obscene 14 kills, but fell short of receiving any placement points.

The final circles were owned by FaZe Clan’s Turner “Tfue” Tenney and Dennis “Cloak” Lepore. Despite playing on separate duos, the pair unintentionally worked side-by-side to annihilate most of the other players. The only one that they couldn’t take out was Polish player Jacob, who wound up snatching away the Victory Royale with a sneaky play under Cloak’s builds.

Jacob, Cloak, and Tfue all jumped into the top six with that finish, but it was Airwaks that jumped into first thanks to his gory game two.

Game three saw things slow down with the top duos playing defensively en route to the late circles. Things picked up rapidly from there with SinOoh taking out Airwaks, which was followed by Cloak eliminating SinOoh. Though Cloak once again found himself in position to take the Victory Royale, another international player came in and denied him with Jelty- taking the game.

Though Cloak was clearly playing at a high level, that outcome saw him pushed into a serious disadvantage as Airwaks and RL Grime, SinOoh and Oh.King, and Jelty and Gaborever were standing tall in the top three.

With the top three largely decided by the start of game four, it came down to how long Airwaks, SinOoh, and Jelty could each survive. SinOoh was the first out with Jelty following not long after. Nick “Marksman” Overton and partner JT Brown ended up taking the win in game four and scored 12 eliminations in doing so, but Airwaks was able to stay alive long enough to lock up first place with his placement points.

A big Fortnite win for Airwaks

This is a big win for Airwaks, who has enjoyed a hot summer so far.

The player won the second Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am in June at E3 and managed to qualify for the Fortnite World Cup finals in duos alongside partner Nicolas “Nikof” Frejavise. In July, he took second place in the European installment of the Trios Cash Cup alongside Nikof and Pierre “Vato” Mesey.

Though winning $1 million for charity will undoubtedly feel good for Airwaks, he is likely more excited about the boost of momentum this gives him heading into the Fortnite World Cup finals. He’ll be aiming for the $3 million top prize at the event alongside Nikof on Saturday.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

View full profile