The Japan Cup used a larger 8-man stepladder, I think, until this year. There are a few shows from the very late '90s and early 2000s that had eight people. 6-7-8 bowl, winner advances to meet 4-5. Those three bowl, winner advances to a regular stepladder. I think ESPN Classic has run a few of those.
The shows I liked were the Dick Webers from the mid-90s. Four guys, three games of round-robin match play. Top two advance to the finals. Even with two games going on at once (three times), it didn't take too long. There was a Duke-Kent-WRW-Ozio show in '95 or '96 that was great. Ozio was on fire. I'd like to see them bring that format back for the DW now that they have a few tournaments that already feature the 5-man stepladder.
SH