The resurgence of Ring of Honor continues as the upcoming Pure Excellence event will crown a new Pure Champion. It will be the first time since 2006 that a Pure Champion is crowned Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness fought for it in a unification match that combined it with the ROH World Championship. Danielson was the last man to hold the gold. Now as we prepare for the tournament to crown the new champion, ROH has begun to announce the participants with three names that will excite many.
The first man to be announced is the semi-retired, UK’s own Doug Williams.
Doug Williams
•Pure Title Tournament•
Tournament to crown ROH Pure Champion begins at #PureExcellence in Columbus, OH on April 10 and Pittsburgh, PA on April 11.
Signed to compete: @DougWilliamsUK
🎟Columbus, OH: https://t.co/1oEQ8iRG9c
🎟Pittsburgh, PA: https://t.co/kJHpac6PbE pic.twitter.com/xxPfOUON7s
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) February 24, 2020
Williams was the second-ever Pure Champion in history, winning a tournament and ultimately defeating Alex Shelley in the finals. He held the title for 42 days before dropping it to John Walters.
Williams is well-known for his days in Ring of Honor, but more specifically in TNA as a member of the British Invasion. He has only wrestled six matches since the beginning of 2019, due to Williams retiring last year.
Jonathan Gresham
•Pure Title Tournament•
Tournament to crown ROH Pure Champion begins at #PureExcellence in Columbus, OH on April 10 and Pittsburgh, PA on April 11.
Signed to compete: @TheJonGresham
🎟Columbus, OH: https://t.co/1oEQ8iRG9c
🎟Pittsburgh, PA: https://t.co/kJHpac6PbE pic.twitter.com/5M1Zif2yse
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) February 25, 2020
While he is the current tag team champion alongside Jay Lethal, Gresham perfectly signifies what the Pure Championship once represented and will in its return. His entrance into the tournament automatically puts him at one of the favorites to walk out as the winner. It’ll be interesting to see if Lethal enters the tournament and eventually faces his tag team partner.
Alex Shelley
•Pure Title Tournament•
Tournament to crown ROH Pure Champion begins at #PureExcellence in Columbus, OH on April 10 and Pittsburgh, PA on April 11.
Signed to compete: @fakekinkade
🎟Columbus, OH: https://t.co/1oEQ8iRG9c
🎟Pittsburgh, PA: https://t.co/kJHpac6PbE pic.twitter.com/hLwQrDsKfs
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) February 26, 2020
Shelley was around the first time the Pure Championship was in play inside a Ring of Honor ring but never managed to raise the gold. Now in 2020, he has the shot over a decade later. Shelley has become a mainstay in ROH over the past year but has not won any gold in the meantime. Perhaps he may be waiting for the return of his Motor City Machine Guns partner, Chris Sabin, to get back on track. But this tournament sure seems like a perfect moment for him to find himself and win his first singles title since 2018.
The Pure Excellence event will begin on April 10 in Columbus, OH and continue the next night on April 11 in Pittsburgh, PA.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch ROH replays at HonorClub.
