According to new reports from Mike Johnson with PWInsider.com, Ring of Honor star Punishment Martinez finished up with Ring of Honor (ROH) this weekend at the latest ROH TV tapings. His contract expired just prior to his appearance at All In earlier this month, but Martinez opted to work to see his storyline come to its completion this weekend. While he retained his ROH World Television title on Friday at ROH Death Before Dishonor against Chris Sabin, but at last night’s TV tapings, he lost his title to one of ROH’s newest stars, Jeff Cobb. According to the reports from PWInsider, Martinez said his farewells to the locker room last night.
Although born in New York, Martinez was raised in Dorado, Puerto Rico, where he grew up watching World Wrestling Council (WWC). The Puerto Rican wrestling community encouraged Martinez to try his hand at the sport so beloved on the island. In 2012, back in the United States, he attended the prestigious Monster Factory in New Jersey, where the 6’7″ Martinez was groomed alongside the likes of Matt Riddle and NXT’s Steve Cutler. In 2015, he worked a few dark match tryouts for Ring of Honor, before entering ROH’s Top Prospect Tournament in 2016. He beat Colby Corino in the first round, but was upended by Lio Rush in the semi-finals. After a brief singles run following the tournament, he allied with BJ Whitmer for several months.
In 2017, he made his New Japan debut in Japan with the ROH/NJPW show Honor Rising. On night two, he had his first title opportunity in Japan, facing NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, but failed to capture the gold. He would face Tetsuya Naito at War of the Worlds later in the year in the US. This past June, he defeated Silas Young for the ROH TV title, his first taste of gold in Ring of Honor, defending it against Hangman Page, Scorpio Sky, Dojo Pro winner Aaron Solow and Chris Sabin during his 106 day run as champion, before dropping it last night to Jeff Cobb.
Punishment Martinez has opted to try his hand with free agency in the exploding indie market right now, but according to the PWI report, Mike Johnson “confirmed with WWE sources there has been interest in Martinez for the NXT brand for some time, so that appears to be his most likely destination.”
