Earlier today, Ring of Honor revealed the brackets for its upcoming ROH Pure Championship Tournament. The tournament in question will be held over an eight-week period, beginning the weekend of September 12th. Furthermore, matches will be held under ROH’s “Pure Rules.” The rules in question are detailed below.
Each match must begin with the traditional Code of Honor handshake. Closed-fist punches to the face are strictly prohibited in “Pure Rules” matches. Additionally, wrestlers will only have three rope breaks to escape pinfall and submission attempts, adding another layer to the matches; after three breaks have been utilized, pins and submissions in the ropes are deemed legal. In terms of count-outs, wrestlers will have until 20 to return to the ring if they either exit or have been ejected.
The following ROH wrestlers have been confirmed for the Pure Championship Tournament:
Block A
- Jay Lethal
- Dalton Castle
- David Finlay
- Rocky Romero
- Silas Young
- Fred Yehi
- Tracy Williams
- Rust Taylor
Block B
- Jonathan Gresham
- Wheeler Yuta
- Delirious
- Matt Sydal
- Josh Woods
- Kenny King
- PJ Black
- Tony Deppen
The following brackets were announced by ROH earlier today:
The ROH Pure Championship was established back in 2004. The first-ever titleholder was AJ Styles, who defeated CM Punk in February of that year in an eight-man tournament. Altogether, there have been 7 recognized ROH Pure Champions, including Nigel McGuinness, Jay Lethal, and Bryan Danielson. No wrestler has held the title more than once, though the longest reign in its history belongs to McGuinness, who held the title for 350 days before dropping it to Danielson in 2006. On this night, the Pure Championship was unified with the ROH World Championship, held by Danielson at the time.
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