Ring of Honor has been on the rise again after a brutal 2019. They have been locking down their top stars, put Marty Scurll in charge of booking, and announced a nostalgia filled event for their 18th anniversary celebration. The good announcements keep coming, as they are bringing back an iconic and different championship from their past, this is the ROH Pure Championship.
The ROH Pure Championship, It’s Legacy & It’s Gimmick
In the early 2000’s, Ring Of Honor was the home for the best wrestling in the world. They had the top technical wrestlers, the ones who weren’t fitting for WWE at the time. To showcase this, they invented the ROH Pure Championship.
The Pure Championship was created in 2004. In matches contested under Pure rules, closed-first punches were illegal, and each competitor was only allowed three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls during the match. After that, pinfalls and submission holds on or under the ropes would be legal. This provided extra drama in matches, and put the focus on pure skill.
AJ Styles defeated CM Punk in a tournament final to become the first Pure Champion. The title was held by stars such as Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal and Nigel McGuinness over it’s two year existence. In August 2006, then-ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson defeated McGuinness to unify the titles in one of the best matches in company history.
Despite it’s short existence, it’s legacy has never died. This is what kept it around in fans minds, and pining for it’s return.
NJPW star and former ROH TV Champion Will Ospreay created a Tweet recently when he expressed his love for the ROH Pure Championship and said it “would be cool if they brought it back with updated rules.”
The official ROH Twitter account would reply back asking, “Should we bring it back?” and the response from fans was a resounding yes. They listened.
Ring Of Honor Announces A Tournament To Crown A New Champion
A tournament to crown the first Pure Champion in nearly 14 years begins with first-round matches at ROH Pure Excellence in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, April 10 and Pittsburgh on Saturday, April 11. It’s unclear who will be involved, but talent like Bandido, Tracy Williams, Flamita, Jeff Cobb, and Jonathan Gresham would all fit the tournament perfectly. We can expect announcements on entrants over the coming months.
Are you excited to see the ROH Pure Championship make a comeback? Let us know in the comments down below.
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