Ring Of Honor after a six month absence is back with a vengeance. Their return has been focused on the return of the Pure Title, a title that was deactivated over a decade ago. This has brought a very sports focused approach to the table, one that has fans finally regaining interest in this company after a rough couple of years.
Ring Of Honor Has Found A Unique Angle Once Again
In 2002, when Ring Of Honor began, they were one of the hottest things on the market. WCW had been shut down for a few years, ECW as well, and WWE was the only big name in the game, with their brand of sports entertainment being all that was on the menu. Then ROH came into play, and would gain a reputation for being the best professional wrestling in the world.
They pulled from lucha libre, strong style, southern rasslin’ and more, nabbed up and coming names like Low Ki, AJ Styles, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe and more. These men would become legends in professional wrestling, and ROH is a big reason why. Eventually, the wrestling world would catch up. Fast forward to 2018, and they were only notable due to their partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
While that hasn’t slowed down, it’s become less and less prominent. Names like Okada aren’t coming overseas anytime soon, but men like David Finlay & Rocky Romero are in the Pure Title tournament. However, they needed to find something new to help them stand out, and their new presentation for the Pure Title tournament is that.
They’re Feeling Like A True Wrestling Company Again
After years without an identity, this has instantly given them something new. Using the match between Jonathan Gresham & Wheeler Yuta as a base, it truly captured a sports based presentation. The Pure Title rules worked wonderfully to push the drama along, especially the spot where Gresham couldn’t let go of his hold after Yuta used a rope break to get free. This prompted him to use his one free closed fist punch to the face to deck Gresham in response, a perfectly set up pay off, only possible due to these new rules.
Even their heavy use of stats to hype up wrestlers before their matches, with things like Lethal having an 86% win rate in Baltimore. It’s nothing complicated, but it did wonders to make things feel real. Due to the incredible and universally positive response to this new approach, we could simply see the Pure rules become more standard across ROH. It would help them stand out alongside NXT & AEW, who have incredible wrestling like ROH used too, or atleast give them a steady base to rebuild onto.
Do you think the Pure Title Tournament might be what finally gets fans to return to ROH? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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