ROH Pure Championship

The ROH Pure Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested for in the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. The current champion is Jonathan Gresham, who is in his first reign.

ROH Pure Championship
Details
PromotionRing of Honor
Date establishedFebruary 14, 2004
Current champion(s)Jonathan Gresham
Date wonAugust 23, 2020
(aired October 31, 2020)
Other name(s)
  • ROH Pure Wrestling Championship
    (2004 - 2004)
  • ROH Pure Championship
    (2004 - present)

Pure wrestling rules

Matches for the ROH Pure Championship are conducted under "Pure Wrestling Rules". The three Pure Wrestling Rules are:

  1. Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls during the match. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal.
  2. There are no closed-fist punches to the face allowed in a Pure match, only open-handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body (save for low blows) are permitted. The first use of a closed fist would get a warning, and the second would cause the wrestler to be penalized a rope break. If he is already out of rope breaks, he would be disqualified.
  3. A wrestler is subject to a twenty count by the referee if the wrestler goes to the floor.

Unlike other championships, the ROH Pure Championship could change hands on a disqualification or countout.

History

The title was originally named the ROH Pure Wrestling Championship and A.J. Styles defeated CM Punk in the finals of an eight-man, one night tournament to crown the first champion. The tournament took place at the Second Anniversary Show and also featured John Walters, Chris Sabin, Doug Williams, Matt Stryker, Josh Daniels and Jimmy Rave.

Styles was forced to vacate the Pure Wrestling title in the wake of the Rob Feinstein controversy that resulted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) abruptly ending its talent-sharing agreement with ROH (pulling all of its contracted performers, including Styles, from all ROH shows). However, for almost ten years ROH considered the Pure Wrestling Championship and the Pure Championship two distinct titles—not a single title that was merely renamed/re-branded. There was no mention of Styles on ROH's website as having held the Pure Championship, and it was seldom, if ever, acknowledged in commentary that Styles held the previous version of the title or that it even existed until in January 2014, when ROH released a DVD about Styles, describing him as the first ROH Pure Champion.[1] Doug Williams would win the vacant title after he defeated Alex Shelley in the finals of a one night mini-tournament at Reborn: Completion on July 17, 2004.

Retirement

On April 29, 2006, Weekend of Champions: Night Two saw the first ever title vs. title match in Ring of Honor as ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson took on ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness. The match was contested under Pure title rules, but both the World and Pure titles were on the line. McGuinness won the bout by countout, but since only the Pure title could change hands on a countout, he did not win the ROH World Championship. The two faced each other again on August 12, 2006 in Liverpool, England, with Danielson defeating McGuinness to unify the ROH Pure Championship with the ROH World Championship. Danielson and McGuinness competed in a rematch for the ROH World Championship later that month, wrestling to a one-hour draw. After the match, Danielson announced that the ROH Pure Championship had been officially retired, and gave the title belt back to McGuinness to keep.

Revival
Main article: ROH Pure Tournament

On January 30, 2020, nearly 14 years after it was retired, Ring of Honor announced they were reinstating the ROH Pure Championship, with a tournament to crown a new champion beginning in 2020.[2] Following ROH taking a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a 16-man tournament was conducted in August 2020 to crown the new champion, which ultimately became Jonathan Gresham.

Reigns
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Defenses Number of successful defenses
<1 Reign lasted less than a day
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDefenses
1 A.J. Styles February 14, 2004 Second Anniversary Show Braintree, MA 1 701 Defeated CM Punk in a tournament final. [3][4][5][6]
— Vacated April 24, 2004 — — — —— Vacated when Styles was pulled from all ROH shows by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling following the Rob Feinstein controversy. [3][4]
2 Doug Williams July 17, 2004 Reborn: Completion Elizabeth, NJ 1 423 Defeated Alex Shelley in a tournament final. [7][8]
3 John Walters August 28, 2004 Scramble Cage Melee Elizabeth, NJ 1 1896 [9]
4 Jay Lethal March 5, 2005 Trios Tournament 2005 Philadelphia, PA 1 632 [10][11]
5 Samoa Joe May 7, 2005 Manhattan Mayhem I New York, NY 1 1126 [12]
6 Nigel McGuinness August 27, 2005 Dragon Gate Invasion Buffalo, NY 1 35017 [13]
7 Bryan Danielson August 12, 2006 Unified Liverpool, England 1 <10 This was a title unification match with Danielson's ROH World Championship on the line. [14]
— Unified August 12, 2006 Unified Liverpool, England — —— Title was unified with the ROH World Championship.
8 Jonathan Gresham August 23, 2020 ROH Wrestling tapings Baltimore, Maryland 1 165+1 Defeated Tracy Williams in the finals of a tournament to crown a new champion for the revived title.
Aired on tape delay October 31, 2020		 [15]


References
  1. "AJ Styles: Styles Clash (2 Disc Set)". Ring of Honor.
  2. ROH Reviving Pure Championship - 411 Mania.com
  3. Burkett, Harry, ed. (June 2007). "ROH Pure Title". PWI 2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of facts. Blue Bell, Pennsylvania: London Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 25274-00388.
  4. "ROH official event results". Ring of Honor. Archived from the original on April 22, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  5. "ROH Pure Championship history". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  6. Kreikenbohm, Philip (February 14, 2004). "ROH Second Anniversary Show". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  7. Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 17, 2004). "ROH Reborn: Completion". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  8. "ROH Pure Championship official title history". Ring of Honor. Archived from the original on March 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  9. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 28, 2004). "ROH Scramble Cage Melee". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  10. Kreikenbohm, Philip (March 5, 2005). "ROH Trios Tournament". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  11. Hoops, Brian (March 5, 2017). "Daily Pro Wrestling History (03/05): The Hardy Boyz win WWF tag team gold". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  12. Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 7, 2005). "ROH Manhattan Mayhem". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  13. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 27, 2005). "ROH Dragon Gate Invasion". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  14. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 12, 2006). "ROH Unified". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  15. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 23, 2020). "ROH Wrestling #476". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
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