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 Katsuyori Shibata in his first reign.

ROH Pure Championship
The ROH Pure Championship belt
(2023–Present)
Details
PromotionRing of Honor (ROH)
All Elite Wrestling (AEW)
Date establishedFebruary 14, 2004
Current champion(s)Katsuyori Shibata
Date wonMarch 31, 2023
Other name(s)
  • ROH Pure Wrestling Championship
    (2004-2006)
  • ROH Pure Championship
    (2023-present)
Statistics
First champion(s)A.J. Styles
Most reignsWheeler Yuta (2 reigns)
Longest reignNigel McGuinness (350 days)
Shortest reignBryan Danielson (<1 day)
Oldest championKatsuyori Shibata (43 years, 134 days)
Youngest championJay Lethal (19 years, 310 days)
Heaviest championSamoa Joe (290 lb (130 kg))
Lightest championJonathan Gresham (161 lb (73 kg))

Pure wrestling rules

Matches for the ROH Pure Championship are conducted under "Pure Wrestling Rules." As of 2023,[1] the rules are as follows:

  1. Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls.
  2. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by his opponent are considered legal.
  3. No closed-fist punches to the face permitted.
  4. Open-handed slaps or chops to the face are permitted.
  5. Punches to the rest of the body are allowed, excluding low blows.
  6. The first use of a closed fist to the face receives a warning.
  7. The second use of a closed fist to the face results in disqualification.
  8. The title can change hands via disqualification and countout.
  9. Outside interference will result in automatic termination from the roster for the wrestler that interferes.
  10. If a title match reaches its time limit without a winner being declared, the winner is decided by a panel of three judges.

History
In 2004, AJ Styles became the inaugural champion. His reign was not recognized until 2014 due to the Rob Feinstein controversy

The title was originally named the ROH Pure Wrestling Championship and A.J. Styles defeated CM Punk in the final 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.[2] Doug Williams would win the vacant title after he defeated Alex Shelley in the final 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.[3] 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.

On March 31, 2023, a new design of the championship belt debuted on Supercard of Honor, making it the second design in the title’s history.[4]

Belt designs
ROH Pure Championship belts (left-to-right): first design (2004–2006; 2020–2023) and second design (2023 - Present).

The Original ROH Pure title design (2004–2006; 2020–2023) is similar to the first design of the ROH World Championship from years 2002 to 2004 was with different wording in the middle center plate and slightly different middle and side plats with different shaping, wording and designs that are also slightly different from the first ROH World title design from 2002 to 2004 as well.[5][6]

At ROH Supercard of Honor 2023, a new and second title design was revealed. The main plate is silver with the top saying "RING OF HONOR," a red text in the middle saying the word "PURE," and text on the bottom saying "WRESTLING CHAMPION." The side plates are also silver with the current Ring of Honor logo.

Reigns
Current champion Katsuyori Shibata

Overall, there have been 13 championship reigns between 12 different champions. The title has been vacated once. A.J. Styles was the inaugural champion, while Jonathan Gresham was the first champion upon the title's revival. Wheeler Yuta has the most reigns with two. Nigel McGuinness had the longest reign at 350 days with 17 title defenses. Bryan Danielson had the shortest reign at less than a day since the title was decommissioned after being unified with the ROH World Championship.

Katsuyori Shibata is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Wheeler Yuta at Supercard of Honor on March 31, 2023 in Los Angeles, California

Names
Name Years
ROH Pure Wrestling Championship 2004
ROH Pure Championship 2004 – present
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
+ Current reign is changing daily
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 the ROH Pure Championship tournament finals to become the inaugural champion. [7][8][9][10]
— Vacated April 24, 2004 — — — —— Vacated when Styles was pulled from all ROH shows by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling following the Rob Feinstein controversy. [7][8]
2 Doug Williams July 17, 2004 Reborn: Completion Elizabeth, NJ 1 423 Defeated Alex Shelley in a tournament final. [11][12]
3 John Walters August 28, 2004 Scramble Cage Melee Elizabeth, NJ 1 1896 [13]
4 Jay Lethal March 5, 2005 Trios Tournament 2005 Philadelphia, PA 1 632 [14][15]
5 Samoa Joe May 7, 2005 Manhattan Mayhem I New York, NY 1 1126 [16]
6 Nigel McGuinness August 27, 2005 Dragon Gate Invasion Buffalo, NY 1 35017 [17]
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. [18]
— Unified August 12, 2006 Unified Liverpool, England — —— Title was deactivated sometime after it unified with the ROH World Championship.
8 Jonathan Gresham October 30, 2020 Ring of Honor Wrestling Baltimore, MD 1 3177 Defeated Tracy Williams in the final of a tournament to crown a new champion for the revived title. [19]
9 Josh Woods September 12, 2021 Death Before Dishonor XVIII Philadelphia, PA 1 2015 During this reign, Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor. [20]
10 Wheeler Yuta April 1, 2022 Supercard of Honor XV Garland, TX 1 1593 [21]
11 Daniel Garcia September 7, 2022 Dynamite Buffalo, NY 1 942 This was an All Elite Wrestling event. [22]
12 Wheeler Yuta December 10, 2022 Final Battle Arlington, TX 2 1114 [23]
13 Katsuyori Shibata March 31, 2023 Supercard of Honor Los Angeles, CA 1 208+5 [24]

Combined reigns

As of October 25, 2023.

Longest reigning champion at a record setting 350 days Nigel McGuinness.
Record-setting two-time champion Wheeler Yuta.
† Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined
defenses		 Combined
days
1 Nigel McGuinness117350
2 Jonathan Gresham17317
3 Wheeler Yuta27270
4 Katsuyori Shibata †15208+
5 Josh Woods15201
6 John Walters16189
7 Samoa Joe16112
8 Daniel Garcia1294
9 A.J. Styles1170
10 Jay Lethal1263
11 Doug Williams1342
12 Bryan Danielson10<1

References
  1. "ROH Wrestling Pure Rules Clarified". Archived from the original on 2023-02-26.
  2. "AJ Styles: Styles Clash (2 Disc Set)". Ring of Honor.
  3. ROH Reviving Pure Championship - 411 Mania.com
  4. Thomas, Jeremy (April 1, 2023). "New ROH Title Designs Revealed At Supercard of Honor". 411Mania. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  5. Unknown, AimarEraFutebol. "Unboxing ROH Pure Championship Belt with Marty Scurll". Reddit.com. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  6. Scurll, Marty. "Unboxing ROH Pure Championship Belt with Marty Scurll". Www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  7. Burkett, Harry, ed. (June 2007). "ROH Pure Title". PWI 2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of facts. Blue Bell, Pennsylvania: London Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 978-25274-00389.
  8. "ROH official event results". Ring of Honor. Archived from the original on April 22, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  9. "ROH Pure Championship history". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  10. Kreikenbohm, Philip (February 14, 2004). "ROH Second Anniversary Show". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  11. Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 17, 2004). "ROH Reborn: Completion". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  12. "ROH Pure Championship official title history". Ring of Honor. Archived from the original on March 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  13. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 28, 2004). "ROH Scramble Cage Melee". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  14. Kreikenbohm, Philip (March 5, 2005). "ROH Trios Tournament". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  15. 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.
  16. Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 7, 2005). "ROH Manhattan Mayhem". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  17. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 27, 2005). "ROH Dragon Gate Invasion". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  18. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 12, 2006). "ROH Unified". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  19. Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 23, 2020). "ROH Wrestling #476". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  20. Powell, Jason (September 13, 2021). "9/12 ROH Death Before Dishonor results: Powell's review of Bandido vs. Brody King vs. EC3 vs. Demonic Flamita in an elimination match for the ROH World Championship, Jonathan Gresham vs. Josh Woods for the ROH Pure Title, Miranda Alize vs. Rok-C to become the first ROH Women's World Champion". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  21. Powell, Jason (April 1, 2022). "4/1 ROH Supercard of Honor results: Powell's live review of Bandido vs. Jonathan Gresham for the undisputed ROH Championship, The Briscoes vs. FTR for the ROH Tag Titles, Rhett Titus vs. Minoru Suzuki for the ROH TV Title, Josh Woods vs. Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Rules Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  22. Barnett, Jake (September 8, 2022). "9/7 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Tony Khan addressing the status of the AEW World Championship and AEW Trios Titles, MJF's return promo, Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Rules Title, Death Triangle vs. Best Friends, Interim AEW Women's Champ Toni Storm vs. Penelope Ford in an eliminator match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  23. Powell, Jason (December 10, 2022). "ROH Final Battle results: Powell's live review of FTR vs. The Briscoes in a Double Dog Collar match for the ROH Tag Team Titles, Chris Jericho vs. Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH Championship, Mercedes Martinez vs. Athena for the ROH Women's Title, Daniel Garcia vs. Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Rules Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  24. Powell, Jason (March 31, 2023). "ROH Supercard of Honor results: Powell's live review of Reach For The Sky ladder match for the vacant ROH Tag Titles, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston for the ROH Championship, Athena vs. Yuka Sakazaki for the ROH Women's Championship, El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander for the AAA Mega Championship, Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe for the ROH TV Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
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