The field is set for the ROH Pure Title tournament, which begins airing on the Ring of Honor Wrestling television show the weekend of September 12 and will play out over eight weeks.
The bracket was revealed on ROH Week By Week on YouTube earlier today (see below). It was announced on last week’s episode that one of the first-round matches pits longtime friends and rivals Matt Sydal and Delirious against one another.
The other competitors in the tournament are Jay Lethal, Dalton Castle, Jonathan Gresham, Tracy Williams, Kenny King, Silas Young, David Finlay, Rocky Romero, PJ Black, Josh Woods, and independent stars Fred Yehi, Tony Deppen, Wheeler Yuta, and Rust Taylor. 2019 Top Prospect Tournament winner Dak Draper and Brian Johnson have been named alternates.
Former Women of Honor World Champion Sumie Sakai and ROH Dojo coach Will Ferrara will serve as judges along with ROH Director of Operations Gary Juster. If any matches go the time limit, the three judges will determine a winner.
Here are the brackets as the competitors were split into two eight-man blocks.
Block A:
* Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle
* David Finlay vs. Rocky Romero
* Silas Young vs. Fred Yehi
* Tracy Williams vs. Rust Taylor
Block B:
* Jonathan Gresham vs. Wheeler Yuta
* Delirious vs. Matt Sydal
* Josh Woods vs. Kenny King
* PJ Black vs. Tony Deppen
ROH Pure Tournament competitors descend upon Reddit to answer your questions – you can ask them anything!
Read more: https://t.co/Lyg1KmXFBD pic.twitter.com/yFYgkZjnzC
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) September 3, 2020
Here’s the format for the tournament:
- The competitors will be divided into two blocks, and it’s single elimination.
- Round 1 matches have a 15-minute time limit.
- Block semifinals have a 20-minute time limit.
- Block finals have a 30-minute time limit.
- The tournament final has a one-hour time limit.
- There will be three judges for each match, and time-limit draws will go to a judges’ decision. ROH Director of Operations Gary Juster has been announced as one of the judges.
The rules for Pure matches are as follows:
- Every match begins and ends with the Code of Honor handshake.
- Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by his opponent are legal.
- Closed-fist punches to the face are not permitted; only open-handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist will get a warning; the second will be a disqualification.
- As in standard ROH matches, there will be a 20-count when a wrestler is on the floor.
- Outside interference will result in automatic termination from the roster for the wrestler that interferes.
Once a Pure Champion is crowned, the title can change hands via disqualification and count-out.
The Pure Title was created in 2004, with AJ Styles defeating CM Punk in a tournament final to become the first Pure Champion. The title subsequently was held by stars such as Samoa Joe, Lethal and Nigel McGuinness. In August 2006, then-ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson defeated McGuinness to unify the titles, thus retiring the Pure Championship.
It was announced earlier this year that the Pure Title was being revived due to popular demand.
All pics and videos courtesy of Ring of Honor