For the first time since 2006, Ring of Honor has a Pure Champion.
Airing this weekend on their TV show and Monday on Honor Club, Jonathan Gresham defeated Tracy Williams in the tournament finals to win the title. He now holds two championships as he is one half of the Tag Team Champions with Jay Lethal.
Gresham’s path to the title started in Block B with wins over Wheeler Yuta, Matt Sydal, and Josh Woods while Williams was in Block A and defeated Rust Taylor, Fred Yehi, and Lethal on his way to the finals.
The Pure title was created in 2004 with a specific set of rules, first held by AJ Styles after he defeated CM Punk in a tournament final. It lasted just over two years before it was unified with the World title in a match between Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. ROH announced they were reviving the title earlier this year.
ROH held a set of fanless TV tapings in Baltimore, Maryland, with a 16-man tournament that kicked off on TV in mid-September.
This week’s ROH TV was the A and B block finals of the Pure Championship tournament as Jonathan Gresham took on Josh “The Goods” Woods while Jay Lethal battled “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams.
As usual, Quinn McKay did the rundown and also said Matt Taven would face Vincent on the show.
Block B: Jonathan Gresham pinned Josh Woods (w/ Silas Young) to advance to the finals of the ROH Pure Championship Tournament (12:00)
Woods overwhelmed Gresham very early so he rolled out of the ring. Woods attempted a gutwrench suplex, but Gresham quickly stopped it and used his first rope break of the entire tournament. Woods took back momentum quickly and continued to attempt gutwrench maneuvers before deadlifting Gresham and suplexing him. Gresham rolled out in frustration before the commercial.
During the break, Woods and Gresham botched a suplex attempt on the apron and hurt their knees. Gresham baited Woods to the apron and hit a dragon screw on his left knee through the middle rope. Woods recovered and began to work on Gresham’s midsection, hitting a series of gutwrench suplexes. Gresham stopped Woods on a final attempt and locked in his signature Octopus submission. As Silas Young encouraged Woods at ringside, Woods found the strength to reverse it into a sidewalk slam.
As they made their way back to their feet, Gresham yanked Woods’ knee backwards. Gresham tried to take advantage and turn it into a pin but Woods rolled around with him, exchanging multiple pinning attempts. Eventually, Gresham bounced off the ropes and maneuvered into a wheelbarrow pin for the three count and a spot in the tourney finals.
Matt Taven and Vincent went to a no contest
As Taven made his entrance, Vincent blasted him from behind. He launched Taven into the barricade before slamming his head into the concrete. Vincent set up a table with Taven on it. He then came off the ladder with a senton, crashing through Taven and the table. ROH officials rushed to the ring to check on Taven before a commercial break.
After the commercial, a video recapping EC3 and Shane Taylor’s interaction from last week ran. EC3 says he knows very well who Taylor is, but tells him to grow up and get over it for not mentioning his name. EC3 also said he respects The Briscoes because they’ve proved that they have honor, while Taylor hasn’t.
Block A: Tracy Williams submitted Jay Lethal to advance to the finals of the ROH Pure Championship Tournament (19:23)
Both men scouted their positions. Lethal started with a headlock to which Williams quickly countered. The two athletes exchanged wristlocks. Caprice Coleman brought up a good point on commentary that Williams has had an easier path to his block finals than Lethal has had. Lethal transitioned into a tight surfboard stretch, but Williams reversed it into a kneebar and Lethal used his first rope break.
Williams went right back on attack and caused Lethal to use his second rope break, frustrating him. Both men made their way back to their feet and Lethal turned an O’Connor roll into a figure four. Williams immediately used his first rope break leading into a commercial.
After the commercial, Williams had Lethal locked in a crossface chinlock. Lethal escaped and Williams kept on the attack, throwing nasty elbow and palm strikes. Williams and Lethal made it to the outside and Williams hit a great shotgun dropkick. Williams hurt his shoulder and Lethal took advantage. He transitioned into a Fujiwara armbar, forcing Williams to use his second rope break. Lethal set Williams on the turnbuckle and climbed to the top with him, but Williams countered with his beautiful turnbuckle DDT.
Williams followed up with a piledriver, but Lethal used his third and final rope break. Williams tried to apply a crossface but Lethal countered and hit a Lethal Injection, but Williams used his third and final rope break.
Lethal went to the top and hit the Macho Man elbow drop. He tried to follow it up with another Lethal Injection, but Williams caught him in a sleeper. Lethal got his foot on the rope, but it was to no avail as he was out of rope breaks. Williams rolled Lethal back into a crossface, forcing him to tap quickly.
Williams advanced to the finals with the win and will face Gresham next week to crown the ROH Pure Champion, the only match announced for the show.
Final Thoughts:
This was another solid show from ROH and they are building back up their reputation fast. Williams and Lethal put on the best match of the tournament. Gresham is really good, but that goes without saying. ROH definitely swerved me in not doing the obvious Lethal vs. Gresham finals. Williams definitely deserved a spot in the finals as all of his matches have been great. I’m also excited for the payoff for Taven vs. Vincent with a brutal match hopefully awaiting us. Plus, we did get an explanation on why EC3 aligned himself with The Briscoes last week.
Left My Wallet returns with recent Ring of Honor Pure Wrestling title tournament competitor Wheeler Yuta.
At only 23 years old, Yuta has quickly established himself as one of the fastest rising technicians in the industry today. He is also a Philadelphia native and Villanova graduate who bleeds all Philly sports. Join us as we talk about the Phillies not making the playoffs, the Eagles recent tie against the Bengals and their season long struggles, and the underachieving 76ers and their search for a new coach.
We then talk his recent match in the ROH Pure Wrestling Championship tournament against Jonathan Gresham, the match he and I had last year, and what he loves about technical wrestling.
If you don’t know the name Wheeler Yuta already, you will know it very soon as he is a bright rising in-ring star. Enjoy this conversation and learn more about him!
Week three of the Ring of Honor Pure Title tournament rolled on this week with two more first round matches, one featuring a promotional debut and the other featuring a judges’ decision.
The Big Takeaways:
Fred Yehi made an impact in his ROH debut with a very fun victory over Silas Young while Josh Woods scored a slight upset over Kenny King in a judges decision as a King error worked against him.
Show Recap:
Quinn McKay set up tonight’s show before we got a recap of last week’s action with the winner (David Finlay and Matt Sydal) getting some promo time. Finlay noted that his left shoulder was hurting but would be alright with some rest — something to note if they play it up in his second round match.
As always, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on commentary. As the show went, I thought how this tourney would be ideal to have Kurt Angle in the booth given his background. A boy can dream.
First Round: Fred Yehi defeated Silas Young
The pre-match promos they have been doing are ridiculously good. After two minutes, you know the wrestler’s backstory, their finisher, and why they want to win this tournament. Young even pointed out he was in the last Pure rules match before this tourney was announced when Jonathan Gresham “cheated” to beat him. It’s really those little things that help the viewer understand, or remember, what is going on.
This marked Yehi’s ROH debut and he couldn’t have looked better and could be the favorite after tonight. His style, and this match in general, is perfect for this tournament and ruleset. If he was to win, he would fit perfectly on the roster. Honestly, he would fit even if he doesn’t win.
The match featured plenty of chain wrestling and holds but featured plenty of impressive spots by both guys. In one sequence, Yehi landed a back hand and transitioned into his Koji clutch finisher but Young escaped and hit a tornado DDT after two big boots.
The end came when Young went for the Pee Gee Waja Plunge and missed. Yehi stomped Young’s foot, hit a sliding attack, and then snared Young in an inside cradle for the pin in thirteen minutes.
Yehi moves on to face the winner of next week’s Tracy Williams vs. Rust Taylor first round match. This was excellent.
First Round: Josh Woods defeated Kenny King by split decision
Woods is a former MMA fighter, amateur wrestler, and the 2017 Top Prospect Tourney winner. He is mentored by Young who is his tag team partner. In the run-up, we learned this is a rematch from 2017 and that Woods wanted to earn King’s respect after he said King questioned who Woods could be teaching at a wrestling school.
King put over his Los Ingobernables squad and said he’s been preparing for Woods by training BJJ at a Gracie school and boxing with Jeff Mayweather.
In a funny spot, King had Woods in a headlock and said to the ref, “You better ask him!” to which Woods replied, “You don’t have anything!” At times, this felt very MMA inspired, especially with the groundwork.
King disputed his first rope break and later used a closed fist, getting a warning that if he did it again, it was a DQ. This played into the story of the match that while Woods lacked the experience of King, it was King who had to find his way out of situations due to his inexperience with grappling.
King hit the Royal Flush, but Woods’ arm was under the bottom rope, earning him a rope break even though he didn’t realize it. After recovering and hitting a nice looking twisting inside neckbreaker on King, things picked up a bit with a good exchange of near falls.
However, when the match got to the last minute, there didn’t seem to be too much of a sense of urgency to win which also felt like an MMA fight at tines. Both seemed to be content to let it go to the judges although King did have a single leg crab ensnared as time ran out.
Will Ferrara and Sumie Sakai gave the match to Woods while Juster scored it for King. We were told Sakai’s rationale was that King used the closed fist. The judges were never shown. King was furious and didn’t shake Woods’ hand as we closed the show.
Woods will face the winner of next week’s Tony Deppen vs. PJ Black match.
Next week:
The debuting Rust Taylor vs. Tracy Williams and the debuting Tony Deppen vs. PJ Black.
Final Thoughts:
I haven’t been a regular watcher of the tourney as I’m filling in for regular Skylar Russell, but this was right up my alley. The lack of a crowd still hurts any televised wrestling product, but the talent is making it work. I think Yehi is a standout and I hope he gets his chance to shine in the weeks to come. Woods has a good look, but I didn’t have that same feeling coming out of his win.
I watched this on Honor Club and thought it was strange they included TV ads. Isn’t that the point of paying to see the show?
While I love stats as much as the next sports nerd, I would recommend ROH production not make us think too hard in reading them. Two verbatim examples from tonight: “(11-6 vs. all opponents in this tournament, in singles matches, in ROH since 8-20-17 (65% wins)” and “8-1 record in Baltimore, MD, in one fall matches, since 4-7-12”.
Taylor also wrestled in two matches on NJPW’s Lion’s Break Collision series.
The Pure title tournament will feature 16 participants in total. Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Matt Sydal, David Finlay, Tracy Williams, Josh Woods, Wheeler Yuta, Rocky Romero, PJ Black, Tony Deppen, King, Castle, and Taylor are the wrestlers who have been confirmed for it thus far.
It was announced earlier this month that ROH was returning to television production and that the Pure title tournament would be a focus of the new episodes. On ROH Week By Week, it was said that the tournament will begin airing in a few weeks.
Last week, ROH revealed the rules for Pure matches:
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.
There will be two blocks, single-elimination format.
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.
The Pure title tournament was originally supposed to begin in April but was put on hold when ROH halted events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to international travel restrictions, originally announced entrants Yuji Nagata, Doug Williams, Mark Haskins, Slex, Joe Hendry, and Ren Narita will no longer be in the tournament.
The Pure title is returning after being out of use since it was unified with the ROH World Championship in 2006.
Ten of the 16 entrants have now been confirmed for Ring of Honor’s Pure title tournament.
It was announced on today’s episode of ROH Week By Week that Rocky Romero, PJ Black, and Tony Deppen will be taking part in the Pure title tournament. This will be Deppen’s ROH debut. He was originally supposed to debut in the tournament when it was scheduled to begin in April.
The three additions join Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Matt Sydal, David Finlay, Tracy Williams, Josh Woods, and the debuting Wheeler Yuta as wrestlers who have been confirmed for the tournament.
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.
There will be two blocks, single-elimination format.
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 revealed this January that the Pure title was being revived, but the tournament was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously confirmed international participants like Yuji Nagata, Doug Williams, Mark Haskins, Slex, Joe Hendry, and Ren Narita will no longer be in the tournament due to travel restrictions.
The Pure title was first introduced in 2004 and was unified with the ROH World Championship in 2006.
An NJPW legend is the latest addition to ROH’s Pure title tournament.
ROH announced today that former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata will take part in the Pure title tournament. He’s the 10th entrant confirmed for it, joining Doug Williams, Jonathan Gresham, Alex Shelley, Rocky Romero, Mark Haskins, Slex, Tracy Williams, Marty Scurll, and Fred Yehi.
The Pure title tournament will feature 16 entrants in total. It will begin with first round matches taking place at Pure Excellence night one in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, April 10 and Pure Excellence night two in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 11.
The quarterfinals for the tournament will be held at ROH Battlestarr 2020 in New York City on Thursday, April 23.
ROH announced at the end of January that — after having been out of use since 2006 — the Pure title is returning. Pure title matches featured rules where “closed-fist punches were illegal, and each competitor was 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.”
