Yet another championship is entering the fray, this time in Ring of Honor.
Following Saturday’s AEW Collision in Springfield, Massachussetts, and prior to the ROH TV taping, AEW & ROH head Tony Khan revealed to the live crowd that a women’s version of the Pure Championship is on the way.
Carrying the title belt in hand, Khan said the tournament will begin at Supercard of Honor on May 2nd in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Khan didn’t announce any other details.
The title becomes the third women’s belt in the promotion, joining the women’s World title and the women’s TV title which was first announced in December 2023. ROH now has eight overall championships.
The ROH Pure rules are different than traditional wrestling rules with wrestlers getting three rope breaks to break up pin or submission attempts, restrictions on closed fist strikes, no outside interference, and three judges awarding a winner if a match goes to a draw.
Lee Moriarty is the reigning men’s Pure Champion and has defended the title just six times since winning it in July 2024.
Tony Khan just revealed the brand new ROH Women's Pure Championship after Dynamite just ended in Springfield!!!
THE FIRST CHAMPION WILL BE CROWNED AT SUPERCARD OF HONOR PPV IN MAY NEXT MONTH. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/LyRMPnJMCv
Nigel McGuiness came close to becoming ROH Pure Champion once again.
The former World Champion made a surprise appearance on Friday’s ROH Final Battle event at the Hammerstein Ballroom, challenging Lee Moriarty for the Pure Championship he had previously held for 355 days. After using all of their rope breaks, Moriarty ended up getting the submission victory over McGuiness after applying a crossface and using the bottom rope for leverage.
Moriarty’s match for Final Battle had been promoted as a Pure title match against a mystery challenger. After McGuiness made his entrance, he challenged Moriarty to a match under the old ROH Pure title rules, which includes no judges. After some back and forth between McGuiness and Shane Taylor, the rule changes were agreed to.Â
After retiring from in-ring competition in 2011, McGuiness made his return as a wrestler at AEW All In back in August, competing in the Casino Gauntlet match. He made an additional appearance at Grand Slam in September, where he lost to Bryan Danielson.
An ROH Pure Championship match has been announced for the Friday, December 29 AEW Rampage New Year’s Smash episode.
As announced during Wednesday’s Dynamite, Wheeler Yuta will defend the Pure title against Matt Sydal on Rampage. The match is also a tune-up bout for Yuta, who faces Hook for the FTW Championship at Saturday’s Worlds End pay-per-view.
Two more matches have also been announced for Rampage.
In a trios bout, International Champion Orange Cassidy will team with Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta of Best Friends against Action Andretti & Top Flight’s Darius Martin & Dante Martin.
In a women’s division contest, Ruby Soho will be in action against Marina Shafir in the other bout announced for Friday’s episode.
Friday’s Rampage is being taped Wednesday night, and will serve as the go-home show for Worlds End.
The lineup for Rampage New Year’s Smash:
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defends against Matt Sydal
Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero vs. Top Flight (Darius Martin & Dante Martin) & Action Andretti
A Pure Championship match has been added to the lineup for Friday’s ROH Final Battle event streaming on Honor Club.
Company owner Tony Khan announced in a social media post on Thursday that Wheeler Yuta will defend the Pure title against “Filthy” Tom Lawlor at Final Battle set for Friday, December 15.
The bout will be the ROH debut bout for Lawlor, who was scheduled to take on Adam Cole at Forbidden Door this year before an injury to Cole forced the match to be called off. Instead, Lawlor defeated Serpentico on the Forbidden Door Zero Hour pre-show.
Yuta regained the Pure title from Katsuyori Shibata on the November 25 Rampage and is the only wrestler in history with multiple Pure Championship reigns, as he is now on his third reign with the title.
Here is the updated lineup for Final Battle:
ROH Final Battle, Friday, December 15, 7 p.m. Eastern time on Honor Club —
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defends against Billie Starkz
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defends against Tom Lawlor
Survival of the Fittest six-way elimination match to crown a new ROH World Television Champion: Dalton Castle vs. Komander vs. Lee Moriarty vs. Lee Johnson vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. TBA
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo defends against Black Taurus
Keith Lee vs. Shane Taylor
I Quit match: Ethan Page vs. Tony Nese
Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Bryan Danielson vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) & Mark Briscoe
Wheeler Yuta has regained the ROH Pure Championship.
Yuta won the title by defeating Katsuyori Shibata on AEW Rampage, which aired on Saturday due to NHL coverage. The finish of the match had Yuta shove Shibata into the referee, giving him a low blow during the confusion then pinning Shibata to win the title for the third time.
After the match, Yuta pretended like he was going to shake Shibata’s hand but attacked him instead, dropping Shibata with a DDT. Hook came down to the ring to make the save as announcers speculated that Shibata wasn’t alright, noting his previous injuries to the head.
Shibata had held the ROH Pure Championship for over 240 days. He won the title at ROH Supercard of Honor back in April, defeating Yuta.
Tony Khan had made the match on Friday, noting that both had won Pure Rules matches on this week’s ROH television. Shibata defeated Trent Beretta to retain the ROH Pure title while Yuta defeated Lee Moriarty.
A Ring of Honor Pure Championship match headlines tonight’s live AEW Rampage episode.
Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata will defend against former title holder Wheeler Yuta in a rematch from Supercard of Honor in March of this year.
Shibata defeated Yuta to win the Pure title at Supercard of Honor on March 31, kicking off his title reign. Yuta never received a rematch, but has since scored one tag team victory over Shibata in a Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shibata & Eddie Kingston bout at the All Out pay-per-view on September 3.
Yuta defeated Daniel Garcia for the Pure title at last December’s Final Battle pay-per-view and defended the title four times before dropping it to Shibata.
Shibata has made seven successful title defenses, with his most recent coming against Trent Beretta in a match that aired on this week’s Ring of Honor TV episode.
Rampage tonight kicks off a three-hour block of AEW programming from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Collision airs in its regular time slot immediately following Rampage.
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Tony Schiavone, Kevin Kelly, & Nigel McGuinness were on the call this week as FTW Champion Hook made his entrance.
Hook defeated Rocky Romero
According to Cagematch, Hook has only had 43 matches in his career. Getting reps like this will be essential for his growth as a wrestler. You could see him and Romero working through the match as it was happening, but things like that will go away as Hook becomes more comfortable in-ring. Meanwhile, it’s always good to see Rocky Romero.
This match was announced on social media after Romero made a challenge for AEW to give him their youngest and brightest stars. After an opening exchange, Romero chopped Hook to escape a series of arm wringers. The men traded chops until Hook hit an El Camero suplex. They crossed each other until Hook dropped Romero with a lariat. Hook hit a German suplex that sent Romero rolling to the apron.
Hook went for a suplex on the apron, but Romero hit a rising knee before landing a suplex of his own on the apron. Romero hit a double stomp to Hook on the floor as we went to commercial. Romero hit the Forever Clotheslines as we came back from the break, but Hook caught Romero and threw him into the corner with an Exploder suplex.
Hook fired up until Romero sent Hook onto the apron, where Romero hit a springboard dropkick for a nearfall. Romero hit a running Sliced Bread for a nearfall as the crowd chanted for Hook. Hook hit an STO to take Romero down. Romero recovered and went for a traditional Sliced Bread, but Hook countered it into the Redrum to score the win.
We got a video package for the Katsuyori Shibata vs. Wheeler Yuta Rampage main event tonight.
Kris Statlander defeated Diamante
After an opening exchange, Diamante took down Statlander with a headscissors. Statlander countered a corner charge into a powerslam for a nearfall. Mercedes Martinez, Diamante’s tag team partner, made her way to the stage. Statlander hit a running knee into the corner as Martinez came closer to the ring.
Diamante hit a charging Statlander with an overhead suplex as we came back from a break. Diamante hit a facebuster for a nearfall. Statlander pulled Diamante into position for Saturday Night Fever, but Diamante rolled it into a flash pin for a nearfall. After a pinning predicament, Diamante hit an Asai DDT for a nearfall. Statlander hit a charging Diamante with a rolling lariat for the win, but she was jumped after the bell by Martinez. Willow Nightingale made the save for Statlander.
Daniel Garcia spoke earlier in the night to AEW cameras. He was happy to drive into the show tonight, a drive he made multiple times during his time on the independent scene. He admitted his confidence was low after several high-profile losses, but he was ready to prove that he wasn’t a loser.
The Kingdom defeated Duke Davis & Danny Jones
Mike Bennett spoke on their entrance about Roderick Strong getting hurt by Action Andretti last week on Rampage, but his being Neck Strong kept him from being more hurt. Taven talked trash on MJF before saying that they wanted their ROH Tag Team Titles back. This was a quick match, as Bennett took out Davis on the ramp with a piledriver. In the ring, Taven hit the Climax before hitting the Aurora Borealis frog splash for the win.
ROH Pure Title Match – Wheeler Yuta defeated Katsuyori Shibata to win the title
A solid match, on the better end of Shibata’s output after his return. It’s interesting that they chose this time to change the title with Final Battle coming up soon, but the Hook/Yuta issue has been simmering for a while now. Yuta as a sneering bully is a good direction for him, and the Hook match will get some interest for, I assume, Final Battle.
The judges for this match were Christopher Daniels, Jimmy Jacobs, and Jerry Lynn.
After the opening exchanges, Shibata held onto the ropes on an Irish whip and caught Yuta in a bow-and-arrow hold. He held onto Yuta’s legs and locked on a deathlock before returning to the bow-and-arrow. Yuta flipped into a pin cover to escape, but Shibata transitioned into a kneebar to force Yuta to the ropes for his first rope break. Yuta punched Shibata in the face, earning a warning from the referee.
Yuta chopped Shibata going into and coming out of the break, but Shibata fired up and rocked Yuta with elbows and chops. Shibata drove Yuta down in the corner with chops before hitting a hesitation dropkick. Shibata hit a half-hatch suplex for a nearfall. Shibata caught Yuta in an ankle lock, before transitioning into an STF, reminiscent of Masahiro Chono. Yuta used his second rope break to escape.
Shibata locked on the sleeper hold, but Yuta forced Shibata to the floor and hit a dive to the floor. Yuta sent Shibata into the barricade, but Shibata fired out and booted Yuta against the guardrail. Yuta avoided the Penalty Kick and rolled Shibata up for a nearfall. Yuta rolled up Shibata and put his feet on the ropes for a nearfall. Yuta shoved Shibata into the referee before hitting Shibata with a low blow. Yuta dropped Shibata with a DDT before locking on the Seatbelt pin to score the win and the title.
After the match, Yuta mockingly offered his hand for the Code of Honor, but kicked Shibata low again and dropped him with a DDT. Hook made his way to the ring to run off Yuta.
After both earned Pure Rules wins yesterday on ROH, Shibata will fight former champ Yuta on a special SATURDAY Rampage before Collision TOMORROW! pic.twitter.com/T7hJqhYdnu
No other matches or segments have been announced for the show thus far.
This will be the second singles match and third overall match between Shibata and Yuta. Shibata defeated Yuta for the Pure Championship at Supercard of Honor back in March. However, Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli defeated Shibata and Eddie Kingston at All Out on September 3.
AEW Rampage will air at 7 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow on TNT rather than in its usual Friday at 10 p.m. timeslot. This is due to TNT’s NHL coverage tomorrow night.
Both Rampage and Collision will take place from the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Collision will air at its normal timeslot at 8 p.m. immediately following Rampage.
AEW Rampage on November 25 announced lineup:
ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata defends against Wheeler Yuta
AEW Collision on November 25 announced lineup:
Continental Classic Blue League match: Daniel Garcia vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Continental Classic Blue League match: Eddie Kingston vs. Brody King
A Pure Championship match is set for the Thursday, August 3 episode of Ring of Honor TV.
As announced during this week’s show, Katsuyori Shibata will defend the ROH Pure title against Josh Woods on next week’s episode.
Woods defeated Eli Isom in a Pure Rules match on this week’s episode in a bout where Shibata served as one of the judges. After the contest, “Smart” Mark Sterling issued a challenge to Shibata on Woods’ behalf, and the Champion accepted. The match was announced for next week’s show.
Shibata defeated Wheeler Yuta to win the Pure title at Supercard of Honor on March 31 of this year and has since defended the title against Christopher Daniels, Alex Coughlin, Lee Moriarty, and Daniel Garcia.
After defeating Garcia at Death Before Dishonor last Friday, Shibata spoke of his desire to set the record for longest Pure title reign. Shibata’s reign currently stands at 119 days, well short of Nigel McGuinness’s record 350-day reign in 2005 and 2006.
Ring of Honor has officially announced the first match for Friday’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view.
In a bout first announced on social media early Sunday morning Eastern time, Katsuyori Shibata is set to defend the ROH Pure Championship against former title holder Daniel Garcia o the Friday, July 21 Death Before Dishonor PPV.
ROW owner and storyline chairman of the board of directors of ROH Tony Khan announced the match in a kayfabe press conference video in the social media announcement.
Garcia picked up a pinfall victory over Shibata in a tag team match on the June 21 episode of AEW Dynamite, and Garcia and Shibata have teased the match repeatedly on Ring of Honor TV over the past couple of months.
Also set for Death Before Dishonor but not yet officially announced, the winner of Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV title eliminator match between Dalton Castle & Shane Taylor will challenge Samoa Joe for the TV title at Death Before Dishonor. That match was taped at Saturday night’s AEW Collision taping.
Additionally, the ROH World Championship will presumably be on the line, with Claudio Castagnoli defending against an unnamed opponent. Khan promised to address the World title situation after Wednesday’s Blood & Guts match on Dynamite where Castagnoli will compete. Castagnoli had been set to defend against Mark Briscoe, but a knee injury forced Briscoe out of the match.
The lineup to this point:
ROH Death Before Dishonor, Friday, July 21, 8 p.m. Eastern time on pay-per-view —
ROH World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli defends against TBA
ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe defends against Dalton Castle or Shane Taylor
ROH Pure Championship: Katusyori Shibata defends against Daniel Garcia
Ring of Honor has revealed the date for Katsuyori Shibata’s next Pure Championship defense.
As announced during this week’s Ring of Honor TV, Shibata is set to defend the ROH Pure Championship against Alex Coughlin on the Thursday, June 1 episode of ROH TV.
ROH announcer Ian Riccaboni revealed that Shibata will take on Coughlin in Las Vegas, signaling that the match will be taped on Wednesday, May 24 at the Dynamite and Rampage taping.
Shibata was responsible for training Coughlin as part of the first class of this iteration of NJPW’s LA Dojo, setting the stage for the teacher vs. student title match.
After defeating Wheeler Yuta for the Pure title at Supercard of Honor on March 31, Shibata has since made one title defense, defeating Christopher Daniels on the April 6 edition of Ring of Honor TV. That bout was taped at the UBS Arena on Long Island in Elmont, New York on April 5.
Alex Coughlin wants to face Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure Championship.
Coughlin issued a challenge to his former NJPW LA Dojo mentor on Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV episode, asking Shibata to put the title on the line.
The challenge came after Shibata and Coughlin teamed to defeat The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry) in a tag team contest on Thursday’s episode.
Coughlin, 29, was part of the first class of this iteration of NJPW’s LA Dojo in 2018 alongside Karl Fredericks (now Eddy Thorpe in WWE NXT) and Clark Connors. Shibata serves as the LA Dojo’s head trainer, but also resumed his in-ring career in 2021.
ROH has announced the lineup for tonight’s show on HonorClub.
The Pure Championship will be on the line when new champion, Katsuyori Shibata, faces Christopher Daniels. Shibata recently defeated Wheeler Yuta for the title at Supercard of Honor.
As previously announced, the ROH Women’s World Championship will also be defended this week. Athena will look to pick up her eighth successful title defense when she wrestles TJPW’s Miyu Yamashita.
Thursday’s episode was filmed last night at AEW’s show from the UBS Arena in Long Island, New York. Spoilers are available here.
ROH TV on HonorClub lineup:
ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata defends against Christopher Daniels
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defends against Miyu Yamashita
Brian Cage vs. Ortiz
Daniel Garcia vs. Tracy Williams
Jay Lethal w/Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh vs. Darius Martin
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tony Nese w/Mark Sterling & The Varsity Athletes
Mark Briscoe & ROH Tag Champions The Lucha Bros vs. The Workhorsmen & Shane Taylor
Katsuyori Shibata is the new Ring of Honor Pure Champion.
Shibata defeated Wheeler Yuta at Supercard of Honor to win the title after a penalty kick, cementing one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of the industry.
Following an NJPW career that included three NEVER title reigns and an IWGP Tag Team title reign, Shibata won the 2017 New Japan Cup and challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Sakura Genesis in April 2017. In that match, Shibata suffered a subdural hematoma, a brain bleed that required hospitalization and an emergency surgery.
Shibata was later named the head coach at NJPW’s LA Dojo in California, a position that he still holds, but embarked on an in-ring comeback beginning with a five-minute exhibition match against Zack Sabre Jr. at the G1 finals in October 2021.
The Pure title match against Yuta was just the fifth match of Shibata’s comeback, after wrestling three times in 2022.
Yuta’s Pure title reign ends at 111 days and four successful defenses.
Following the Supercard main event match between Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston for the ROH World title, Shibata made the save for Kingston as Castagnoli and Yuta menaced him in the ring. Kingston then cut a promo praising Shibata, and the two left the ring together at the close of the pay-per-view.
Ring of Honor Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta has issued a challenge to Katsuyori Shibata.
At the conclusion of this week’s ROH TV episode, Yuta issued a challenge to the head trainer of NJPW’s LA Dojo. After defeating LA Dojo product Clark Connors in a Pure title match, Yuta stated that he was ready to face the LA Dojo trainer.
While not officially announced, a Yuta-Shibata Pure title match for Supercard of Honor on Friday, March 31 appears to be the direction.
Shibata made his return to the ring in 2021 after a four-year retirement forced after suffering a subdural hematoma brain bleed in a match against Kazuchika Okada. In his first match back, he went to a five-minute time limit draw with Zack Sabre in a UWF Rules grappling match.
Shibata faced his LA Dojo protege Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom in January 2022, then made his AEW debut against Orange Cassidy on Rampage in November 2022.
Shibata’s most recent bout was a UWF Rules match against “Filthy” Tom Lawlor at an IGF show in December.
Wheeler Yuta is set to defend the ROH Pure Championship on next week’s Ring of Honor TV episode.
In a match announced during Thursday’s ROH TV show, Yuta will defend the Pure title against NJPW’s Clark Connors.
After defeating Timothy Thatcher in a Pure title defense on this week’s show, Yuta cut a promo calling out members of NJPW’s LA Dojo. Connors answered and invoked the name of head LA Dojo trainer Katsuyori Shibata in challenging Yuta, teasing a potential future showdown between Yuta and Shibata.
Yuta teased not accepting the challenge from Connors, but relented, and the match will air on next week’s episode.
A pair of tag team bouts will also take place next week.
Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal will team up against unnamed opponents. Daniels declared his intention to capture the ROH Tag Team titles on this week’s show, but noted that he had to honor the 2020 stipulation of never teaming with Frankie Kazarian of SCU again. He then mentioned his past pairing with Sydal, and the two were announced as being in action next week.
Rush and Dralistico of La Faccion Ingobernable will also be in tag team action next week.
