ROH Pure title tournament rules revealed, updated list of entrants

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.

The tournament will be featured on ROH television when the promotion returns to TV production this month.

ROH has also clarified 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.

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.