The field is set for the ROH Pure Title tournament, which begins airing on the “Ring of Honor Wrestling” television show the weekend of Sept. 12 and will play out over eight weeks.
The bracket will be revealed on “ROH Week By Week” on YouTube on Monday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. ET. 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.
There will be alternate competitors in case any of the participants are unable to compete.
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 countout.
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.