ROH issued the following:
Ten of the 16 competitors for the upcoming ROH Pure Title tournament have been announced. The tournament begins at the TV tapings set to take place this month.
The participants (in alphabetical order) revealed thus far are:
— PJ Black
— Tony Deppen
— David Finlay
— Jonathan Gresham
— Jay Lethal
— Rocky Romero
— Matt Sydal
— Tracy Williams
— Josh Woods
— Wheeler Yuta
Stay locked onto ROHWrestling.com and ROH’s social media channels for announcements regarding the rest of the field.
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.
— 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 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.
It was announced earlier this year that the Pure Title was being resurrected. A tournament to crown a new champion was scheduled to begin in March but was postponed due to the pandemic.
