ROH has set the field for the Pure Title Tournament, which will crown the company’s first Pure Champion in over a decade. The short-lived title was last won by Bryan Danielson (WWE’s Daniel Bryan) who beat then champion Nigel McGuinness to unify the titles.
On Monday’s Week By Week with Quinn McKay, McKay revealed all of their first round match-ups as well as other details about the tournament. The tournament will commence later this month when ROH resumes tapings.
The 16-man single-elimination tournament will be divided into two eight-man blocks as follows:
Block A:
• Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle
• David Finlay vs. Rocky Romero
• Silas Young vs. Fred Yehi
• Tracy Williams vs. Rust Taylor
Block B:
• Jonathan Gresham vs. Wheeler Yuta
• Delirious vs. Matt Sydal
• Josh Woods vs. Kenny King
• PJ Black vs. Tony Deppen
Dak Draper and Brian Johnson were named alternates for the tournament.
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.
A bracketology special will premiere on ROH’s YouTube at noon ET September 11.
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