The rules for the ROH Pure Title matches have been revealed.
The upcoming 16-man tournament will start at ROH’s television tapings later this month and the promotion has officially confirmed the match rules for the overall competition, which are identical to when the belt was originally introduced back in 2004; however, some updated tweaks were added for the modern style of wrestling:
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.
Thus far, PJ Black, Tony Deppen, David Finlay, Jonathan Gresham, Jay Lethal, Rocky Romero, Matt Sydal, Tracy Williams, Josh Woods, and Wheeler Yuta have been confirmed for the tournament. Black, Deppen, and Romero were recently added to the event. We’ll continue to keep you updated on the overall Pure Championship tournament.