ROH Pure Title Tournament Bracket Revealed

On this week’s ROH Week by Week the ROH Pure Championship bracket was revealed. First round matches start this weekend and will go for the next eight weeks. Tapings began last month in ROH with no live crowd in attendance.

Below are the opening round matches:

Block A

* Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle
* David Finlay vs. Rocky Romero
* Fred Yehi vs. Silas Young
* 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 is the Block A alternate, and Brian Johnson is the alternate for Block B. The winner of the tournament will become the first Pure Champion since 2006. Below are the rules for the 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.