In the first addition of the brand new blog that I was gonna talk about the ROH Women's Pure Wrestling Championship which is current held by "The Virtuosa" Deonna Purrazzo. I know the title is currently almost four months old, so this is going to be a very brief blog. And I am going to talk about the problems with how the title is at its current state at the moment. Much like the Ring Of Honor Pure Championship for the men, the Ring Of Honor Women's Pure Wrestling Championship is the 3rd title for Ring Of Honor Women's Division alongside the ROH Women's World Championship which is currently held by Athena and the ROH Women's World Television Championship which is currently held by Red Velvet.
The immediately problem with the title itself is because that no one really clamoured for the title in the first place. Look, I have been watching every piece of Ring Of Honor media since the 2023 reboot and even I was so confused by the creation of this title. Especially since around this time, the ROH Women's World Television Championship was booked poorly by the Red Velvet was champion. But the weirdest part about this is that (in my opinion) the Pure Title could have worked even though the chances were kinda slim from the get go. The next problem with it is the entire ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament.
The ROH Women's Pure Championship was crowned in 8 woman single elimination tournament. And there were many problems with the tournament before it began. The first thing that I will give a pass is to an extend is when the tournament was scheduled to start at Supercard Of Honor. The Supercard Of Honor would be moved from its usual tradition of running during WrestleMania Week to being moved to May 5th and then it was moved to July 11th during AEW All In Texas Week. The tournament didn't even start there and wasn't even finalized until a few hours before Death Before Dishonor. That was already not a good sign of how the tournament will go, but let's continue. Then the tournament kicked off there. Now let me remind you of who was in the tournament:
- Queen Aminata
- Serena Deeb
- Deonna Purrazzo
- Billie Starkz
- Trish Adora
- Yuka Sakazaki
- Taya Valkyrie
- Olympia (CMLL)
You would think that this would be good tournament. Right? RIGHT? *sighs* Let's talk about it (and I will put my ratings on it at the end of this).
The tournament started off fine as Queen Aminata defeated Taya Valkyrie in the first round and had a post match segment to build hype towards Deonna Purrazzo facing Trish Adora in a later First Round match. They were gaps in between the tournament bouts which is done fine to feature the tournament wrestlers in Pure Rules matches and tag team matches, which was a smart to keep up with the theme. On the final ROH show in the 2300 Arena that aired on Sep 25th, Billie Starkz made it to the Semi Finals by defeating CMLL's Olympia. The massive problem with the tournament then comes in the form of the next first round match. That being "AfroPunk" Trish Adora and "The Virtuosa" Deonna Purrazzo. What was the problem you may ask? Simple. The last first round match between Billie Starkz and Olympia aired on Sep 25th. Adora and Deonna aired... on fucking November 6 which is a 6 week gap.
This was clearly the turning point of the tournament. There were loads of problems during that gap as Queen Aminata got injured while competing in the brother company AEW and eventually had to forteit in the Semis. What makes this even more insulting is that the eventual match where Purrazzo defeated Adora was 7 minutes. 7 MINUTES?? Are you fucking kidding me? This was the most hyped up match of the first round and you only give it 7 FUCKING Minutes. To make this even worst, by the time Yuka Sakazaki defeated Serena Deeb, it took them 3 MONTHS to complete the First Round. The only best wrestler to come out from the tournament was Yuka Sakazaki for me. This felt so lazily done and that vibe was present in the 6 week gap for a 8 WOMAN SINGLE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT. This was probably the worst tournament that I have ever seen.
This tournament did so much damaged to the ROH Women's Pure Title which was already under fair scrutiny since the title's creation. The in-ring wasn't actually bad. I did mostly enjoy in the In-Ring output, particularly two of Yuka Sakazaki's tournament bouts. But the tournament was structured so badly that the In-Ring is completely overshadowed. This is all of the fault of the Booker of Ring Of Honor, Tony Khan. Keep in my mind, this is the same man who booked the ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament, which is a thousand times better than this bullshit. This tourney was also a step by step guide as to why Tony Khan shouldn't book ROH anymore. It makes you wonder why does the title even existed in the first place.
This is how the ROH Women's Pure Championship is at the current state. Deonna Purrazzo is not a bad first champion to have, but besides being a layer in MIT story for the tension between Athena and Billie Starkz, she hasn't been doing a solo arc with the title. I did look at the latest set of TV Tapings without spoiling myself and Deonna Purrazzo will defend the ROH Women's Pure Championship against Shane Taylor Promotions and The Infantry's Trish Adora. I hope for the best, but if it is structured like last time, then I smell immediate bullshit.
ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament - ZERO Ratings
First Round:
Taya Valkyrie vs Queen Aminata (8:26) - ★★★1/4
Qlympia (CMLL) vs Billie Starkz (10:45) - ★★★1/4
Trish Adora vs Deonna Purrazzo (7:01) - ★★3/4
Serena Deeb vs Yuka Sakazaki (10:31) - ★★★★
Semi Finals:
Queen Aminata vs Deonna Purrazzo - No Rating due to the Forfeit
Billie Starkz vs Yuka Sakazaki (10:42) - ★★★★
Final:
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Billie Starkz (13:52) - ★★★★1/4
I hope you all enjoyed this installment and I hope you have a great lifetime.
Soul Of The Alpha Centauri,
ZERO (or Archer)
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