Ring of Honor

Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion. It was created in 2002 by Rob Feinstein, and is currently owned by Cary Silkin. ROH usually holds several shows each month, sometimes as many as six. Annual shows include the Anniversary Show(s), Death Before Dishonor, Survival of the Fittest, Glory by Honor, and Final Battle (the last show of the calendar year).

ROH records all their shows and sells them on DVD through their mail and online store. As such, Ring of Honor has developed a loyal fanbase in the Northeast (where the shows are run) as well as around the country. Ring of Honor also broadcasts on The Fight Network to viewers in Canada and on TWC Fight! to viewers in Great Britain and Ireland. ROH is considered by many to be the most well known independent promotion in the world.

History
In April 2001, professional wrestling video distribution company RF Video was in need of a new promotion to lead its video sales after Extreme Championship Wrestling, their best seller, went out of business. At the time, RF Video also filmed events held by other less popular regional wrestling promotions and sold them through their catalog and website. RF Video owner Rob Feinstein decided he would fill the void left by ECW by starting his own promotion and distributing the DVD and VHS productions exclusively through RF Video. The first event, title The Era of Honor Begins, was held on February 23, 2002, featured nine matches, including a match between Eddie Guerrero and Super Crazy, and a triple threat match between the early mainstays of ROH, Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson and Low Ki.

In its first year of operation, from February 2002 to February 2003, ROH confined itself to a limited amount of venues and cities in the northeast United States. Ten shows were run in Philadelphia, PA, two in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, one in the Pittsburgh, PA area, and one in Queens, NY.

In 2003, ROH expanded to other areas of the United States, including Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland and began to build its international identity by co-holding an event with Frontier Wrestling Alliance in London, England.

ROH has continually expanded its presence on the United States and international independent wrestling scenes, holding events in more mid-western states, revitalizing its UK connections and routinely importing stars with international appeal.

In 2004, the primary owner of ROH and RF Video, Rob Feinstein, was caught in a sting operation when he tried to solicit sex from a minor. It was announced that Feinstein and ROH had severed their ties, but Feinstein was still involved with the company until June 2004. This garnered bad publicity for the company, which resulted in a decline in business for a period of time. As a result, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pulled their contracted wrestlers, most notably AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, from all Ring of Honor shows. This was also a factor in the decline as both wrestlers were marquee names for the company.

Feinstein's ownership was eventually sold to Doug Gentry, who would then sell it to Cary Silkin. Ring of Honor would start its own mail and online order store which sells DVD's of its live events, as well as shoot interviews with wrestlers and managers. They also sell other wrestling related merchandise not limited to products created by their company. As such, it continues the function RF Video had for the company.

Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has given full five-star ratings to several ROH matches, including the Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk sixty-minute bout from Joe vs. Punk II on October 16, 2004; Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi from Joe vs. Kobashi on October 1, 2005; and Do FIXER (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino) from Supercard of Honor on March 31, 2006. At the time of Joe vs. Punk II, Meltzer had not rated any wrestling match in the US the full five-stars since 1997.

The Joe vs. Punk feud brought back interest in the company, but it took a year before the company would become self sufficient in November 2005. Up until this point, since the split from RF Video, the company had not made profit. The strong sales of the DVD of the October 1, 2005 event Joe vs. Kobashi is attributed to this.

On January 23, 2007, Ring of Honor announced in their Newswire that they would be running two shows in Japan in July. The first show they will be working with Pro Wrestling NOAH, and the second with Dragon Gate, both of which they have had a strong working relationship with. ROH has become the 1st US-based promotion to have its titles held entirely by non-American wrestlers with the Japanese Dragon Gate team of Naruki Doi and Shingo Takagi holding the ROH World Tag-Team Championship, whilst their fellow countryman and Pro Wrestling NOAH star Takeshi Morishima holds the ROH World Championship.

Code of Honor
Ring of Honor was initially targeted at smart mark wrestling fans who had grown tired of the "sports entertainment" aspect of larger companies such as World Wrestling Entertainment. The primary way of doing this was the institution of the "Code of Honor", a set of rules that dictated how wrestlers were supposed to act. The Code of Honor was used so that Ring of Honor's matches would have a feel similar to Japanese professional wrestling. Initially, there were five "Laws of Honor" in the Code of Honor, which were mentioned at some point during every ROH home video release. It was considered a "moral requirement" to follow these rules. They were (usually in this order):


 * 1) You must shake hands before and after every match.
 * 2) No outside interference - no interfering in others' matches or having others interfere on your behalf.
 * 3) No sneak attacks
 * 4) No harming the officials.
 * 5) No purposefully disqualifying oneself; definitive winners by pinfall or submission were expected.

The Code of Honor, especially the first three rules, was used principally to help heels get over. The first rule was especially applicable to Christopher Daniels, who was pushed as the promotion's first major heel, who did not believe in the Code of Honor and refused to shake hands with anyone. The fourth and fifth rules were to emphasize ROH's finishes, the vast majority of which resulted in clean pins, submissions, or knockouts. On the rare occasion that a match did end with outside interference, a ref bump, or other traditional heel tactics, it was met with a much more visceral reaction from the fans than would be seen elsewhere in the wrestling world. In the early days of the promotion, it was even suggested that getting disqualified in a match may result in that wrestler never appearing in ROH again.

In early 2004, ROH's booker, Gabe Sapolsky, began to feel that the Code of Honor had run its course. Wrestlers were no longer required to follow the Code of Honor, allowing for more explosive and over-the-top match finishes, which were accepted at that point due to the stars the promotion had established and the fans it had won. The Code of Honor eventually re-appeared, diminished, as three rules:


 * 1) Shake hands before and after the match, if you have respect for your opponent.
 * 2) Keep the playing field level.
 * 3) Respect the officials.

Contenders for Championships
Originally, Ring of Honor had no formal way to determine challengers for the World Championship. When Xavier, a heel champion, began to avoid challengers, Ring of Honor instated a Top Five Ranking system to establish contenders to the title. Wrestlers were ranked based on their general win-loss record and the win-loss record against other ranked competitors. The World Champion was automatically placed at the top of the rankings. Wrestlers ranked two through five would face each other in the ring to determine the number one contender. The top contender held the Number One Contender Trophy, which was viewed as a second title at the time and defended as such.

The ranking system was abolished at the same time as the creation of the new Code of Honor. The ranking system was replaced by the Contenders Ring, a more complex polling system where ROH officials would submit rankings after each show. Wrestlers who appeared on more than 75% of the ballots were considered to be in the Contenders Ring, which earned them title shots for both the World Championship and the Pure Championship.

In January 2005, Ring of Honor did away with the Contenders Ring. Instead, wrestlers who wanted a title shot had to submit a petition to ROH officials. After a petition was filed, ROH officials kept track of the petitioner's record, quality of opposition, respect shown towards the Code of Honor and inherent skill. These factors determined who would receive a title shot. Despite the petition system, ROH officials retained the ability to determine #1 contenders.

Upon the naming of Jim Cornette as ROH Commissioner in October 2005, Ring of Honor Management confirmed the return of the Top Five Ranking system. The "Top 5" was voted on by Cornette and other ROH officials during the first week of every month only. Voting was based on won/lost record and quality of opposition with a heavy emphasis on the previous month.

In July of 2006, Ring of Honor again put the Top 5 Ranking system on hiatus as the system had not been used to determine challengers to the ROH World Title on a consistent basis. The champion, Bryan Danielson, had instead been sending open contracts to wrestlers in other promotions around the world, with ROH officials also choosing contenders from within the company.

Specialty matches

 * Round Robin Challenge
 * 3 wrestlers/tag teams compete with each other in a round robin tournament. They each wrestle two different matches (making a total of three matches), with the one(s) with the most victories winning the challenge. Christopher Daniels is the only person to win a Round Robin Challenge, as all others have ended in a draw with each participant(s) winning one match and losing the other. Round-robin tournament is a common league system employed in many sports, such as soccer and ice hockey. It was popularized in wrestling by All Japan Pro Wrestling with their Champion Carnival tournament.


 * Scramble Cage Match, Scramble Cage Melee and Steel Cage Warfare
 * Scramble Tag Match
 * A multi-team match in which there is no tags made. Two wrestlers start in the ring and when one wrestler leaves any wrestler from any team may enter the ring to replace him/her. The match is sudden death therefore the first person to score a pinfall or a submission wins the match for his/her team


 * Four Corner Survival Match and Six Man Mayhem
 * Fight Without Honor
 * This match does not require participants to adhere to the Code of Honor, and usually involves no disqualifications and the use of weapons.


 * Pure Wrestling Match
 * Each wrestler has three rope breaks that he can use to break a pin or submission. Submission maneuvers that involve use of the ropes are legal once all three rope breaks have been used. Closed fists are illegal. The first time a wrestler uses a closed fist he is given a warning. If he uses a closed fist again he loses one of his rope breaks. If the wrestler has already used all his rope breaks and uses a closed fist, he is disqualified. There is a 20 second countout.


 * Ultimate Endurance Match
 * This is an elimination that typically includes three or four tag teams. It starts off with a particular set of special stipulations (for instance, falls count anywhere).  Everytime one team is eliminated, the stipulations change.  The stipulations are predetermined and are not limited to any specific type.

ROH wrestling school
The ROH promotion also runs a professional wrestling school called ROH Wrestling School in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Its current head trainer is Bryan Danielson, who moved to Philadelphia from Washington. Previous head trainers of the academy include Steve Corino and former ROH World champions CM Punk and Austin Aries. The first three classes of students have already graduated and currently wrestle on the US independent circuit, including preliminary and exhibition matches at Ring of Honor events.