The Women of Honor World Championship was a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). It was originally established as the Women of Honor Championship on December 15, 2017, and inaugural champion was Sumie Sakai. It was renamed as the Women of Honor World Championship in 2018, and then retired on January 1, 2020, with Kelly Klein as the final champion. The title was subsequently replaced by the ROH Women's World Championship.
History
At Final Battle, December 15, 2017, it was announced that a tournament to crown the first Women of Honor Championship holder would start on January 20, 2018. The tournament featured female ROH regulars, called the ROH Women of Honor and female wrestlers from then ROH partnered all Japanese female wrestling promotion from Japan World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom) as well.
On April 7, 2018, Sumie Sakai became the inaugural champion by defeating Kelly Klein in the 16-women tournament finals at Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans, LA. During her reign, the title was renamed to Women of Honor World Championship at the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings on August 25, 2018.
During Sakai's reign in 2018 the title was defended in the United Kingdom at ROH Honor United.
Also during year 2019 of this title's existence, the Women of Honor World Championship was defended in Japan at a Stardom event by Mayu Iwatani after she defeated Kelly Klein for the title at ROH pay-per-view Bound By Honor (during Klein's first reign and became champion for the first time in her career) in addition to ROH shows, pay-per-views, and events. On February 24, 2019 the Japanese stardom pay-per-view event took place and Mayu Iwatani was successful at retaining the title in her first title defense. Also on that night the match was the main event.
Kelly Klein became the first and only 2 & 3-time ROH Women of Honor Champion. During Kelly Klein's third reign, ROH producer Joey Mercury left the promotion. In a series of tweets, Mercury said ROH doesn't have a concussion protocol and Klein had to wrestle while injured. Klein agreed with Mercury and ROH let her go after her contract expired on December 31, 2019. Two months later, the creation of a new title was announced, the ROH Women's World Championship after the ROH Women of Honor World title was deactivated on January 1, 2020.
Inaugural championship tournament (2017–2018) Qualifying matches Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings – January and February of 2018 (And probably in November & December of 2017 as well.) (2300 Arena – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Tournament bracket
Belt design The belt design has black leather with a pink & purple back design of the leather. A crown is outlined at the top of the center plate, with the logo WOH in the middle of the center plate. Under the logo, the words “Women of Honor” and “champion” are written in gold with a rectangular purple backing. The side plates include images of the western and eastern hemispheres of Earth.
Reigns Over the championship's one-year history, there have been six reign between four champions. Sumie Sakai was the inaugural champion, while Kelly Klein was the last. Klein held the record for most reigns at three. Sakai's reign is the longest at 251 days, while Angelina Love's reign is the shortest at 15 days. Sakai is the oldest champion at 46 years old, while Mayu Iwatani is the youngest at 25 years old.
Names Name YearsWomen of Honor ChampionshipDecember 15, 2017 – August 25, 2018Women of Honor World ChampionshipAugust 25, 2018 – January 1, 2020
Combined reigns RankWrestlerNo. ofreignsCombineddays1 3 3132 1 2513 1 554 1 15
See also World Women's Championship (disambiguation)
References
External links ROH Women of Honor World Championship at Cagematch.net