This article is about a women's professional wrestling championship used in Ring of Honor. For ROH's past women's championship, see Women of Honor World Championship.
ROH Women's World Championship
The 2020 to 2023 ROH Women's World Championship original belt design.
On January 1, 2020, the ROH Women of Honor World Championship was deactivated when the last champion Kelly Klein was stripped of the championship after ROH didn't renew her contract.[3] A new tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Women's World Champion was set to start on April 24 of that year at Quest for Gold,[4] however, ROH postponed all future events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5][4] (The title replaced the ROH Women of Honor World Title in the ROH Women of Honor division.)
On September 12, 2021 Rok-C defeated Miranda Alize via pinfall at the ROH pay-per-view Death Before Dishonor XVIII, the culmination of a 15-woman singles elimination tournament to become the inaugural ROH Women's World Championship holder.[8]
On October 27, 2021, Ring of Honor announced that it would go on a hiatus after Final Battle in December, with a return tentatively scheduled for April 2022. All personnel would also be released from their contracts as part of plans to "reimagine" the company as a "fan-focused product".[9][10][11][12] After Final Battle, several ROH wrestlers began to appear on other promotions and defended the titles. Rok-C defended the title against Impact Wrestling's Deonna Purrazzo during a television taping. However, Rok-C was defeated and lost the title to Purrazzo.[13]
On September 15, 2024 Athena became the longest reigning ROH women's champion & ROH title holder of all time as a women surpassing Samoa Joe's reign as ROH World Champion at 645 days by holding the ROH Women's World Championship for 646 days.[17]
Inaugural championship tournament (2021)
Tournament bracket
First Round12 ROH Wrestling July 30 August 7 and 14 ROH Women's Division Wednesday August 4
1 ^ Participants in the original tournament included: Ashley Vox, Gia Scott, Heather Monroe, Jenny Rose, Katarina, Kellyanne, Lindsay Snow, Maria Manic, Session Moth Martina, and Tasha Steelz. 2 ^Brandi Lauren and Laynie Luck were named as alternates. 3 ^ Spot was originally meant for Vita VonStarr, but her interference in matches involving The Righteous got her removed. 4 ^ Allie Recks was slated to take VonStarr's place in the tournament, but a knee injury kept her from competing. 5 ^Chelsea Green was slated to take VonStarr's place in the tournament, but a broken wrist kept her from competing. 6 ^ Love defeated Quinn McKay on the May 8 ROH Wrestling episode to earn a bye.
Belt designs
The original design of the championship used from 2020 to 2023
The first ROH Women's World title design (2020–2023) is similar to the 2017 to 2022 design of the ROH World Championship separating itself from the men's version of the design with the word women's above in the middle center plate and also with the title being smaller than the 2017 to 2022 design of the ROH World Championship belt design due to it being a women's title (The original design of the ROH Women's World title is gold with silver ROH Logosindented in the center and indented on side plates).[26]
On March 31, 2023, a new design of the belt was revealed at Supercard of Honor, thus making it the second design of the championship belt.[27] The design of the belt kept the original design of the previous design but now featuring silver plates and the updated Ring of Honor logo on the main plate and side plates.[28]
Reigns
As of October 27, 2024, there have been four reigns between four champions. Rok-C was the inaugural champion. Athena's reign is the longest at 687+ days, while Deonna Purrazzo has the shortest reign at 115 days. Martinez is the oldest champion at 41 years old, while Rok-C is the youngest champion at 19 years old.
Athena is the current champion in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Martinez at Final Battle on December 10, 2022, in Arlington, Texas.
Names
Name
Years
ROH Women's World Championship
January 1, 2020 – May 4, 2022[1] May 4, 2022 – present