Quinn McKay introduces us to the show and to the tournament, as well as the history of the ROH Pure Championship and the original plans for the tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic changed them. It is also mentioned that no fans will be present for these matches and that only essential personnel will be working at ringside as per the Maryland State Athletic Commission, with whom ROH is working in tandem with to bring ROH performances back. The sixteen participants in the tournament are: Jay Lethal, Matt Sydal (who is returning to ROH since being fired from New Japan for marijuana possession in a Japanese airport), Jonathan Gresham, "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, "The Darewolf" PJ Black, David Finlay, Silas Young, Josh "The Goods" Woods, Kenny King, Rocky Romero, Delirious, Dalton Castle, Tony Deppen, Wheeler, Rust Taylor and Fred Yehi (the last four of whom are making their ROH debuts). There are also alternates to fill in: Dak Draper for Block A and Brian Johnson for Block B. There will be two blocks, Block A (red) and Block B (silver). There are time limits for the matches (15 minutes in the opening round, 20 minutes for the second round, 30 minutes for the semi-finals and 1 hour for the finals) and time limit draws will be decided by a three-judge panel. The rules for the ROH Pure Championship are also mentioned: there will be three judges for every match, all wrestlers have three rope breaks, there is a 20-count for anyone outside of the ring, closed-fist punches to the face are illegal (although closed-fist punches can be landed anywhere else, with the exception of low blows, which are still illegal), with a warning after the first time and a disqualification after the second, and any wrestler who interferes will be terminated from the roster.
We hear from Jay Lethal - who wants to be the first two-time Pure Champion in history - and Dalton Castle - who calls the Pure Rules an environment he was born to be in and says that there is more to him than meets the eye - talk about their careers in Ring of Honor.
In Block A of the tournament, Jay Lethal beats Dalton Castle via pinfall following a Lethal Injection in 13:10 to advance in the ROH Pure Championship Tournament.
We hear from Wheeler Yuta - who has been wrestling for six years now and was a multi-sport athlete before becoming a professional wrestler who has wrestled all over the world and has been exposed to many different styles in order to "decode" his opponents - and Jonathan Gresham - who talks about his long, hard road to becoming the best pure professional wrestler in the world and a part of the Ring of Honor roster - talk about their careers before the next match.
In Block B of the tournament, Jonathan Gresham beats Wheeler Yuta via submission in 10:25 by slamming Yuta's knee repeatedly into the mat.
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