Ring of Honor - Contenders For Championships of Ring of Honor

Contenders For Championships of Ring of Honor

Originally, Ring of Honor had no formal way to determine challengers for its World Championship. When Xavier, a heel champion, began to avoid challengers, Ring of Honor set up a "Top Five Ranking" system to establish contenders to the title. It ranked wrestlers based on their general win-loss record, and on their win-loss record against other ranked competitors. The top contender held the Number One Contender's Trophy, which the company treated as a second championship at the time, and defended as such.

ROH abolished the ranking-system with the appearance of the new Code of Honor (See Above). The ranking system disappeared, replaced by the "Contenders Ring", a more complex polling system whereby 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 and Pure Championships.

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 receiving such a petition, 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 number-one 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. Cornette and other ROH officials voted on the "Top 5" only during the first week of every month. Selection depended on won/lost record and quality of opposition, with a heavy emphasis on the previous month.

In July 2006 Ring of Honor again dropped the "Top 5" concept, as it had not consistently determined ROH World Title challengers. The champion at the time, Bryan Danielson, had instead sent open contracts to wrestlers in other promotions around the world, with ROH officials also choosing contenders from within the company. Subsequent champion Homicide would continue Danielson's policy, eventually losing the title to Takeshi Morishima from Pro Wrestling Noah. After Morishima won the belt, it seemed that he could choose his challengers, as he defended it (with ROH and Noah approval) at Noah's show on March 4, 2007, at Budoukan Hall against KENTA.

On Jim Cornette's return to ROH in 2009, the promotion re-implemented a ranking system – called the "Pick Six" – for contenders for a world championship. A tournament was held during Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings on November 5 and 6 to determine the first six members of the Pick Six, and each winner also received a cash bonus courtesy of HDNet. Once the Pick Six was implememted, ROH announced that only wrestlers ranked in the Pick Six would be eligible to challenge for the ROH World Championship, although contenders to the championship can still be determined via a special bout or official ruling, for example ROH's annual "Toronto Gauntlet" earns the winner a championship match. The higher a wrestler is seeded in the "Pick Six", the more leverage he has in determining the scheduling of championship matches. Wrestlers can only enter the Pick Six Standings by defeating a ranked wrestler. An unranked wrestler that defeats a Pick Six Contender assumes that wrestler's rank and the other wrestlers all move down one rank. If a ranked wrestler defeats a higher seeded wrestler, the winner assumes that seeding in the Pick Six, while the losing wrestler and those ranked lower drop one rank. ROH later added more rules to the Pick Six, including the right to remove a wrestler from the ranking due to inactivity. This rule is known as the "Castagnoli Rule", after wrestler Claudio Castagnoli, who was stripped of his seeding. ROH later decreed that wrestlers in the Pick Six who receive and lose consecutive championship matches will be removed from the rankings.. The Pick Six was discontinued in the autumn of 2010.