Ring of Honor’s hasn’t had a Women’s champion, or a Women’s division, since Kelly Klein’s contract wasn’t renewed at the end of 2019. her last Women of Honor title defense Glory by Honor XVII in October of that year is the last time the Sinclair Broadcasting-owned promotion had a women’s match.
But that changes soon. New member of ROH Board of Directors Maria Kanellis-Bennett told us so last night (Mar. 26) at the 19th Anniversary PPV.
The former WWE and Impact star invited “women from all over” to enter a tournament that will be held this summer “to crown a new Women’s champion.” Kanellis-Bennett did not utter the words “Women of Honor”, which is good, as that moniker always seemed kind of cursed. That also means they’re sticking with their pre-pandemic plans - this is basically just a rescheduled, Maria-led version of them.
You won’t have to wait until then to see women’s wrestling in ROH, however. As you can see above, the segment continued as the Board member and host Quinn McKay were interrupted by an old company stable, The Allüre... or 2⁄3 of them anyway. No Velvet Sky, but her old Beautiful People partner Angelina Love is back, along with Mandy Leon.
The heels wanted Kanellis-Bennett to hand them the belt. Maria wasn’t willing to do that, but did give Love - who lost to Klein in the last Women of Honor match - a chance to earn a first round bye. She’ll face McKay, who in addition to being totes adorbs is a former independent wrestler who’s trained in ROH’s Dojo. That match will take place soon on an episode of ROH TV.
Ring of Honor’s track record with women’s wrestling isn’t great. But they seem to be aware of that...
What The Allure has been doing in @ringofhonor is not called wrestling, it’s called old school bulls$&. It’s outdated and doesn’t line up with ROH values or history. I am excited to see if The Allure can change and step up their wrestling. #ROH19 #boardofdirectors #codeofhonor
— MariaKanellisBennett (@MariaLKanellis) March 27, 2021
... and more places for women to get television bookings is definitely a good thing.
Willing to give them another chance? And who do you want to see in the tournament?