ring of honor disambiguation . ring of honor wrestling entertainment llc type subsidiary industry professional wrestling founded february 23 2002 founder rob feinstein headquarters baltimore maryland area served united states 1 key people david smith chairman ceo sinclair broadcast group joe koff coo sinclair broadcast group christopher ripley cfo sinclair broadcast group hunter delirious johnston senior producer cary silkin ambassador gary juster vp of operations dan bynum head of television production senior director court bauer marketing consultant products television pay per view merchandise home video video on demand parent sinclair broadcast group 2 website rohwrestling.com ring of honor roh is an american professional wrestling promotion founded in 2002 by rf video owner rob feinstein . from 2004 to 2011 the promotion was under the ownership of cary silkin before being sold to the sinclair broadcast group sbg an american telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the united states . 2 roh holds tv tapings pay per view events live events and internet pay per view events throughout the united states and canada . it has also held shows in the united kingdom and japan . annual shows include the anniversary show supercard of honor held annually during wrestlemania weekend best in the world global wars death before dishonor glory by honor and final battle the last show of the calendar year and roh s marquee event . roh records all of its shows and sells them on dvd through mail order via its online store the dvds have developed a fanbase for the promotion in the united states and beyond . in 2009 roh signed a television deal with hdnet which aired shows every week until 2011 . 3 as of september 2011 roh s flagship broadcast ring of honor wrestling has been syndicated by parent company sinclair broadcasting and airs on sinclair owned stations across the country . roh is also broadcast on samurai tv in japan and is the third largest professional wrestling promotion in the united states behind wwe and tna . 4 5 on june 22 2014 roh had its first live pay per view broadcast best in the world from nashville tennessee . it was followed up on december 7 with their biggest show of the year final battle from terminal 5 in new york city . their next pay per view aired march 1 2015 which was their 13th anniversary show from las vegas nevada . contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 rob feinstein controversy 1.3 2007 2009 1.4 2009 2013 1.5 2014 present 2 touring and tv tapings 3 roh contracts 4 international partnerships 5 code of honor 6 women of honor 7 contenders for championships in ring of honor 8 championships of ring of honor 8.1 current championships 8.2 retired championships 8.3 other accomplishments 9 specialty matches 10 marquee events 10.1 ippv s ppvs 10.2 supershows with njpw 10.3 tournaments 11 roh wrestling academy roh dojo 12 see also 13 references 14 external links history edit formation edit in april 2001 the pro wrestling video distribution company rf video needed a new promotion to lead its video sales when its best seller extreme championship wrestling ecw went out of business and wwe purchased the rights to its brandname . rf video also videotaped events held by other less popular regional wrestling promotions ; it sold these through its catalog and website . after months of trying to join czw rf video s owner rob feinstein decided to fill the ecw void by starting his own pro wrestling promotion and distributing its made for dvd vhs productions exclusively through rf video . the first event titled the era of honor begins took place on february 23 2002 in philadelphia pennsylvania the former home area of ecw . it featured nine matches including a match between eddy guerrero and super crazy for the iwa intercontinental heavyweight championship and a triple threat match between christopher daniels bryan danielson and low ki who would become known as the founding fathers of roh . in its first year of operation ring of honor confined itself to staging live events in a limited number of venues and cities primarily in the northeastern united states . ten shows ran in philadelphia pennsylvania ; two in wakefield massachusetts ; one in metro pittsburgh pennsylvania ; and one in queens new york . in 2003 roh expanded to other areas of the united states including ohio new jersey connecticut and maryland . it also began to build its international identity by co promoting an event with frontier wrestling alliance in london england on may 17 2003 . rob feinstein controversy edit in 2004 feinstein was caught in an internet based sting operation in which he allegedly tried to solicit sex on the internet from a person that he thought to be an underage boy but was actually an adult posing as a minor . after this was publicized by some news outlets feinstein resigned from roh in march 2004 . 6 7 in the aftermath of the scandal total nonstop action wrestling tna ended its talent sharing agreement with ring of honor abruptly withdrawing all of its contracted wrestlers from their prior commitments to perform in roh shows including major roh draws a.j. styles and christopher daniels who each either held or were about to hold roh championships . 8 doug gentry eventually bought feinstein s stake in roh and later sold it to cary silkin . 9 roh then started its own mail order and online store operations which sold dvds of its live events plus shoot interviews dubbed the straight shootin series with wrestlers and managers and even some competitors wrestling related merchandise . 2007 2009 edit on january 23 2007 roh announced plans for a japanese tour 10 resulting in a show on july 16 in tokyo co promoted with pro wrestling noah and a show on july 17 in osaka co promoted with dragon gate . shortly before this in march 2007 roh had become the first u.s. based promotion to have its titles held entirely by non american wrestlers the dragon gate team of naruki doi and shingo held the roh world tag team championship while at the same time their fellow countryman pro wrestling noah star takeshi morishima held the roh world championship . on may 2 2007 ring of honor announced the signing of a ppv and vod deal with g funk sports & entertainment to bring roh into homes with in demand networks tvn and the dish network . the deal called for six taped pay per view events to air every 60 days . 11 because of the move to pay per view tna wrestling immediately pulled its contracted stars austin aries christopher daniels and homicide from roh shows 12 although tna performers have since returned to the company . the first pay per view titled respect is earned taped on may 12 first aired on july 1 on dish network . 13 ring of honor continued to expand throughout 2008 debuting in orlando florida on march 28 for dragon gate challenge ii in manassas virginia on may 9 for southern navigation and in toronto ontario on july 25 for northern navigation . on may 10 2008 ring of honor set an attendance record in its debut show a new level from the hammerstein ballroom in the manhattan center in new york city . 14 it had plans for shows in st. louis missouri nashville tennessee and montreal before the end of 2008 . 15 on october 26 2008 the company announced the departure of head booker gabe sapolsky and his replacement by adam pearce . 16 2009 2013 edit on january 26 2009 ring of honor announced that it had signed an agreement with hdnet fights for a weekly television program . 3 17 the first tapings for ring of honor wrestling took place on february 28 and march 1 2009 at the arena in philadelphia pennsylvania . 18 after nearly a year of producing weekly television broadcasts roh announced on january 20 2010 that it would commission a new title the roh world television championship to be decided in an eight man tournament beginning february 5 2010 and ending february 6 2010 on its ring of honor wrestling program . 19 due to a north american blizzard however the second half of the tournament did not take place until march 5 2010 when eddie edwards defeated davey richards in the finals . 20 21 on august 15 2010 ring of honor fired head booker adam pearce and replaced him with hunter johnston who wrestles for the company under the ring name delirious . 22 on september 8 2010 ring of honor and ohio valley wrestling announced a working relationship between the two companies . 23 on january 11 2011 ring of honor announced the ending of ring of honor wrestling after the completion of the promotion s two year contract with hdnet . the final tapings of the show would be taking place on january 21 and 22 with the final episode airing on april 4 2011 . 24 25 on may 21 2011 ring of honor and sinclair broadcast group announced that the broadcast carrier had purchased roh with former owner cary silkin remaining with the company in an executive role . the promotion s programming began airing the weekend of september 24 2011 with a weekly hour long program airing on several sinclair owned or operated stations ; the show airs primarily on saturday or sunday afternoons or late nights or on prime time on some of sinclair s cw and mynetworktv affiliates as those networks do not run programming on weekend evenings . 2 26 2014 present edit ring of honor began 2014 by announcing the return of aj styles after a seven year absence . styles returned at roh s first tv taping of the year from nashville tennessee . on february 22 before their 12th anniversary weekend tv taping roh announced a partnership with number one japanese professional wrestling promotion new japan pro wrestling . the announcement included a promotional video and words from njpw chairman naoki sugabayashi . roh and njpw held their first co promoted show global wars on may 10 from the ted reeve arena in toronto canada . one week later from the sold out hammerstein ballroom in new york city they held their second war of the worlds . on june 22 ring of honor held their first live pay per view event 27 best in the world from the nashville state fairgrounds in nashville tennessee . the event was well received and was the first time that a live roh broadcast was accessible to over 60 % of american homes . in september sinclair began syndicating roh to other stations ; the first deal was reached with watl a gannett owned atlanta station which began airing roh on september 13 2014 . 28 on october 27 roh announced a toy licensing deal with figures co. toy company which would see the distribution of action figures based off the ring of honor wrestlers replica title belts and more . in november ring of honor announced its return to live pay per view with their biggest show of the year final battle plus their debut in music venue terminal 5 in new york city . on november 27 ring of honor made its first official appearance in the united kingdom in over seven years when it co promoted a weekend of shows with uk based promotion preston city wrestling . on december 7 ring of honor held its second live pay per view final battle from terminal 5 in new york city . roh world champion jay briscoe retained in the main event by defeating adam cole in a fight without honor . on december 12 it was announced through their website that roh had signed former wwe champion alberto del rio to a short