ROH Top Prospect Tournament
The Top Prospect Tournament is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by Ring of Honor since 2011. The inaugural tournament took place in 2011 and has occurred every year since except for 2012 and 2018.[1]
Format
Aspiring ROH wrestlers compete in a variety of "qualifying" singles matches with the winner(s) of each match advancing to the next round. There are three rounds, with the winner of the Top Prospect Tournament receiving a Ring of Honor contract and a shot at a Ring of Honor championship.
History
The tournament started in 2011 with the goal of giving rising wrestlers a chance of getting an ROH contract and displaying their talents for the promotion. In 2011, the first winner of the tournament was Mike Bennett, who went on to become an ROH mainstay. After a one-year break, the tournament returned in 2013 with the winner getting a chance at Adam Cole's ROH World Television Championship. The winner of the 2013 tournament was Matt Taven, who associated himself with Truth Martini and captured Cole's championship at the 11th Anniversary Show. He went on to become the longest reigning Television Champion in ROH history since the title's inception in 2010 before losing it to Tommaso Ciampa.
In 2014, Hanson won the tournament by defeating future tag team partner Raymond Rowe in the finals. In 2015, Donovan Dijak won a Ring of Honor contract after beating Will Ferrara. In 2016, Lio Rush defeated Brian Fury to win the tournament and instead gained an ROH World Championship opportunity against Jay Lethal.[2] Rush lost the match and left ROH less than two years later.
Dak Draper is the most recent winner of the Top Prospect Tournament, having won in 2019.
List of winners
- 2011 – Mike Bennett[1]
- 2013 – Matt Taven[3]
- 2014 – Hanson[4]
- 2015 – Donovan Dijak[5]
- 2016 – Lio Rush
- 2017 – Josh Woods[6]
- 2019 - Dak Draper
Tournament history
2011
ROH's first Top Prospect Tournament took place in January 2011.
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Kyle O'Reilly | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Jonathan Gresham | ||||||||||||||
| Kyle O'Reilly | ||||||||||||||
| Michael Elgin | ||||||||||||||
| Michael Elgin | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Bobby Dempsey | ||||||||||||||
| Kyle O'Reilly | ||||||||||||||
| Mike Bennett | ||||||||||||||
| Mike Bennett | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Adam Cole | ||||||||||||||
| Mike Bennett | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Andy Ridge | ||||||||||||||
| Andy Ridge | ||||||||||||||
| Grizzly Redwood | ||||||||||||||
2013
ROH's second Top Prospect Tournament took place in January and February 2013.
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| TaDarius Thomas | ||||||||||||||
| Antonio Thomas | ||||||||||||||
| TaDarius Thomas | ||||||||||||||
| Q. T. Marshall | ||||||||||||||
| Q. T. Marshall | ||||||||||||||
| Mike Sydal | ||||||||||||||
| TaDarius Thomas | ||||||||||||||
| Matt Taven | ||||||||||||||
| Silas Young | ||||||||||||||
| Adam Page | ||||||||||||||
| Silas Young | ||||||||||||||
| Matt Taven | ||||||||||||||
| Matt Taven | ||||||||||||||
| A. C. H. | ||||||||||||||
2014
ROH's third Top Prospect Tournament took place in January and February 2014.
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Raymond Rowe | ||||||||||||||
| Kongo | ||||||||||||||
| Raymond Rowe | ||||||||||||||
| Corey Hollis | ||||||||||||||
| Corey Hollis | ||||||||||||||
| Mike Posey | ||||||||||||||
| Raymond Rowe | ||||||||||||||
| Hanson | ||||||||||||||
| Andrew Everett | ||||||||||||||
| The Romantic Touch | ||||||||||||||
| Andrew Everett | ||||||||||||||
| Hanson | ||||||||||||||
| Hanson | ||||||||||||||
| Cheeseburger | ||||||||||||||
2015
ROH's fourth Top Prospect Tournament took place in January and February 2015.
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Donovan Dijak | ||||||||||||||
| Jake Dirden | ||||||||||||||
| Donovan Dijak | ||||||||||||||
| Ashley Sixx | ||||||||||||||
| Ashley Sixx | ||||||||||||||
| Dalton Castle | ||||||||||||||
| Donovan Dijak | ||||||||||||||
| Will Ferrara | ||||||||||||||
| Will Ferrara | ||||||||||||||
| J. Diesel | ||||||||||||||
| Will Ferrara | ||||||||||||||
| Beer City Bruiser | ||||||||||||||
| Beer City Bruiser | ||||||||||||||
| Mikey Webb | ||||||||||||||
2016
ROH's fifth Top Prospect Tournament was announced in December 2015 as happening January 9.[7]
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | ||||||||||||||
| Jason Kincaid | ||||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | ||||||||||||||
| Punisher Martinez | ||||||||||||||
| Punisher Martinez[8] | ||||||||||||||
| Colby Corino | ||||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Fury | ||||||||||||||
| Action Ortiz | ||||||||||||||
| Leon St. Giovanni | ||||||||||||||
| Action Ortiz | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Fury | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Fury | ||||||||||||||
| Shahim Ali | ||||||||||||||
2017
ROH's sixth Top Prospect Tournament was announced in December 2016 as happening January 28.[7]
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| John Skyler | ||||||||||||||
| Sean Carr | ||||||||||||||
| John Skyler | ||||||||||||||
| Curt Stallion | ||||||||||||||
| Curt Stallion | ||||||||||||||
| Preston Quinn | ||||||||||||||
| John Skyler | ||||||||||||||
| Josh Woods | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Milonas | ||||||||||||||
| Raphael King | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Milonas | ||||||||||||||
| Josh Woods | ||||||||||||||
| Josh Woods | ||||||||||||||
| Chris LeRusso | ||||||||||||||
2018
After losing the Amazon Prime Video's Dojo Pro Black Belt for a ROH World Television Championship opportunity against Aaron Solow, Jeff Cobb made his ROH debut crashing the 2018 Top Prospect Tournament, interfering in three first round matches (Eli Isom vs FR Josie, Charles Zanders vs Marcus Kross, and Brian Johnson vs Dante Caballero), declaring himself the real winner of the tournament and fast-tracking his way to a TV title match against then-champion Punishment Martinez, which he won.
ROH does not official recognize Cobb as ROH Top Prospect Tournament winner as the official tournament was cancelled following his last interference.
2019
The seventh Top Prospect Tournament began on July 21, 2019 at the Mass Hysteria Event. The Semi-Finals were held during the joint ROH-CMLL show Global Wars Espectacular. Dak Draper defeated Austin Gunn at Death Before Dishonor XVII event on September 29, 2019.
| First round | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Dante Caballero | ||||||||||||||
| Joe Keys | ||||||||||||||
| Dante Caballero | ||||||||||||||
| Austin Gunn | ||||||||||||||
| Austin Gunn | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Johnson | ||||||||||||||
| Austin Gunn | ||||||||||||||
| Dak Draper | ||||||||||||||
| Dak Draper | ||||||||||||||
| Makita | ||||||||||||||
| Dak Draper | ||||||||||||||
| Haitian Sensation | ||||||||||||||
| Haitian Sensation | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Dixon | ||||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ a b "2011 Top Prospect Tournament". Retrieved 2013-12-08.
- ^ "BREAKING NEWS: LIO RUSH SIGNS WITH RING OF HONOR". Retrieved 2017-05-17.
- ^ "2013 Top Prospect Tournament". Retrieved 2013-12-08.
- ^ "2014 Top Prospect Tournament". Retrieved 2014-03-29.
- ^ "2015 Top Prospect Tournament".
- ^ "2017 Top Prospect Tournament TV Tapings".
- ^ a b Scherer, Dave (28 December 2015). "ROH ANNOUNCES SECOND ENTRANT INTO THE TOP PROSPECT TOURNAMENT". PWInsider.com.
Lio Rush will be the second entrant in the January 9 Top Prospect Tournament, which will emanate from Concord, NC. Rush won the 2015 Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup. He joins the previously announced Action Ortiz.
- ^ "PUNISHER PREDICTS PAIN FOR TOP PROSPECT OPPONENTS". ROHwrestling.com.
Colby Corino recently learned just how apt that moniker is. Martinez scored an impressive victory over the second-generation competitor in the first round of the tournament to advance to the semifinals this Saturday