The History Of ROH's Code Of Honor, Explained - TheSportster

Ring of Honor is back in the headlines these days after the company was purchased by AEW Owner Tony Khan. Ring of Honor is no ordinary pro wrestling promotion, however, and the company is governed by a set of rules dubbed the “Code of Honor,” governing how wrestlers must behave while competing in Ring of Honor. RELATED: 10 AEW Wrestlers Who Should Work In ROH

The Code Of Honor

Upon its inception, Ring of Honor was a place for wrestling fans who had grown tired of the “Sports Entertainment” aspect of pro wrestling. To differentiate themselves from WWE, Ring of Honor instituted a Code of Honor, a set of rules that dictated how wrestlers were supposed to act while in the company. Initially, there were five laws in the Code of Honor, which were mentioned at the start of every event ROH held and it was considered a “moral requirement” to follow these five rules. The rules were:

1. You must shake hands before and after every match.

2. No outside interference - no interfering in others' matches or having others interfere on your behalf.

3. No sneak attacks

4. No harming the officials.

5. No purposefully disqualifying oneself; definitive winners by pinfall or submission were expected.

The Code of Honor was a moral requirement rather than an outright law, so the Code was used primarily as a way to get heels over. Christopher Daniels, as Ring of Honor’s first major heel, flagrantly abused the rules, especially Rules 1-3. Rules 4 and 5, however, help differentiate Ring of Honor from their competitors, as matches mostly always ended clean via pinfall, submission, or knockout. In WWE and TNA, interferes, ref bumps and DQ were happening on a regular basis, that was not the case in Ring of Honor. In the early days of the company, it was even suggested that getting disqualified in a match would result in that wrestler never appearing in the company ever again. On the rare occasions Ring of Honor matches did end in disqualification, ref bump, or interference, the heel tactics caused a much more visceral reaction from the ROH fans, and heels would get over to a greater extent in ways that weren’t possible in the bigger promotions.

Eventually, Ring of Honor booker, Gabe Sapolsky, began to feel that the Code of Honor had run its course and was holding back some characters. From then on, wrestlers were no longer required to follow the Code of Honor, opening up the promotion to have more explosive and extravagant matches on the card. Plus, as the wrestlers had been following the Code for years at that point, the Code of Honor had done its job in establishing each character and had helped the wrestlers define their characters within this world.

The Code of Honor did make its return, however, under a more simplified format, now wrestlers were only required to follow 3 rules:

1. Shake hands before and after the match, if you have respect for your opponent.

2. Keep the playing field level.

3. Respect the officials.

RELATED: How Tony Khan's Purchase Of Ring Of Honor Can Help AEW

Ring of Honor’s Identity

Ring of Honor’s purpose was to be the place for no-nonsense technical wrestling for wrestlers and fans who appreciated the ethos and the art of wrestling rather than the spectacle of Sports Entertainment. This was a constant in Ring of Honor right from their very first show, Ring of Honor’s The Era of Honor Begins in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 2002 right to their "final" show Ring of Honor’s Final Battle in 2021. No matter if a wrestler was heel or babyface, no matter what their character or personality was, they all had one thing in common, they all respected professional wrestling and the spirit of competition.

This was personified in the handshakes that happened before every match. This is what gave Ring of Honor its identity. It didn’t matter if feuding wrestlers hated each other or thought they were above each other, they both agreed the spirit of competition was too important to disrespect. If two wrestlers had made it to Ring of Honor, it was known that they were there to compete at the highest level of skill and athleticism and so every wrestler deserved a handshake out of respect.

Now that Ring of Honor is under the control of AEW boss Tony Khan, how much emphasis will the Code of Honor have? Will it still be used to build wrestlers and define a wrestler character or will it be overlooked as Ring of Honor morphs into an AEW-style promotion?