Early years and partnership with Shimmer (2002–2011) ROH had its first women's match on June 22, 2002, at its Road to the Title show; it saw
Sumie Sakai defeat
Simply Luscious. Women's wrestling was sporadically featured in ROH since the match. During the 2000s, ROH featured female wrestlers like
Sara Del Rey,
Daizee Haze,
Serena Deeb,
MsChif,
Amazing Kong,
Ashley Lane,
Nevaeh,
Allison Danger,
Lacey,
Taeler Hendrix,
Mercedes Martinez and others on shows, later releasing a DVD featuring the best of its women's division. ROH also had a partnership with
women's professional wrestling promotion Shimmer Women Athletes, with the
Shimmer Championship and
Shimmer Tag Team Championship being defended on several ROH shows – becoming the first women's titles to be featured in ROH.
End of partnership with Shimmer (2011–2015) From years 2011 to 2015, ROH's female talent primarily consisted of female valets and interviewers although some female workers and wrestlers would compete in matches in the promotion. For example, on February 26, 2011 at
ROH 9th Anniversary Show Sara Del Ray defeated
MsChif with Shane Hagadorn in Sara's corner as a male valet / ally. Sara Del Ray,
Allysin Kay, Jenny Rose,
Athena Reese,
Scarlett Bordeaux,
Mandy Leon,
Mia Yim,
Cherry Bomb, MsChif,
Barbi Hayden,
Taeler Hendrix, Seleziya Sparx,
Veda Scott,
Leah Von Dutch,
Tara,
ODB, Kasey Ray, Jessie Brooks and probably more spent there time wrestling in rare once in a life time (especially seen on television) ROH Women of Honor matches, in mix-tag team matches against each other, interviewing talent, interviewing backstage talent, ring announcing, side ring bell ringing and managing and valeting male talent of the company. For example, during year 2011 Mia Yim was introduced to Ring of Honor Wrestling by
Prince Nana as Princess Mia Yim afterwards from that point on she went on to valet his male stable alliance alongside him in Ring of Honor. Around that time she also had a match against Sara Del Ray in Ring of Honor Wrestling but was not successful. For another factual example during those years, during year 2013 Athena Reese was a part of a ROH stable by the name of
Team RnB alongside another ROH wrestler by the name of
A. C. H. weeks later A.C.H. ran into another ROH wrestler by the name of TaDarius Thomas and then the two made an alliance tag team stable name by the name of Adrenaline RUSH that primarily consisted of A.C.H. and TaDarius Thomas only from that point on. Afterwards the three had a six-mix tag team match against MsChif,
B. J. Whitmer, and
Michael Elgin but were not successful.
Rebuilding the women's division (2015–2016) The popularity of
women in Ring of Honor has resulted in Ring of Honor taping a pilot for a standalone Women of Honor program. Ring of Honor has also made numerous Women of Honor branded merchandise available for purchase. The pilot aired as a Women of Honor-branded television special the weekend of June 25, 2016 and its success led to a Women of Honor taping that is available on DVD.
Women of Honor (2015; 2016–present) At its founding, ROH had a partnership with the female exclusive promotion
Shimmer Women Athletes (Shimmer), with their top championship - the
Shimmer Championship - being defended at ROH events, essentially serving as ROH's
de facto women's title in the promotion's early years. During years 2015 to 2016 Ring of Honor regularly aired and promoted their Women of Honor matches called Women of Honor Wednesday matches (Also known as Women Division Wednesday matches starting years 2021 to 2022) on their
YouTube,
Facebook, and
Twitter platforms. In February 2017, ROH partnered with Japanese women's only wrestling promotion
World Wonder Ring Stardom for a Women of Honor tryout camp. On December 5, 2017, at
Final Battle, Riccaboni introduced and announced ROH's creation of its own women's title called the
Women of Honor World Championship, which would later be named the
Women of Honor World Championship, as a tournament for the championship was set to start on January 20, 2018. On April 7, 2018, at
Supercard of Honor XII,
Sumie Sakai defeated
Kelly Klein in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion. Along with Sumie Sakai, there have been four champions overall, shared between
Angelina Love,
Mayu Iwatani and Kelly Klein, who held the title in a record setting three-time. On January 1, 2020, ROH deactivated the Women of Honor World Champion, held at the time by Kelly Klein, due to the former champion deciding not to renew her contract with the promotion amidst disagreements between the two parties, leading into Klein filling a lawsuit against the company over a year later in early 2021. As such, a new championship was to be created for the division, the
ROH Women's World Championship. The winner was originally planned to be crowned in a 16-woman Tournament at Quest For Gold, but that tournament, as well as the Women of Honor division as a whole, was put on hold due to the event being cancelled amidst the
COVID-19 pandemic. During the
ROH 19th Anniversary Show on March 26, 2021,
Maria Kanellis made her on-screen return to the promotion and announced a new tournament to crown a new ROH Women's World Champion, the first since the retirement of the Women of Honor World Championship at the beginning of 2020. The tournament will take place in summer 2021, with a number of the matches to be showcased on ROH TV. The division also seemingly dropped using the 'Women of Honor' name as a month later, 'Women's Division Wednesdays' returned on ROH's official YouTube channel starting on April 28, 2021. As of January 1, 2020, ROH deactivated the ROH Women of Honor World Championship (due to contractual issues with reigning champion Kelly Klein), and announced the creation of a brand new championship for the division, the ROH Women's World Championship. The winner was originally planned to be crowned in a 16-woman Tournament at Quest For Gold, but had been cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. After ROH resumed operations following a five-month pandemic related hiatus, a new 15-woman tournament (with one participant -
Angelina Love - getting a first round bye due to Vita VonStarr being removed from the tournament via other personal issues with Maria Kanellis) was announced at
Best in the World that took place beginning on July 31, 2021, and tournament final which
Rok-C won to become the inaugural ROH Women's World Champion on September 12, 2021, at
Death Before Dishonor XVIII.
Rok-C. During early January 2022 Ring of Honor stopped having Wednesday version's of ROH women's matches and once more had ROH women's matches alongside the men and on
ROH Wrestling TV shows alongside the men as they did during years 2002 to 2011 & years 2011 to 2015. On December 16, 2023, of Ring of Honor's tapings Tony Khan unveiled a new ROH Women's title named the
ROH Women's World Television Championship. On April 5, 2024, at ROH pay-per-view
Supercard of Honor of year 2024
Billie Starkz defeated
Queen Aminata to become the inaugural ROH Women's World Television Championship holder.
Billie Starkz. On September 15, 2024 Athena became the longest reigning ROH women's champion & ROH title holder of all time as a woman surpassing
Samoa Joe's reign as
ROH World Champion at 645 days by holding the ROH Women's World Championship for 646 days. On February 17, 2025 Athena hit a new landmark as Ring of Honor Women's World Champion, passing the 800-day mark as champion. After the April 12, 2025 episode of
AEW Collision Tony Kahn introduced the
ROH Women's Pure Championship in the ROH Women's division. On May 29, 2025 Athena hit another milestone as ROH Women's World Champion by hitting 900 days as champion. On September 5, 2025 Athena hit a fourth Milestone as ROH Women's World Champion by hitting 1000-days as champion. On December 5, 2025 at
Final Battle 2025 in the tournament finals ROH female
veteran Deonna Purrazzo defeated Billie Starkz via
submission to become the inaugural ROH Pure Women's Champion.
Deonna Purrazzo. == Championships and accomplishments ==