Women of Honor World Championship
The Women of Honor World Championship was a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American promotion Ring of Honor. It was originally established as the Women of Honor Championship on December 15, 2017, and inaugural champion was Sumie Sakai. It was renamed as the Women of Honor World Championship in 2018, and then retired on January 1, 2020, with Kelly Klein as the final champion. The title was subsequently replaced by the ROH Women's World Championship.
History
At Final Battle, December 15, 2017, it was announced that a tournament to crown the first Women of Honor Championship holder would start on January 20, 2018. The tournament featured female ROH regulars, called the ROH Women of Honor and female wrestlers from then ROH partnered all Japanese female wrestling promotion from Japan World Wonder Ring Stardom as well.On April 7, 2018, Sumie Sakai became the inaugural champion by defeating Kelly Klein in the 16-women tournament finals at Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans, LA. During her reign, the title was renamed to Women of Honor World Championship at the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings on August 25, 2018.
During Sakai's reign in 2018 the title was defended in the United Kingdom at ROH Honor United.
Also during year 2019 of this title's existence, the Women of Honor World Championship was defended in Japan at a Stardom event by Mayu Iwatani after she defeated Kelly Klein for the title at ROH pay-per-view Bound By Honor in addition to ROH shows, pay-per-views, and events. On February 24, 2019 the Japanese stardom pay-per-view event took place and Mayu Iwatani was successful at retaining the title in her first title defense. Also on that night the match was the main event.
Kelly Klein became the first and only 2 & 3-time ROH Women of Honor Champion. During Kelly Klein's third reign, ROH producer Joey Mercury left the promotion. In a series of tweets, Mercury said ROH doesn't have a concussion protocol and Klein had to wrestle while injured. Klein agreed with Mercury and ROH let her go after her contract expired on December 31, 2019. Two months later, the creation of a new title was announced, the ROH Women's World Championship after the ROH Women of Honor World title was deactivated on January 1, 2020.