WHEELER YUTA

Competing in Ring of Honor was a dream for Wheeler Yuta when he first began his professional wrestling journey in 2014, one that came true in 2020 when he participated in the Pure Wrestling Title Tournament to crown a new champion for the title that had been unified with the ROH World Championship by Bryan Danielson in August 2006.

Although success in the tournament was not in the cards, he was eliminated in the first round by eventual winner Jonathan Gresham, it demonstrated to the ROH faithful what the rest of the independent wrestling world already knew: that Wheeler Yutawas one of the best technicians on the scene. He would see a bit of action in Ring of Honor over the next several months, competing in rather unique situations like a Pure Rules Tag Match and a Pure Rules Gauntlet bout, but his focus would turn to All Elite Wrestling in the summer of 2006, and it was there he would not only earn his way into the Blackpool Combat Club, but he would hone his skills to the level needed to dethrone Josh Woods as Pure Champion at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2022.

Yuta would go onto the defend the championship on three occasions, including against Daniel Garcia at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2022, but Garcia would end that run six weeks later on the September 7th edition of AEW DYNAMITE, capturing the Pure Championship from Yuta in Garcia's hometown. Following that loss, Yuta was wrapped up in one iteration or another of The BCC's battles with The Jericho Appreciation Society, a path that led directly to FINAL BATTLE 2022 and the Garcia/Yuta rubber match. That night in Texas not only did Yuta reclaim the ROH Pure Championship, he also became the first competitor in ROH history to be a 2-Time holder of said title!