Women of Honor

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 in ROH had been sporadic since then. ROH featured female stars like Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze, and others on shows, even releasing a DVD featuring Del Rey, Haze, Amazing Kong, Mickie James, MsChif, Lacey, and others. Some of these matches were featured on ROH's television program on HDNet and, later, on its syndicated show, but ROH did not consistently brand women's matches as Women of Honor until 2015.

ROH also had partnership with Shimmer Women Athletes, as the Shimmer Championship has been defended on several shows, being the first women's title to be featured on ROH.[5] On April 2, 2011, at the second night of Honor Takes Center Stage, the Shimmer Tag Team Championship were defended on ROH for the first time, when the then-champions Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa successfully defended the title against Ayumi Kurihara and Hiroyo Matsumoto.[6]

The popularity of women in Ring of Honor has resulted in Ring of Honor taping a pilot for a standalone Women of Honor program.[7] Ring of Honor has also made numerous Women of Honor branded merchandise available for purchase.[8] 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.[9]

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.

Currently, Ring of Honor regularly airs and promotes their Women Division Wednesday matches formerly known as Women of Honor Wednesday matches on their YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter platforms. As of June 2018, the only two videos to receive 3 million or more views on Ring of Honor's YouTube page are Women of Honor matches, both featuring former Women of Honor World Champion, "The Gatekeeper" Kelly Klein.[10]

Matches are called and presented by Ian Riccaboni. He has been joined by Taeler Hendrix,[11] Mandy Leon,[12] Veda Scott,[13] Matt Taven and B.J. Whitmer[14] for YouTube exclusives and Nigel McGuinness for the two Women of Honor television specials.[15] Along with Sakai, there has been four champions shared between Angelina Love,[16] Mayu Iwatani[17] and Klein, who held the title in a record setting three-time.[18][19][20]

In February 2017, ROH partnered with Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom for a Women of Honor tryout camp.[21] On December 5, at Final Battle, Riccaboni introduced the new Women of Honor 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.[22] On April 7, at Supercard of Honor XII, Sumie Sakai defeated Kelly Klein in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion.[23][24] Along with Sakai, there have been four champions overall, shared between Angelina Love,[25] Mayu Iwatani[26] and Klein, who held the title in a record setting three-time.[27][28][29]

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.

On December 15, 2017, ROH announced the creation of its own women's title - the ROH Women of Honor World Championship, with Sumie Sakai becoming the first title holder at Supercard of Honor XII on April 7, 2018, defeating Kelly Klein in the finals of the tournament to crown the inaugural champion.[30]

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.