ROH News: ROH crowns its first ever Women of Honor Champion
What’s the story?
At today’s ROH: Supercard of Honor XII pay-per-view, Ring of Honor Wrestling created history when they crowned their first ever Women’s Champion in the company’s 16-year history, when veteran Sumie Sakai became the inaugural champion.
In case you didn’t know…
Veteran Sumie Sakai made her Professional Wrestling debut back in 1997 and after competing in Japan for a while, Sakai made her Ring of Honor debut in the United States in the year 2002 when she defeated Simply Luscious in the first ever women’s match in Ring of Honor history.
Sakai is also a former AJPW Tag Team Champion and a two-time AWF Women’s Champion as well and she has also briefly competed in the MMA Cage in the past.
The heart of the matter
Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor XII pay-per-view was certainly full of ups and downs and a lot of historic moments with one of the biggest highlights of the show being the crowning of the first ever Women of Honor Champion. 46-year-old veteran Sumie Sakai defeated Kelly Klein in the Women of Honor inaugural championship tournament.
As noted, Sakai initially began the Women of Honor Championship tournament by defeating Stardom superstar Hana Kimura, which was followed up by a win over Kagetsu, and eventually, Sakai went on to defeat Tenille Dashwood AKA Emma, in the semi-finals to confirm her place into the final of the WOH Championship tournament.
What’s next?
Following her historic win over Kelly Klein earlier today, veteran Sumie Sakai will now look forward to leading the Women of Honor division with pride and example and eventually defend the WOH Championship on a regular basis at Ring of Honor pay-per-views.
Author’s Take
Sumie Sakai has been a huge part of Ring of Honor for these past few years and she has certainly paid her dues. I couldn’t feel happier for her and congratulations to the entire Women of Honor division for pulling this off.