ROH's Survival of the Fittest History

 ROH SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST HISTORY:

Survival of the Fittest is a professional wrestling tournament held by Ring of Honor (ROH). The inaugural tournament took place back in 2004, and with exceptions (2008, 2013, 2019, 2020, 2022) it has become an annual tradition in ROH ever since. 

The format of the tournament is pretty simple, wrestlers compete in a variety of "qualifying" matches, usually either singles matches or tag team matches, with the winner(s) of each match advancing to an elimination match where the last remaining competitor would be crowned the winner and deemed the Survival of the Fittest Winner, and would receive a future ROH World Championship match (except in 2023, where the winner of the tournament was crowed with the vacant ROH World Television Championship).

HISTORY:

The tournament setup is based on Maryland Championship Wrestling's Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup, as ROH was to continue the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup following the shutdown of MCW in 2003. However, following the Rob Feinstein/ROH controversy in March 2004, MCW dropped their association with ROH and ROH renamed the already scheduled tournament the "Survival of the Fittest" tournament. 

In 2019, it was announced the event would take place on November 9th - 10th, but the shows were ultimately cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

LIST OF SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST WINNERS:

• 2004 - Bryan Danielson
• 2005 - Roderick Strong
• 2006 - Delirious
• 2007 - Chris Hero
• 2009 - Tyler Black
• 2010 - Eddie Edwards
• 2011 - Michael Elgin
• 2012 - Jay Lethal
• 2014 - Adam Cole
• 2015 - Michael Elgin (2)
• 2016 - Bobby Fish
• 2017 - Punishment Martinez
• 2018 - Marty Scurll
• 2021 - Bandido
• 2023 - Kyle Fletcher

Championship Match For Winner:

  – Championship victory

  – Championship match loss

  – Championship match draw/no contest

#	Winner	Event	Year	Championship match
1	Bryan Danielson	ROH Midnight Express Reunion	2004	Danielson unsuccessfully challenged Samoa Joe for the ROH World Championship.
2	Roderick Strong	ROH This Means War	2005	Strong unsuccessfully challenged Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship.
3	Delirious	ROH Honor Reclaims Boston	2006	Delirious unsuccessfully challenged Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship.
4	Chris Hero	ROH Glory By Honor IV - Night 1	2007	Hero unsuccessfully challenged Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Championship.
5	Tyler Black	ROH Final Battle 2009	2009	Black wrestled ROH World Champion Austin Aries to a 60-Minute Time Limit Draw. Black defeated Aries in a rematch to win the ROH World Championship at the 8th Anniversary Show.
6	Eddie Edwards	ROH Manhattan Mayhem IV	2010	Edwards defeated Roderick Strong to win the ROH World Championship.
7	Michael Elgin	ROH Showdown in the Sun - Night 2	2011	Elgin unsuccessfully challenged Davey Richards for the ROH World Championship.
8	Jay Lethal	ROH 11th Anniversary Show	2012	Lethal unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Steen for the ROH World Championship.
9	Adam Cole	ROH Final Battle 2014	2014	Cole unsuccessfully challenged Jay Briscoe in a Fight Without Honor for the ROH World Championship.
10	Michael Elgin (2)	ROH All Star Extravaganza VIII	2015	Elgin unsuccessfully challenged Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship.
11	Bobby Fish	ROH Manhattan Mayhem 2016	2016	Fish unsuccessfully challenged Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship.
12	Punishment Martinez	Ring of Honor Wrestling TV (February 10, 2018)	2017	Martinez unsuccessfully challenged Dalton Castle for the ROH World Championship.
13	Marty Scurll	ROH x NJPW G1 Supercard	2018	Scurll challenged Jay Lethal in a 3-Way Ladder match for the ROH World Championship, also involving Matt Taven. Taven won the match.
14	Bandido	ROH Best in the World 2021	2021	Bandido defeated Rush to win the ROH World Championship.
15	Kyle Fletcher	ROH Final Battle 2023	2023	Survivor of the Fittest for the vacant ROH Television Championship. Fletcher defeated Komander, Lee Moriarty, Bryan Keith, Dalton Castle and Lee Johnson to win the championship.