With the first TERMINUS show in the books, wrestling fans have now gotten their first glimpse at the vision that Jonathon Gresham and Baron Black have for the Atlanta wrestling scene, and independent wrestling as a whole. Much like the revitalization of the Pure division in ROH in 2021, Terminus presents a unique twist on the traditional pro wrestling rule set that provides a different kind of stage for wrestling. In the build up to the first Terminus, that took place on January 16 live from the Kroc Center in Atlanta Georgia, current ROH World Champion Jon Gresham had mentioned that styles would make the fights in Terminus, but it was interesting to see how much the rules of Terminus would shape the fights as well.

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The Terminus Directives

Disqualifications work on a foul system in which two fouls lead to a disqualification. In theory this isn’t far off from the Technical Foul system some readers might know from the NBA, including that some fouls would be considered a double technical of sorts such as blatant use of a weapon, or outside interference. Here are the Terminus Directives released on the official Terminus Twitter previous to the debut event, which were also communicated to fans during the show by reunited commentary duo of Lenny Leonard, and recent inductee into the Independent Wrestling Hall Of Fame, Dave Prazak.

“ALL MATCHES MUST BE WON BY PIN, SUBMISSION, KO, OR DQ

(UNLESS SUBSTITUTE STIPULATION AGREED UPON BY GRAPPLERS)

DISQUALIFICATION CRITERIA

TWO TECHNICAL FOULS

FOREIGN OBJECT USAGE

OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE

TECHNICAL FOULS:

THROWING AN OPPONENT OVER TOP ROPE

10 SECOND TOP ROPE COUNT

5 COUNT ROPE/CORNER BREAK

INTENTIONAL PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH REFEREE

INTENTIONAL LOW BLOW

INTENTIONAL EYE GOUGE

FISH-HOOKING

INTENTION HAIR PULLING

SPITTING

CLOSED FIST PUNCHES TO THE FACE

TECHNICAL FOULS GIVEN AT THE REFEREE’S DISCRETION

ANY WEAPON USAGE WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION AND EXPULSION FROM TERMINUS

-Terminus Directives

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TERMINUS Wrestling Has A Foul Based Rule System

What this means for something like a low blow is that it is now more in line with how shots below the waist are handled in most mixed martial arts, whereas one might be given a warning the first time, and disqualified upon the second transgression. The classic rule of throwing your opponents over the top rope being illegal is back, and is also punished with a single foul. Impact Wrestling Champion at the time, Moose, proved this rule to be true during the inaugural Terminus event when he broke that specific rule twice leading to a victory for his opponent Mike Bennett by disqualification.

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There is a five second count-out on the floor. This rule specifically has seemingly eliminated dives from the menu for most wrestlers so far in Terminus. This mixed with the fast-paced fifteen minutes time limit leads to an interesting balance of quicker-paced matches that are so without the obligatory dive sequences. Altogether it seems to lend itself to a more mat-based style, much like Gresham himself has been showcasing for much of his career, but even more so during the hiatus of ROH.

With the second Terminus show set to broadcast live on Fite TV from the heart of Atlanta on February 24th, the evolution and adaptation of these rules will continue. So far Black & Gresham have announced for their second show current AEW wrestlers Jay Lethal, Serena Deeb, Lio Rush, the evolving Mike Santana, and 2022 PWG Battle OF Los Angeles winner, and standout from the first Terminus show Daniel Garcia. Also, former NXT Superstars Leon Ruff and Shane Swerve Strickland are set to be there along with the likes of Davey Richards and more to be announced in the weeks to come. Until then, all roads lead to Terminus.

Tickets are available for the show at this link. The show will also be available live on FITE.TV.