Survival of the Fittest” is a tournament that was born in Essington, PA on June 24, 2004 when Mark Briscoe, Alex Shelley, Colt Cabana, Trent Acid, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, John Walters, Josh Daniels, Homicide, Jay Briscoe, Bryan Danielson, Jack Evans, Samoa Joe, and Matt Stryker battled it out in qualifying matches over the 6 slots in the elimination finals. Mark Briscoe, Cabana, Aries, Homicide, Danielson, and Joe were the men who advanced with Danielson & Aries standing as the last two men battling over a future title shot. Their 20-minute fight, won by Danielson, ultimately accomplished two things: Danielson earned himself a title opportunity and Aries began to establish himself in the top tier of ROH talent.

That first tournament set the tone for the years to come and, with 2008 the only exception, each year since has seen a man fight his way into contention via SOTF. Roderick Strong in 2005, Delirious in 2006, Chris Hero in 2007, Tyler Black in 2009…all of those men made it out of SOTF victorious, but none of them managed to turn the title bout they earned into a championship victory. That “curse” was broken with “SOTF 2010” when Eddie Edwards, fighting through a severely separated shoulder suffered in his qualifying bout against Chris Hero, went on to the finals and eliminated Kenny King to earn the title bout. Then, at “Manhattan Mayhem IV”, with his ROH World Title victory over Roderick Strong, Eddie became to first man to successfully parlay his SOTF win into a championship. The precedent was set, and now, with SOTF 2011 on the horizon, the ROH roster is looking to step up to the plate. But where will it all go down? ROH officials have now determined just that…