The state of Ring of Honor is incredibly murky at the moment. The company has released all of its talent and has said they will be using the start of 2022 to “Reimagine ROH”.
What this means for the promotion is still very unclear but it certainly doesn’t look good at this moment.
With that in mind, we would like to take the time to highlight the work of the performers who defined Ring of Honor for the last two decades.
The promotion has been home to some of the best matches in American history and some of the best champions as well. The latter will be the focus of this list.
For quite some time you truly had to earn the right to be ROH World Champion. Because of this, the title has a lineage of some of the best wrestlers of this century as its standard bearers.
Let’s take a look at them. This is every ROH World Champion ranked from worst to best.
28. Kyle O’Reilly
Had Kyle O’Reilly’s time come at a more opportune moment, he would likely place much higher on this list.
As it stands, he holds the record for the shortest ROH World Championship reign at only 33 days.
This was because his contract ran out and he was going to go to WWE so the belt had to be taken off of him quickly.
Winning it at Final Battle 2016 and losing it at Wrestle Kingdom 11, O’Reilly could have championed ROH with the best of them if he had only stuck around.
27. Xavier
Xavier sticks out like a sore thumb on this list, unfortunately. Easily the least known ROH World Champion, his reign was only the second in the title’s history and it never quite hit home.
He played second fiddle to Christopher Daniels in The Prophecy despite being one of the promotion’s most hated heels.
His reign lasted 182 days, however it is difficult to find many highlights and he didn’t leave the lasting impact on the title that many of the others on this list did.
26. PCO
Following the mass exodus of Ring of Honor in 2018, there were few who could believably match the high standards of the ROH World Championship.
The roster was slightly weak at the time although there were still top talents like Marty Scurll, Bandido and Brody King.
This is why when 51-year-old gimmick wrestler PCO won the title at Final Battle 2019, it felt off.
PCO is definitely respected for having a lengthy career and his ability to withstand insane punishment, but he didn’t feel like the guy to carry ROH on his back, losing the title back to RUSH only 78 days into his reign.
25. Low Ki
Low Ki is an insanely talented wrestler even if he is very difficult to work with.
He has the unique distinction of being the first ever ROH World Champion, winning the title on July 27, 2002.
His place on this list is solely because of that fact, as well. As champion Low Ki only managed one defense against AJ Styles before dropping it to Xavier after 56 days.
A top talent, no doubt, but a not a long enough or impactful enough reign to be considered a great champion.
24. James Gibson
The man WWE fans would know as Jamie Noble stepped into Ring of Honor during a brief hiatus from WWE in 2005.
During that time he managed to unseat CM Punk as ROH World Champion and have a pretty solid albeit short reign.
James Gibson only held the title for 36 days but he managed to cram a lot of quality into that window.
One of the most underrated performers to come through WCW and WWE at the time, this was Gibson’s opportunity to show he could wrestle with the best in the main event and he did just that.
23. Michael Elgin
Many of Michael Elgin’s best moments in Ring of Honor came when he was not ROH World Champion.
He is another very talented wrestler, as is virtually everyone on this list, but Elgin’s reign would become known more for backstage controversy than what he did in the ring.
His matches chasing the title were excellent and he eventually defeated Adam Cole to win the title at Best in the World 2014.
Disagreements with management led to many of the ROH fans and other wrestlers turning on Elgin leading to a short 76-day reign.
22. Matt Taven
Matt Taven’s reign atop Ring of Honor was not one the fans liked nor wanted to see.
Winning the title at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden, Taven instantly drew a go-away heat level reaction.
Many said that his winning the title was a disaster with fans wanting to see Marty Scurll win the title instead.
Taven wasn’t at the level of many of the ROH Champions that had come before him and it further highlighted ROH’s declining roster following the creation of AEW.
His reign itself was fine but not terribly exciting, dropping the title to RUSH after 174 days.
21. Homicide
Homicide is a very respected wrestler who has only briefly been used as a world champion.
His run as ROH World Champion was still short at only 56 days due to issues with the emerging TNA Wrestling, but the match where he won the title elevates him several spots on this list.
Having a classic match to win the title helps a lot and unseating the great Bryan Danielson as champion increases that tenfold.
Their match at Final Battle 2006 in front of Homicide’s hometown New York fans is a top tier ROH moment and it wouldn’t have been possible without Homicide himself.
20. Jerry Lynn
It is difficult to find a more respected and somehow underrated wrestler than Jerry Lynn.
An ECW legend and a man truly ahead of his time in the ring, Lynn won the ROH World Championship from Nigel McGuinness at Supercard of Honor IV.
While Lynn meets the qualification of being a phenomenal wrestler to be ROH Champion, his title win was met with criticism.
McGuinness was in the midst of a 545-day reign as champion and many thought that reign should have been used to highlight a new star rather than a legend.
Lynn’s reign, while good, only lasted 71 days before losing the title to Austin Aries.
19. Bandido
This was probably the hardest entry to place on the entire list.
Bandido has been one of the best wrestlers in the world for a few years now and seemed to be ROH’s biggest free agent signing when he joined the company in late 2018.
When fans were welcomed back to Best in the World 2021, they were greeted with Bandido finally winning the ROH World Championship.
As of this writing, he has been champion for over 100 days and the title has not been vacated.
Bandido managed a few very solid defenses at Glory By Honor and Death Before Dishonor XVIII.
These would be enough to put him fairly high on the list but placing him anywhere right now it just too complicated.
18. RUSH
Very similar to the last entry, RUSH was very hard to place for this list but because of the pandemic rather than the company’s shutdown.
RUSH’s first title reign was pretty solid albeit not especially memorable, defeating Matt Taven in September 2019 before losing the title to PCO in December.
However, his second reign will go down as the most peculiar in the title’s history. RUSH won the title back from PCO at Gateway to Honor and it would be the last show Ring of Honor would put on for six months.
His understandable absence from many shows during the pandemic still has an impact on his legacy as champion but his title defenses upon his return still make him a better than average champ.
17. Dalton Castle
Oh, what this reign could have been. Dalton Castle is an extremely charismatic performer who could also go in the ring.
He became the man to dethrone Cody as ROH World Champion at Final Battle 2017 but his reign never got off the ground like it should have.
Marred by a debilitating back injury, Castle struggled to have matches comparable to when he was healthy.
The title was eventually taken off Castle on an episode of ROH TV in July 2018 and he has yet to reach the heights he was at before the injury again.
16. Eddie Edwards
When I started watching Ring of Honor back in 2010, Eddie Edwards was my favorite wrestler.
An incredible wrestler, Edwards won the ROH World Championship from Roderick Strong in 2011.
While no one would doubt his abilities, many had Edwards pegged solidly behind his tag partner Davey Richards and were befuddled when Edwards won the title first.
While he might not have been his partner, Edwards was more than capable as champ, having several great matches before dropping the title to, you guessed it, Davey Richards.
15. Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels’ reign as ROH World Champion may have come several years later than it should have but no one will balk at his name when looking through the list of former champions.
Daniels was someone who defined the early days of Ring of Honor and was one of the pioneers of the modern independent scene.
When he finally won the title from Adam Cole in 2017, it was a feel-good moment to honor a legend.
This is the tier of guys that are really good ROH Champions. It is very hard to find problems with Daniels’ run as champion, you might just wish it had happened when he was a younger man.
14. Cody
Cody was a very different performer when he arrived in Ring of Honor compared to when he left.
A profoundly WWE guy, Cody used his time in ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling to develop into a much better in-ring performer and a more effective heel.
Cody dethroned Christopher Daniels as champion at Best in the World 2017 and it marked the biggest title win of his career to that point.
His reign was genuinely very good as he used his status as “The WWE Guy” to draw great heat from the ROH fans.
With a very respectable 175-day reign, Cody more than earned his place among the great ROH World Champions.
13. Davey Richards
Now, this is where this list starts getting tough but for a new reason.
You may look at Davey Richards at number 13 and think “how could that be possible” but when you remember who else is on this list it becomes clear how great the champions have been in ROH.
Richards managed to surpass his tag partner Eddie Edwards at Best in the World 2011 to become champion and if he had focused more on his singles run and less on his team, he would have placed higher.
At the time, there were those who regarded Richards as the best wrestler in the world.
His title defenses reflected that with his match against Michael Elgin at Showdown in the Sun being one of the best in company history.
12. Roderick Strong
You don’t get the nickname “Mr. ROH” by being a slouch and Roderick Strong was indeed no slouch.
Strong was a fantastic heel by the time Truth Martini led him to the ROH World Championship in September 2010.
His matches were almost all top-notch as champion as he put in a very respectable 189-day reign.
Many of the best reigns in ROH were due in no small part to the quality of the roster at the time. In this case, Strong had a number of excellent challengers, solidifying him as one of the promotion’s best champions.
11. Tyler Black
Before he would go on to be WWE’s Seth Rollins, Tyler Black seemed destined for big things in wrestling.
When you can have a blowaway match with AJ Styles in your first ever match, you probably have a bright future.
Sure enough, Black entered Ring of Honor at only 21-years-old and won the ROH World Championship in February 2010.
There were members of ROH management who didn’t see Black as their top guy and if they had there is no telling how big an ROH star he could have been.
As champion, word got out that Black was leaving for WWE and he was able to get that special unique “I hate you for leaving” kind of heat on his way out.
10. Austin Aries
You can say a lot of things about Austin Aries but you cannot deny that he is a top-notch performer.
The man had the opportunity to win the ROH World Championship from Samoa Joe, ending his two-year reign.
Not to be outdone by his predecessor, Aries put in the work to also be considered one of ROH’s best titleholders.
With a 174-day reign as champion, Aries had good matches with the likes of Bryan Danielson but his second reign in 2009 was where he hit his stride as one of the most effective heels in the business.
Put these two reigns together and you undoubtedly have yourself a top ten ROH Champion.
9. Jay Briscoe
Definitely an interesting choice to make ROH World Champion considering his extensive history as a tag team wrestler, but Jay Briscoe rose to the occasion when called upon.
Briscoe is best known for his work alongside his brother Mark but from 2013 to 2015 he was one of the promotion’s absolute best.
His first reign was derailed due to a storyline injury or contract dispute or some nonsense but once he was back on track Briscoe regained the title in 2014 where he held it for almost a year.
Briscoe’s authentic presentation has always been a benefit of his and his in-ring work is as good as can be.
He has since gone back to being a tag team wrestler but for that two-year period, he was one of the top singles wrestlers in the business.
8. Takeshi Morishima
If you want to know what it feels like to get absolutely pummeled, go provoke a grizzly bear because he will probably go easier on you than Takeshi Morishima.
One of the wrestlers to come over in Ring of Honor’s working relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH, Morishima brought a much rougher and nastier style to his matches than many fans were used to.
He fit right in with the likes of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, having classic matches with both.
Morishima held the title for 231 days and even defended it in Japan against KENTA.
This was during the early days of the promotion when each champion seemed to bring something new and exciting to the table and Morishima was no different.
7. Kevin Steen
While he might be better known today as WWE’s Kevin Owens, once upon a time this was the most over man in Ring of Honor.
Kevin Steen became the champion of the people after he butted heads with booker Jim Cornette on camera and backstage.
Steen had a very organic connection with the crowd who had seen him come up as a tag team with El Generico (Sami Zayn).
This was, of course, when Steen turned his back on everyone and became the biggest heel in the company.
One of the best reigns in company history, Steen held the title for nearly a year defeating everyone in his path from Jay Lethal to Rhino.
6. Adam Cole
To date, Adam Cole is the only three-time ROH World Champion in history.
Cole did not have the hottest start in Ring of Honor as fans found his tag team and feud with Kyle O’Reilly to be fine but not top guy stuff.
This eventually changed through the sheer will of the performers with Cole crediting his match with O’Reilly at Final Battle 2012 as the match that won over the fans.
His first reign was his best as part of The Kingdom where he held the title for 275 days and took on all challengers.
Eventually he would win the title again as part of Bullet Club in 2016 and again a third time at Wrestle Kingdom 11.
Cole was consistently one of the most entertaining performers in Ring of Honor and that success eventually led to him working elsewhere and the rest is history.
5. CM Punk
It may seem strange that a reign so short would crack the top five, but man did CM Punk ever cram a metric ton of quality wrestling into his 55-day reign.
Word had gotten out that he was going to WWE and a farewell match was booked against ROH World Champion Austin Aries.
Much to everyone’s shock, Punk won the title and proceeded to cut a scathing promo on the crowd eerily similar to the famous Pipebomb promo he would cut in WWE years later.
In the two months that followed, Punk signed his legitimate WWE contract on the title, had a fantastic title defense against Roderick Strong, and dropped the title to James Gibson.
The Summer of Punk in 55 days. Arguably the best 55 day period in Ring of Honor history.
4. Jay Lethal
During the more recent era of Ring of Honor, Jay Lethal has continued to step up as the promotion’s standard-bearer.
Lethal has spent the most combined days as ROH World Champion with a staggering 707 days holding the title.
427 days starting at Best in the World 2015. 280 days starting on ROH TV in July 2018. That is quality.
Lethal may not have had the match of the year contenders that others on this list did, but he was a beacon of consistency.
Especially in the last three years, who knows where Ring of Honor would have been without him.
3. Nigel McGuinness
If you hadn’t noticed, we have entered the top tier of Ring of Honor World Champions.
These are the men who will go down as some of the best champions in American wrestling and Nigel McGuinness is right there among them.
Taking the title from Takeshi Morishima at Undeniable in 2007, McGuinness took the title even further with a ludicrous 545-day reign.
McGuinness had been having fantastic matches for years with ROH’s various champions. Now, however, he was getting to have them every night after walking to the ring with the title around his waist.
McGuinness defeated many of the men who have populated this list as champion and he had incredible matches doing it.
Seriously, go back and watch the pop when he won the title from Morishima, it is earth-shaking.
2. Bryan Danielson
There was many a night when ROH fans walked to their cars saying “Bryan Danielson is the best wrestler in the world”.
Danielson was synonymous with Ring of Honor and his 462-day reign as champion was a perfect example of a believable smaller champion.
Danielson wasn’t going to beat many in a powerlifting contest but he damn sure would outwrestle you.
It was during his time as champion that he became known as the best technical wrestler of his generation.
With matches against Nigel McGuinness, KENTA, Roderick Strong, Lance Storm and others, Danielson became the standard for great matches in North America.
When Samoa Joe and CM Punk left the promotion, Danielson stepped up in the biggest way imaginable.
1. Samoa Joe
To this day, Samoa Joe’s 645-day reign as ROH World Champion is remembered as the best in Ring of Honor history.
The promotion’s first excellent world champion, Samoa Joe carried the torch for Ring of Honor for almost two years in a way no one has matched since.
His work against CM Punk in 2004 still gets talked about today and for good reason. Their battles were part of what put ROH on the map and still hold up as classics.
He defended the belt everywhere imaginable. A true traveling champion, Joe brought a level of legitimacy to the title as few others have.
This is where the ROH World Championship became the top prize in independent wrestling.
Credit needs to be given to Samoa Joe for carrying a company better than almost anyone else in any promotion this side of the new millennium.
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