List of ROH World Champions

Current ROH World Champion Jay Lethal

The ROH World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship owned and copyrighted by Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. The championship was created and debuted on July 27, 2002 at ROH's Crowning a Champion event. Originally called the ROH Championship, the title was renamed to the ROH World Heavyweight Championship in May 2003 after the title was defended outside the United States for the first time—earlier that month, then-champion Samoa Joe had defeated The Zebra Kid in London, England at the Frontiers Of Honor event co-promoted with the FWA.[1] On August 12, 2006, the ROH World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the ROH Pure Championship after then-champion Bryan Danielson defeated ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool, England.[1] The Pure Championship was deactivated after this match.

ROH World Heavyweight Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes. Some reigns were held by champions using a ring name, while others used their real name. Reigns that were won on pay-per-view events aired on tape delay up to weeks or months apart. Reigns that were won at live events were released on DVD. The inaugural champion was Low Ki, whom ROH recognized to have become the champion after defeating Christopher Daniels, Spanky, and Doug Williams in a Four Way 60-minute Iron Man match on July 27, 2002 at ROH's Crowning a Champion event. As of February 2016, Austin Aries and Jay Briscoe share the record for most reigns, with two.[1] As of February 2016, Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness have the most defenses, with 38; Low Ki has the least, with 1. At 645 days, Samoa Joe's reign is the longest in the title's history. The current champion is Jay Lethal in his first reign.[1] Overall, there have been 22 reigns among 20 wrestlers with one vacancy.[1]

Title history

Names

Name Years
ROH Championship 2002 – May 2003
ROH World Championship May 2003 – present

Reigns

No. Wrestlers Reign Date Days held Location Successful defenses Event Notes
1 Low Ki 1 July 27, 2002 56 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1 Crowning a Champion Low Ki defeated Christopher Daniels, Spanky, and Doug Williams in a Four-Way 60-minute Iron Man match to become the inaugural champion.
2 Xavier 1 September 21, 2002 182 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 4 Unscripted
3 Joe, SamoaSamoa Joe 1 March 22, 2003 645 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 29 Night of Champions After Joe defeated The Zebra Kid on May 17, 2003, in London, England, the ROH Championship was renamed the ROH World Championship.[2]
4 Aries, AustinAustin Aries 1 December 26, 2004 174 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 16 Final Battle 2004
5 Punk, CMCM Punk 1 June 18, 2005 55 Morristown, New Jersey 4 Death Before Dishonor III
6 James Gibson 1 August 12, 2005 36 Dayton, Ohio 4 Redemption This was a four-way elimination match also involving Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe.
7 Bryan Danielson 1 September 17, 2005 462 Lake Grove, New York 38 Glory by Honor IV Danielson unified the title with the ROH Pure Championship on August 12, 2006 by defeating Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool, England.[3][4]
8 Homicide 1 December 23, 2006 56 New York, New York 3 Final Battle 2006 [5]
9 Morishima, TakeshiTakeshi Morishima 1 February 17, 2007 231 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 20 Fifth Year Festival: Philly [6]
10 McGuinness, NigelNigel McGuinness 1 October 6, 2007 545 Edison, New Jersey 38 Undeniable [7]
11 Lynn, JerryJerry Lynn 1 April 3, 2009 71 Houston, Texas 6 Supercard of Honor IV [8]
12 Aries, AustinAustin Aries 2 June 13, 2009 245 New York, New York 13 Manhattan Mayhem III This was a Three-Way Elimination match also involving Tyler Black.[9]
13 Black, TylerTyler Black 1 February 13, 2010 210 New York, New York 7 8th Anniversary Show [10]
14 Strong, RoderickRoderick Strong 1 September 11, 2010 189 New York, New York 5 Glory By Honor IX This was a No Disqualification match with Terry Funk as the ringside enforcer.[11][12]
15 Eddie Edwards 1 March 19, 2011 99 New York, New York 3 Manhattan Mayhem IV Became the first ROH Triple Crown Champion[13]
16 Richards, DaveyDavey Richards 1 June 26, 2011 321 New York, New York 10 Best in the World 2011 [14]
17 Steen, KevinKevin Steen 1 May 12, 2012 328 Toronto, Ontario 18 Border Wars [15]
18 Jay Briscoe 1 April 5, 2013 89 New York, New York 6 Supercard of Honor VII [16]
— Vacated — July 3, 2013 — — N/A N/A Title vacated by ROH Match Maker Nigel McGuinness after Jay Briscoe suffered a storyline injury at the June 23 television tapings and would not be able to compete in ROH for the foreseeable future.[17][18]
19 Cole, AdamAdam Cole 1 September 20, 2013 275 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 13 Death Before Dishonor XI Defeated Michael Elgin in a tournament final.[19]
20 Elgin, MichaelMichael Elgin 1 June 22, 2014 76 Nashville, Tennessee 7 Best in the World 2014
21 Jay Briscoe 2 September 6, 2014 286 Toronto, Ontario 13 All Star Extravaganza 6 [20]
22 Jay Lethal 1 June 19, 2015 246+ New York, New York 10 Best in the World 2015 This was also for Lethal's ROH World Television Championship.

List of combined reigns

Austin Aries, two-time ROH World Champion who shares the record for most reigns with Jay Briscoe

As of February 20, 2016.

† Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined
defenses		 Combined days
1 Samoa Joe 1 29 645
2 McGuinness, NigelNigel McGuinness 1 38 545
3 Danielson, BryanBryan Danielson 1 38 462
4 Aries, AustinAustin Aries 2 29 419
5 Briscoe, JayJay Briscoe 2 19 375
6 Steen, KevinKevin Steen 1 20 328
7 Richards, DaveyDavey Richards 1 10 321
8 Cole, AdamAdam Cole 1 13 275
9 Lethal, JayJay Lethal † 1 10 246+
10 Morishima, TakeshiTakeshi Morishima 1 20 231
11 Black, TylerTyler Black 1 7 210
12 Strong, RoderickRoderick Strong 1 5 189
13 Xavier 1 4 182
14 Edwards, EddieEddie Edwards 1 3 99
15 Elgin, MichaelMichael Elgin 1 7 76
16 Lynn, JerryJerry Lynn 1 6 71
17 Homicide 1 3 56
Low Ki 1 1 56
19 CM Punk 1 4 55
20 Gibson, JamesJames Gibson 1 4 36

Notes

1.^ – This event was a live event that was later released on DVD.
2.^ – This event was a pay-per-view that later aired on tape delay.
3.^ – Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the exact number mean they are tied for that certain rank.

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "ROH World Heavyweight Championship history". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  2. ↑ "We are the Champions (as of July 8)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD). August 2003. p. 15. 109.
  3. ↑ Radican, Sean (2005-09-19). "ROH News: Bryan Danielson captures ROH World Title from James Gibson". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  4. ↑ "ROH Pure Championship reign history". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  5. ↑ Clevett, Jason (2006-12-24). "Homicide crowned ROH champion". SLAM! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  6. ↑ "ROH ペンシルバニア州フィラデルフィア大会" (in Japanese). Pro Wrestling Noah. 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  7. ↑ "ROH ニュージャージー州エジソン大会" (in Japanese). Pro Wrestling Noah. 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  8. ↑ Caldwell, James (2009-04-04). "ROH News: Story from Friday night's ROH Title match in Houston". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  9. ↑ Caldwell, James (2009-06-13). "ROH News: Result from ROH Title match tonight in NYC – Tyler Black added to match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  10. ↑ Marrero, Jose (2010-02-14). "2/13 ROH Results: New York, New York". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  11. ↑ Martin, Adam (2010-09-11). "ROH Glory by Honor IX iPPV Results – 9/11/10". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  12. ↑ Caldwell, James (2010-09-11). "ROH News: PPV Results – Recently-released TNA wrestler returns to ROH after PPV main event". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  13. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2011-03-19). "Surprise title change tonight". The Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
  14. ↑ Radican, Sean (2011-05-26). "Radican's "Best in the World" internet PPV report 6/26: Ongoing "real-time" coverage of live PPV from New York City". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
  15. ↑ Namako, Jason (2012-05-12). "ROH Border Wars iPPV Results- 5/12/12". WrestleView. Retrieved 2012-05-13.
  16. ↑ Radican, Sean (2013-04-05). "Radican's ROH "Supercard of Honor VII" iPPV blog 4/5 – Steen defends vs. Jay Briscoe, ROH vs. S.C.U.M. Ten Man Tag". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-04-06.
  17. ↑ "Nigel McGuinness Makes a Huge Announcement!". Ring of Honor. 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Mike (2013-07-03). "More on ROH Championship". PWInsider. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  19. ↑ Johnson, Mike (2013-09-20). "New ROH Champion crowned: complete ROH Death Before Dishonor XI coverage from Philadelphia, PA". PWInsider. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
  20. ↑ Caldwell, James (2014-09-06). "ROH IPPV news: New ROH World champion, former WWE star & Hardy returning, more from Saturday's event". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-09-07.

External links

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