Every Ring Of Honor World Champion RANKED | partsFUNknown - video Dailymotion

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Every Ring Of Honor World Champion RANKED | partsFUNknown The Ring of Honor World Championship has one of the most impressive lineages in all of wrestling! As we rank every champion from worst to best, let us know in the comments who you think should have been ROH Champion but never was!  00:00 - Start 01:12 - 29 01:51 - 28 02:23 - 27 02:59 - 26 03:34 - 25 04:10 - 24 04:38 - 23 05:07 - 22 05:47 - 21 06:28 - 20 07:14 - 19 07:46 - 18 08:18 - 17 08:50 - 16 09:19 - 15 09:49 - 14 10:26 - 13 11:02 - 12 11:37 - 11 12:14 - 10 12:56 - 9 13:33 - 8 14:07 - 7 14:38 - 6 15:20 - 5 16:03 - 4 16:35 - 3 17:15 - 2 17:55 - 1  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/ Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/ Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/

Transcript

00:00 The Ring of Honor World Champion on their best day should be arguably the best wrestler

00:06 in the world.

00:07 For a large amount of the ROH World Title history, the names making up this lineage

00:11 have helped shape the course of pro wrestling in the 2000s.

00:14 That's a hell of a list.

00:16 Yes, it's been a Ring of Honor kind of mood around here lately.

00:19 While we all wait patiently for Part 3 of the Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Ring of

00:23 Honor, let's take a proper look at each of the men to carry the torch in the Honorable

00:27 Ring.

00:28 The criteria should be pretty self-explanatory, considering this is ROH we're talking about.

00:32 We got your pretty standard ones, like the length of their reigns, the quantity and quality

00:37 of their title defenses, and the quality of the match they won the title in, but the overall

00:41 lasting impact each man had as champion will be the most important factor.

00:45 There really aren't that many bad ROH champions, so you get positive Tempest today.

00:49 My personal favorite Tempest.

00:51 I am Tempest, hailing from PartsFunKnown, and this is every ROH World Champion ever

00:55 ranked.

00:58 We haven't done that many ranking videos on PartsFunKnown, so if you like this format

01:02 and would like to see more of it, make sure you like this video and subscribe to PFK so

01:05 you don't miss a single ranking video ever.

01:09 Please do it.

01:10 Just do it already.

01:11 I can only ask so many times.

01:12 Number 29, Kyle O'Reilly.

01:14 Had Kyle O'Reilly's time come at a more opportune moment, he would have undoubtedly placed much

01:18 higher on this list.

01:20 As it stands, he holds the record for the shortest ROH World Championship reign at only

01:24 33 days.

01:26 In what would ultimately be the conclusion of the ROH chapter of their "Destined to

01:29 Do This Forever" rivalry, Kyle finally beat Adam Cole to win the ROH World Title at Final

01:35 Battle 2016.

01:36 The problem was, Kyle decided he would rather team with Von Wagner than be ROH Champion,

01:41 and dropped the title back to Cole at WrestleKingdom 11.

01:43 Fun fact, that's the only time the title has ever changed hands outside of North America.

01:47 Had he stayed, there's no doubt Kyle would have championed with the best of them.

01:51 Number 28, Xavier.

01:53 Xavier sticks out like a sore thumb on this list, unfortunately.

01:56 Easily the least known ROH World Champion, his reign was only the second in the title's

02:00 history and it never quite hit home.

02:02 As World Champion, he played second fiddle to Christopher Daniels in "The Prophecy"

02:06 despite being one of the promotion's most aided heels.

02:08 I miss when factions were just called "The Prophecy", "The Decade", "The Addiction".

02:13 They've all blended together for me at this point.

02:15 His reign lasted 182 days, but it's hard to find many highlights and he didn't leave

02:20 the lasting impact on the title that many of the others on this list did.

02:23 Number 27, PCO.

02:25 Following the mass exodus of Ring of Honor in 2018, there were few who could believably

02:29 match the high standards of the Ring of Honor World Championship.

02:32 The roster was slightly weak at the time, although there were still top talents like

02:36 Marty Scurll, Bandito, and Brody King.

02:38 This is why when 51-year-old gimmick wrestler PCO won the title at Final Battle 2019, it

02:43 felt off.

02:44 PCO is definitely respected for a lengthy career and his ability to withstand insane

02:49 punishment - I mean, look at that chest - but he didn't feel like the guy to carry ROH

02:54 on his back, losing the title back to Roosh only 78 days into his reign.

02:58 Number 26, Lowkey.

03:00 Lowkey's an insanely talented wrestler, even if he's about as fun to work with as Meezles.

03:05 He has the unique distinction of being the first ever ROH World Champion, winning the

03:09 title on July 27, 2002 in a four-way, 60-minute Ironman match involving Christopher Daniels,

03:15 Brian "Spanky" Kendrick, and Doug Williams.

03:17 Way to hit the ground running, ROH.

03:19 His place on this list is solely because of that fact as well.

03:22 As champion, Lowkey only managed one title defense against AJ Styles before dropping

03:27 it to Xavier in 56 days.

03:29 A top talent, no doubt, but not a long enough or impactful enough reign to be considered

03:33 a great champion.

03:34 Number 25, James Gibson.

03:36 The man WWE fans would know as Jamie Noble stepped into Ring of Honor during a brief

03:40 hiatus from WWE in 2005 and managed to accomplish the minor feat of unseating CM Punk as Ring

03:46 of Honor World Champion and having a pretty solid, albeit short reign.

03:50 James Gibson only held the title for 36 days, but he managed to cram a lot of quality into

03:54 that window.

03:55 One of the most underrated performers to come through WCW and WWE at the time, Gibson was

04:00 never going to be given the chance to be World Champion in a major promotion due to his size.

04:04 But in ROH, this was Gibson's opportunity to show he could wrestle with the best in

04:08 the main event, and he did just that.

04:10 Number 24, Michael Elgin.

04:12 Many of Michael Elgin's best moments in Ring of Honor came when he was not ROH World

04:16 Champion.

04:17 He's another very talented wrestler, as is virtually everyone on this list, but Elgin's

04:21 reign would become more known for backstage controversy than what he did in the ring.

04:25 His matches chasing the title were excellent, and he eventually defeated Adam Cole to win

04:29 the title at Best in the World 2014.

04:31 Disagreements with management led to many of the ROH fans and other wrestlers turning

04:35 on Elgin, leading to a short 76-day reign.

04:38 Number 23, Matt Taven.

04:40 Matt Taven's reign atop Ring of Honor was not one the fans liked, nor really wanted

04:44 to see.

04:45 Winning the title at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden, to say Taven had go-away heat

04:50 would be a bit of an understatement.

04:52 Respectfully, he was a mid-carder, and ROH wasn't a promotion where a lot of mid-carders

04:56 became World Champion.

04:58 The reign itself was fine, but not terribly exciting, more highlighting the lack of depth

05:02 in Ring of Honor's roster in 2019, and he later dropped the title to Roosh after 174

05:07 days.

05:08 Number 22, Homicide.

05:10 Remember how cool it was when Homicide appeared at Dynamite Grand Slam and he got that pop?

05:14 Yeah, imagine that times a thousand and you have the pop when he dethroned ROH World Champion

05:18 Bryan Danielson at Final Battle 2006.

05:21 His run as ROH World Champion was still short at only 56 days due to issues with the emerging

05:26 TNA wrestling, but that match with Danielson elevates him several spots on this list.

05:31 Having a classic match to win the title helps a lot, and unseating the great Bryan Danielson

05:36 as champion increases that tenfold.

05:38 Their match at Final Battle 2006 in front of Homicide's hometown New York fans is a

05:43 top-tier ROH moment, and it wouldn't have been possible without Homicide himself.

05:47 Number 21, Jerry Lynn.

05:49 It is difficult to find a more respected and somehow underrated wrestler than Jerry Lynn.

05:54 An ECW legend and a man truly ahead of his time in the ring, Lynn won the ROH World Championship

05:59 from Nigel McGuinness at Supercard of Honor 4.

06:02 While Lynn certainly met the qualification of being a phenomenal wrestler to be ROH World

06:06 Champion, his title win was met with criticism.

06:08 McGuinness was in the midst of a 545-day reign as champion, and many thought that reign should

06:14 have been used to highlight a new star rather than a legend.

06:17 Lynn's reign, while good, only lasted 71 days before dropping the title to Austin Aries.

06:22 Another fun fact, I didn't know that Jerry Lynn and Jerry Flynn were different people

06:25 until this year.

06:27 Because I'm dumb.

06:28 Number 20, Bandito.

06:29 When I wrote this script originally, Bandito was the most difficult one to place, but then,

06:33 well, the last six months happened.

06:35 When fans were welcomed back to Best in the World 2021, they were greeted with Bandito

06:39 finally winning the ROH World Championship.

06:42 During ROH's most difficult time, you could look at Bandito and see a wrestler capable

06:47 of carrying the mantle of ROH World Champion, and during those days, that was pretty rare.

06:51 His reign technically ends on December 10th, 2021, when Bandito had to pull out of his

06:55 final battle title match with Jonathan Gresham after testing positive for COVID, but he held

06:59 onto the belt for another 111 days before unifying it with Jonathan Gresham's interim

07:04 title and Oh No, I've Gone Cross-Eyed.

07:06 There are far too many COVID-related factors at play when trying to rank this poor bandit,

07:10 so he finds his place right here despite being a very capable wrestler.

07:14 Number 19, Roosh.

07:16 Very similar to the last entry, Roosh was very hard to place for this list, but because

07:20 of the pandemic rather than the company shutdown.

07:22 Roosh's first title reign was pretty solid, albeit not terribly memorable, defeating Matt

07:26 Taven in September 2019 before losing the title to PCO in December.

07:30 However, his second reign will go down as the most peculiar in the title's history.

07:34 Roosh won the title back from PCO at Gateway to Honor, and it would be the last show Ring

07:38 of Honor would put on for six months.

07:41 Most reigns at 498 days will be looked at as pretty great, but those reigns didn't

07:45 take place during a panorama.

07:46 Number 18, Dalton Castle.

07:48 Oh, what this reign could have been.

07:50 The world's most flamboyant man, Castle is an extremely charismatic performer who could

07:54 also go in the ring.

07:55 He became the man to dethrone Cody as ROH World Champion at Final Battle 2017, but the

08:00 injury bug was determined to knock down this sandcastle.

08:03 A debilitating back injury was the end of his chances to be an iconic world champion,

08:08 and Castle struggled to have matches comparable to when he was healthy.

08:11 The title was eventually taken off Castle on an episode of ROH TV in July 2018, and

08:15 he's yet to reach the heights he was at before the injury again.

08:18 Number 17, Jonathan Gresham.

08:20 To the man who not only unseated Bandito to become undisputed ROH World Champion, but

08:25 also unseated him as the hardest champion to place on this list, I salute you.

08:29 If this video got made a year from now, there is a good chance that Jonathan Gresham could

08:33 find himself in the top tier of ROH champions.

08:35 The man is God tier among active technical wrestlers, and fits the image of the ROH World

08:40 Champion better than many of his predecessors.

08:42 The first champ of the Tony Khan era, Jonathan Gresham has been defending the title in promotions

08:46 like Impact, Terminus, and Progress, a little nomad champion.

08:50 Number 16, Eddie Edwards.

08:52 When I started watching Ring of Honor back in 2010, Eddie Edwards was my favorite wrestler.

08:57 An incredible performer, Edwards won the ROH World Championship from Roderick Strong at

09:01 Manhattan Mayhem 4 in 2011.

09:03 While no one would doubt his abilities, many had Edwards pegged solidly behind his tag

09:07 partner Davey Richards, and were befuddled when Edwards won the title first.

09:11 While he might not have been his partner, Edwards was more than capable as champ, having

09:14 several great matches before dropping the title to, you guessed it, Davey Richards.

09:19 Number 15, Christopher Daniels.

09:21 Christopher Daniels' reign as ROH World Champion may have come several years later than it

09:25 should have, but no one will balk at his name when looking through the list of former champions.

09:29 The Fallen Angel was someone who defined the early days of Ring of Honor, and was one of

09:32 the pioneers of the modern independent scene.

09:35 When he finally won the title from Adam Cole in 2017, it was a feel-good moment to honor

09:39 a legend.

09:40 This is the tier of guys that are really good ROH champions.

09:44 It's very hard to find problems with Daniels' run as champion, and you might have just wished

09:47 it happened when he was a younger man.

09:49 Number 14, Cody.

09:51 Cody was a very different performer when he arrived in Ring of Honor compared to when

09:54 he left.

09:55 A profoundly WWE guy when he arrived, boy that's ironic now isn't it, Cody used his

10:00 time in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling to develop into a much better in-ring performer

10:04 and a more effective heel.

10:06 Cody knocked off Christopher Daniels' champion at Best in the World 2017, and it marked the

10:10 biggest title win of his career to that point.

10:12 His reign was genuinely very good, as he used his status as the WWE guy to draw great heat

10:17 from the Ring of Honor fans.

10:19 With a very respectable 175 day reign, Cody more than earned his place among the great

10:24 Ring of Honor World Champions.

10:26 Number 13, Davey Richards.

10:28 Now this is where the list starts getting tough, but for a new reason.

10:31 You may look at Davey Richards at number 13 and think, "Well, this is quite peculiar."

10:36 But when you remember who else is on this list, it becomes clear just how great the

10:40 champions have been in Ring of Honor.

10:42 Richards managed to surpass his tag partner Eddie Edwards at Best in the World 2011 to

10:46 become champion, and if he had focused more on his singles run and less on his team, he

10:50 would have placed higher.

10:51 At the time, there were those who regarded Richards as the best wrestler in the world.

10:55 His title defenses reflected that, with his match against Michael Elgin at Showdown in

10:59 the Sun being regarded as one of the best in company history.

11:02 Number 12, Roderick Strong.

11:04 You don't get the nickname "Mr. ROH" by being a slouch, and Roderick Strong was indeed

11:08 no slouch.

11:10 Strong was a fantastic heel by the time Truth Martini led him to the ROH World Championship

11:14 in September 2010.

11:15 His matches were almost all top-notch as champion, as he put in a very solid 189-day

11:20 reign.

11:21 Many of the best reigns in ROH were due in no small part to the quality of the roster

11:24 at the time.

11:25 In this case, Strong had a number of excellent challengers defending the title against Homicide,

11:30 El Generico, Davey Richards, Christopher Daniels, and Jay Briscoe, solidifying him as one of

11:35 the promotion's best champions.

11:37 Number 11, Tyler Black.

11:39 Before he would go on to become WWE's Seth Rollins, Tyler Black seemed destined for big

11:43 things in wrestling.

11:45 When your first match is a blow-away outing with AJ Styles, you probably have a bright

11:49 future.

11:50 Sure enough, Black entered Ring of Honor at only 21 years old and won the ROH World Championship

11:56 at Ring of Honor's 8th anniversary event in February 2010.

11:59 There were members of ROH management who didn't see Black as their top guy, and if they had,

12:03 well, there's no telling how big of an ROH star he could have been.

12:07 As champion, word got out that Black was heading for WWE, and he was able to get that unique

12:11 "I hate you for leaving" kind of heat on the way out.

12:14 Number 10, Austin Aries.

12:16 You can say a lot of things about Austin Aries, I have, and will again, but you cannot deny

12:20 that he is a top-notch performer.

12:22 The man had the chance to win the ROH World Championship from Samoa Joe, ending his two-year

12:27 reign.

12:28 Not to be outdone by his predecessor, Aries put in the work to also be considered one

12:31 of ROH's best title holders.

12:33 With a solid 174-day reign as champion, Aries had good matches with the likes of Bryan Danielson,

12:38 but his second reign in 2009 was where he really hit his stride as one of the most effective

12:42 heels in the wrestling business.

12:44 Put these two reigns together, and you undoubtedly have yourself a top 10 ROH champion.

12:48 And I mean, if you don't like him, you can just pay to step into the rant room and verbally

12:51 have your way with him and control your narrative.

12:54 So f*cking stupid.

12:56 Number 9, Jay Briscoe.

12:58 Definitely an interesting choice to make an ROH World Champion, considering his extensive

13:01 history as a tag team wrestler, but Jay Briscoe rose to the occasion when called upon.

13:05 Briscoe is best known for his work alongside his brother Mark, but from 2013 to 2015, he

13:10 was one of the promotion's absolute best.

13:13 His first reign was derailed due to a storyline injury or contract dispute or some such nonsense,

13:17 but once he was back on track, Briscoe regained the title in 2014 where he held onto it for

13:22 almost a year.

13:23 Briscoe's authentic presentation has always been a benefit of his, and his in-ring work

13:26 is as good as can be.

13:28 He has since gone back to being a tag team wrestler, but for that two-year period, he

13:31 was one of the top singles wrestlers in the business.

13:33 Number 8, Takeshi Morishima.

13:36 If you want to know what it feels like to get absolutely pummeled, go provoke a grizzly

13:39 bear because he'll probably go easier on you than Takeshi Morishima.

13:42 One of the wrestlers to come over in Ring of Honor's working relationship with pro-wrestling

13:45 Noah, Morishima brought a much rougher and nastier style to his matches than what many

13:50 fans were used to.

13:51 He fit right in with the likes of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, having classic matches

13:55 with both.

13:56 Morishima held onto the title for 231 days and even defended it in Japan against Kenta.

14:01 This was during the early days of the promotion when each champion seemed to bring something

14:04 new and exciting to the table, and Morishima was no different.

14:08 Number 7, Kevin Steen.

14:09 While he might be better known today as WWE's Kevin Owens, once upon a time this was the

14:13 most over man in Ring of Honor.

14:15 Kevin Steen became the champion of the people after he butted heads with Booker Jim Cornette

14:19 on camera and backstage.

14:21 Steen had a very organic connection with the crowd who had seen him come up as a tag team

14:24 with El Generico.

14:26 This was, of course, when Steen turned his back on everyone and became the biggest heel

14:29 in the company, as he's one to do.

14:32 One of the best reigns in company history, Steen held the title for nearly a year, defeating

14:36 everyone in his path from Jay Lethal to Rhyno.

14:38 Number 6, Adam Cole.

14:40 To date, Adam Cole is the only three time ROH World Champion in history.

14:45 Cole certainly did not have the hottest start in Ring of Honor, as fans found his tag team

14:48 and feud with Kyle O'Reilly to be fine, but not top guy stuff.

14:51 However, this eventually changed through the sheer will of the performers, with Cole crediting

14:55 his match with O'Reilly at Final Battle 2012 as the match that won over the fans.

15:00 His first reign as champion would be his best as part of the Kingdom when he held the title

15:03 for 275 days before he would later win the title again as part of Bullet Club in 2016

15:08 and then again for a third time at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

15:11 Cole was consistently one of the most entertaining performers in Ring of Honor, and that success

15:15 eventually led him to working elsewhere, and then elsewhere again, and the rest is story

15:18 time with Adam Cole, baby.

15:20 Number 5, CM Punk.

15:22 It may seem strange that a reign so short would crack the top five, but man did CM Punk

15:26 ever cram a metric ton of quality wrestling into his 55 day reign.

15:31 Word had gotten out that he was going to WWE, and a farewell match was booked against ROH

15:34 World Champion Austin Aries.

15:36 Much to everyone's shock, Punk won the title and proceeded to cut a scathing promo on the

15:40 crowd eerily similar to the famous pipe bomb promo that he would cut in WWE years later.

15:45 In the two months that followed, Punk signed his legitimate WWE contract on the title,

15:50 had a fantastic title defense against Roderick Strong, and dropped the title to James Gibson.

15:54 The Summer of Punk in 55 days, and handled about a million times better than the WWE

15:59 version.

16:00 Arguably the best 55 day period in Ring of Honor history, honestly.

16:03 Number 4, Jay Lethal.

16:05 During the more recent era of Ring of Honor, Jay Lethal continued to step up as the promotion's

16:09 in-ring standard bearer.

16:10 Lethal has spent the most combined days as ROH Champion, with a staggering 707 days holding

16:15 the title.

16:16 427 days starting at Best in the World 2015, 280 days starting on ROH TV in July 2018.

16:22 That is quality.

16:24 Lethal may not have had the match of the year contenders that others on this list did, but

16:27 he was a beacon of consistency.

16:29 Especially following the departure of half the ROH roster in 2018, who knows where the

16:33 promotion would have been without him.

16:35 Number 3, Nigel McGuinness.

16:37 If you hadn't noticed, we have entered the top tier of ROH World Champions.

16:41 These are the men who will go down as some of the best champions in American wrestling

16:44 history, and Nigel McGuinness is right there among them.

16:47 Taking the title from Takeshi Morishima at Undeniable in 2007, McGuinness took the title

16:51 even further with a ludicrous 545 day reign.

16:55 McGuinness had been having fantastic matches for years with ROH's various champions.

17:00 Now however, it was his turn to have them, every single night after walking to the ring

17:03 with the title around his waist.

17:05 As champion, McGuinness defeated many of the men who populated this list, and he had incredible

17:09 matches doing it.

17:10 Seriously, go back and watch the pop when he won the title from Morishima.

17:13 It is earth-shaking.

17:14 Number 2, Bryan Danielson.

17:17 There was many a night when ROH fans walked to their cars saying "Bryan Danielson is

17:22 the best wrestler in the world."

17:24 AEW fans are relearning that these days.

17:26 Danielson was synonymous with Ring of Honor, and his 462 day reign as champion was a perfect

17:30 example of a believable smaller champion.

17:33 Danielson wasn't going to beat many in a powerlifting contest, but he damn sure could

17:37 out-wrestle you.

17:38 It was during his time as champion that he became known as the best technical wrestler

17:41 of his generation.

17:42 With matches against Nigel McGuinness, Kenta, Roderick Strong, Lance Storm and others, Danielson

17:47 became the standard for great matches in North America.

17:50 When Samoa Joe and CM Punk left the promotion, Danielson stepped up in the biggest way imaginable.

17:55 Number 1, Samoa Joe.

17:58 He's coming home, coming home.

18:03 Tell the world that he's come home.

18:06 Joey Samoa is back in Ring of Honor, baby.

18:09 To this day, Samoasav Joseph's 645 day reign as ROH World Champion is remembered as the

18:14 best in ROH history.

18:16 The promotion's first excellent world champion, Samoa Joe carried the torch for ROH for almost

18:21 two years in a way no one has matched since.

18:24 His work against CM Punk in 2004 still gets talked about today, and for good reason.

18:28 Their battles were part of what put ROH on the map and still hold up as classics, with

18:32 their second 60-minute draw earning the promotion's first 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.

18:37 Joe defended the title everywhere imaginable.

18:39 A true traveling champion, Joe brought a level of legitimacy to the title that few others

18:43 have.

18:44 This is exactly where the ROH World Championship became the top prize in independent wrestling.

18:50 Credit needs to be given to Samoa Joe for carrying a company better than almost anyone

18:54 has in any promotion this side of the new millennium.

18:58 And that's our much longer than average list.

19:00 If you liked this ranking video and would like to see other things ranked on this channel,

19:03 let us know in the comments below what exactly you'd like to see.

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19:12 video just like this.

19:14 Thank you for getting us to 200,000 subscribers.

19:16 Let's get to 250.

19:18 [music]

Every Ring Of Honor World Champion RANKED | partsFUNknown

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