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But for here and now, I decided that I'd touch on the subject of the ROH World Title, as Jerry Lynn has recently become the eleventh ROH World Champion by virtue of his victory over Nigel McGuinness in Houston over Wrestlemania weekend. Lynn is unique in the linage of the ROH World Title in that he is not a young guy working his way up in the business, nor is he even a mid level guy who's been around a few years, but hasn't hit it big yet. Lynn is a guy who has been around for 20 years, and with that comes a great veteran presence and experience to help mold the younger guys he gets in the ring with, as well as a moderately well-known face to the wrestling audience, which is something else ROH needs given their recent move to TV.
Lynn's title reign has only just started so it's too soon to make too many assessments about his reign as of yet, but I thought what we'd do today is go back and look at the first ten champions and talk about what they brought to the title as well as my own personal take on their time as ROH World Champion, and then at the end come back to Jerry Lynn.
First Champion: Low Ki
It's funny to think about how Low Ki was the face of the company for the first year of its existence and its first champion, yet today when you think of name “ROH guysâ€, Low Ki isn't anywhere near the top of the list and rarely even comes up in ROH discussions. But for that first year, Low Ki was everything ROH embodied: fair play, fighting spirit, total athleticism, high workrate, and a string of MOTYCs a mile long that was capped off by his title victory in a four way, one hour Ironman Match in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, as much as Low Ki was the centerpiece of ROH in the beginning and a strong starting point for the title lineage, he only had a cup of coffee with the title before losing it via subversive means, and so it's hard to justify ranking him among the greatest all-time champions.
Second Champion: Xavier
Xavier's title reign is often looked back on in disdain and he's treated like a black sheep as far as past champions go, but I think he deserves better than that because he was the guy you were supposed to hate because he went against everything ROH was. He won the title by smashing a block of concrete into Low Ki's ribs, then avoided defending the title as much as possible by wrestling in non-title and tag matches wherever he could. In a world where everybody was supposed to be honest and sportsmanlike in their conduct, Xavier went completely the other way by pretending to be a nice guy long enough to get what he wanted and then turned into a huge jerk heel, breaking all the rules and getting ahead in the process. I think one of Gabe Sapolsky's strengths as a booker was his ability to book heels that would be heels even to the internet crowd that thought they were too smart to be sucked in by traditional face/heel lines, and Xavier is a great example of a guy who was booked in a way that sucked in even the “smart†crowd. On top of that, the guy was a great wrestler who had great matches in his title defenses against AJ Styles, Paul London, and Jay Briscoe. He was also one of the few guys in ROH at the time who, quite frankly, even looked like a wrestler instead of a skinny high school kid. He was in shape and wouldn't have looked at all out of place on a WWE event in terms of appearance. But in any event, Xavier ended up dropping the title and, outside of a few very short returns, completely faded out of ROH, which is a shame because I think he brought a lot more to the table than people gave him credit for.
Third Champion: Samoa Joe
To a lot of people, Samoa Joe IS Ring Of Honor and there are strong arguments for his being the greatest ROH World Champion of all time. For one, he got over right away with his hard hitting style and ability to move around a lot better than most big men, and he was one of ROH's most popular acts even before he won the title. Once he won the title (getting even more over in the process by beating the despised Xavier), he embarked on a 21 month long reign as the ROH World Champion. At a time in wrestling history where titles often bounced around several times a month, Joe's title reign provided the stability which had been missing from wrestling since before the Attitude Era. He defended against an array of top indy talent like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Doug Williams Bryan Danielson, and Dan Maff, and his feuds with guys like Homicide, the Briscoes, and CM Punk have become some of the most legendary in ROH history. In fact, at a time when ROH was in serious danger of going out of business in the wake of the Feinstein scandal of 2004, a lot of people point to Joe's title reign and specifically his series of matches with Punk as major reasons for the survival of the company. Joe's reign went on for so long and he seemed so unstoppable that when he did finally lose the title, it was one of the most shocking moments in the history of the company. But even in defeat, Joe had left an indelible mark on the title and the company, and no matter who held the title after him, there are a lot of people who still consider it “his†title.
Fourth Champion: Austin Aries
Much like Xavier did, Aries was hated by the fans simply because he ended the title reign of somebody who was loved by the fans, but unlike Xavier, Aries got past it pretty quickly and went on to have a short but impressive run as ROH World Champion. Though he could have been considered a regular underdog in his title defenses due to being much newer to ROH than a lot of the guys he was defending against, he strung together several totally clean wins over established top ROH names to legitimize himself as champion. Colt Cabana, Homicide, James Gibson, Alex Shelley, Bryan Danielson, and Spanky were all defeated by Aries, and he even pinned Joe again in a rematch at the Third Year Celebration. Aries definitely worked hard, had lots of great matches, and beat all the right guys, but people still saw him as a transitional champion, because in spite of all the people he beat, most people thought of him as simply holding the title for CM Punk, so when he did end up being defeated by Punk at Death Before Dishonor III, it fulfilled the predictions a lot of people made six months earlier. The funny thing is that it wasn't until after he lost the title that Aries finally began to gain acceptance as a bonafide star in ROH, and within a year he became (and has remained) more over than he ever was when he was the ROH World Champion.
Fifth Champion: CM Punk
As I said, a lot of people predicted that Punk was getting the title from Aries almost from the moment he pinned Joe at Final Battle 2004. The thing that became surprising about his title win was that there were a lot of heavy rumors going around that WWE was looking to or already had signed him, so most fans expected him to wrestle his last ROH match at Death Before Dishonor III, so when he ended up beating Aries, the crowd was ecstatic, yet confused. Everything became clear within minutes as CM Punk turned heel on the crowd, playing into their cheers long enough to get what he wanted, but now that he was the ROH World Champion, he didn't need them anymore and was going to take the title with him to WWE. Because most people expected him to be out the door after Death Before Dishonor III, the common thought was that he would probably drop the title at the next show and be on his way. But he ended up retaining on his first title defense. Then his second, and then his third. Before you knew it, two months had gone by and CM Punk was still the ROH World Champion in spite of the fact that he theoretically wasn't even supposed to still be in ROH at that point. He had gone to an hour draw against Christopher Daniels and even pinned his old rival Samoa Joe in a four way match before he finally dropped the title and then went on to wrestle his final match with the company the following evening. What seemed like ROH giving him a quickie title reign ended up stretching out over the entire summer (which some fans now refer to as the Summer Of Punk) and it turned into a great angle because the fans would expect him to drop the title every time out, but he ended up keeping it until it got to the point where the fans expected him to keep it, and then he lost it. Punk only had four successful title defenses, but the angle was so good that it stands out even if it was short.
Sixth Champion: James Gibson
James Gibson's title win came as even more of a shock than Punk's because while Punk was rumored to have signed a WWE deal, Gibson had already been confirmed as signing one before he won the title. Because of this, everybody knew from the start that he was only going to be a very short term champion, and Gibson ended up being probably the least remarkable champion in company history. He did successfully defend the title a handful of times to create some suspense, but it was nowhere near the level of interest as Punk's title reign. Gibson had “transitional champion†written all over him, and he went on to have the shortest reign out of any ROH World Champion to date before dropping the title and heading off into the sunset two weeks later.
Seventh Champion: Bryan Danielson
After changing hands four times over the course of nine months, the ROH World Title found its way around the waist of Bryan Danielson, where it enjoyed the same kind of long-term stability it had during Samoa Joe's reign. When debating the greatest ROH World Champion of all time, the argument always seems to come down to Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson, and while my take on that argument is a whole other column for another day, Danielson certainly earned that kind of respect by being the true embodiment of a wrestling champion. He had paid his dues by wrestling in ROH literally from the beginning (minus a couple of vacations), and while he was every bit as dominant as Joe, he brought a completely different, more methodical and technical style reminiscent of the NWA Champions of old. Danielson could do it all: he wrestled, he brawled, he worked face, he worked heel, he even often managed to do all of these in the same match. In a major departure, Danielson not only defended the title against regular members of the ROH roster, but also outsiders including Chris Sabin (TNA), Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH), Chris Hero (CZW), Sonjay Dutt (CZW/TNA), SUWA (Dragon Gate), Kamala (every territory you can think of), and even Lance Storm came out of retirement simply to work with and put over Danielson. Probably Danielson's most memorable feud during his title reign came against Pro Wrestling NOAH's KENTA, who scored two clean, non-title wins over Danielson before Danielson finally defeated him in what a lot of people picked for Match Of The Year at Glory By Honor V Night Two. Even more remarkably, Danielson tore his pectoral and several ligaments in his chest and shoulder in a match against Colt Cabana and not only went on to wrestle for another 50 minutes to go to an hour draw as planned, but then continued to work hurt for another four months in order to drop the title at Final Battle 2006 as originally planned. As if all that wasn't enough, he also won the FIP Title from Homicide on an ROH event and defended that title for nine months while he was also the ROH World Champion, and also defeated ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness to end his nearly year-long reign and unify the titles in Nigel's home country of Great Britain. Most importantly of all, at a time when CM Punk and James Gibson had left for WWE and Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and AJ Styles were all under contract to TNA and could be potentially yanked at any time, Danielson was the one guy who the fans felt could be counted on to stay true to ROH and not run out the door the second a big money contract was waved under his nose. For fifteen months, Bryan Danielson was what a wrestling champion is meant to be in every respect, and when the book on ROH is written, he deserves to be counted among the elite in company history.
Eight Champion: Homicide
While Bryan Danielson spent late 2005 and all of 2006 defending the ROH World Title, Homicide was involved in two major storylines of his own. The first was the CZW-ROH war which saw CZW dominate ROH until Homicide came to the rescue and more or less singlehandedly won the war, and then that led directly into Homicide's road to the title that saw him finally finish his feuds with Steve Corino, Adam Pearce, and the Briscoes before avenging the ghost of losses past by defeating Bryan Danielson in his hometown of New York City to finally, after almost five years and countless failed chances, become ROH World Champion. I was there live and it was a huge moment followed by a very emotional celebration with the New York crowd, and it was as perfect a year as Homicide could have hoped for. So 2007 begins, Homicide is the ROH World Champion...now what? The problem with Homicide's title reign from the beginning is that they had nothing with which to follow up his title win. He had already saved the company and become champion, and had tied up all the feuds that had been left hanging throughout his time in ROH. Danielson was finally taking some time off to rest his injured shoulder, and rematches with him were out of the question for the time being, and the top heel in the company at that point was probably Chris Hero, who Homicide defeated in his first title defense in Boston. It was all downhill from there, as his next defense was against Samoa Joe in a match in New Jersey that saw the crowd almost unanimously support Joe and, at several points, openly boo Homicide, and then from there Homicide opened the Fifth Year Festival by defeating Jimmy Rave in a bad main event, back in his hometown of New York, to almost no reaction. Homicide lost the title the next night, so ROH obviously wasn't losing much sleep over building Homicide up as a long term champion, but this was an obvious case of the build being so great that when Homicide won the title, there was no way his actual title reign could live up to it.
Ninth Champion: Takeshi Morishima
Morishima’s title reign started in shocking fashion, because for all anyone knew at the time, he was just booked to come in for a pair of weekends and that would be that. Even though he did have a title shot against Homicide, most people figured the odds that he would get the title were pretty low. Instead, he steamrolled over Homicide to win the title, and then embarked on a dominant, eight month reign as ROH World Champion. Morishima brought a completely different style to the ROH World Title, as all the prior champions, with the exception of Samoa Joe, were smaller wrestlers who mainly worked a scientific or high flying style. Morishima, on the other hand, may have been the biggest guy to ever compete in ROH period, and worked a stiff brawling style that totally flew in the face of past champions. When Morishima hit somebody, or suplexed someone, or came down with all his weight on an opponent’s chest, it looked like it hurt. Morishima was so overwhelmingly big and powerful that the rest of the roster, which mostly fit into the smaller, technical wrestler mold, simply did not match up well with him physically, so Morishima had an automatic advantage every time he stepped in the ring. Though he did occasionally face a stronger wrestler who could match power with him, he was able to bully people around while being able to absorb a lot more punishment than anyone else in the company. Simply put, Morishima was the first ROH World Champion who truly seemed like an unbeatable monster. He also kept up a grueling schedule, flying into the United States every few weeks to defend the ROH Title while also keeping up a full schedule in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH. Morishima’s most notable title defenses include a pair of wins over Nigel McGuinness (whom many pegged as the guy being groomed to beat Morishima all along) and also a pair of solid victories over former dominant ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson. Between the travel and the physical nature of his matches, Morishima probably had a tougher reign as champion than anyone before him, and by the time Nigel McGuinness unseated him at the Undeniable PPV in New Jersey, he had earned the respect of the notoriously hard to please ROH fanbase.
Tenth Champion: Nigel McGuinness
The first word that comes to mind when describing Nigel’s reign as the ROH World Champion is miraculous, because there were a lot of reasons why it shouldn’t have worked out anywhere near as well as it did. For starters, he suffered a serious bicep injury almost immediately after winning the title, and the injury was severe enough that there were doubts as to whether he could even continue as champion. He sat out for the better part of two months (including being sidelined for Death Before Dishonor VI in New York City), but in the end was able to avoid surgery and heal up enough to get back in the ring. His first match back was against Austin Aries on the first night of a two night shot in New York City to close 2007, and even though he got by Aries, he suffered another injury during the match, this time a concussion, and was forced to sit out of Final Battle the following evening. The fanbase, which was used to seeing guys work through injuries they probably shouldn't have, began to turn on Nigel because they perceived him as skipping out on matches they felt he should have worked regardless of the injuries. The fans certainly didn't appreciate when he flew out to Japan less than two weeks after Final Battle to work a match against Go Shiozaki, feeling that on top of everything else, Nigel was now putting his Japanese commitments ahead of ROH.
Justifiable or not, the fans had turned Nigel into a heel, and rather than try to force Nigel on the fanbase as a babyface, ROH instead went ahead and turned Nigel by having him tease that he was going to miss yet another New York show due to a questionable injury, only to go ahead with the match and cheat his way to victory over Bryan Danielson. The heel turn was now complete and the fanbase, who had already completely turned on Nigel, now basically had company clearance to boo him as much as they wanted. Nigel easily drew more heel heat than any other ROH Champion, even Xavier, and the best part about it is that the ROH fans, who pride themselves on being smart fans who are above being worked, played right into ROH's hands by continuing to boo Nigel. One of the great things about Gabe Sapolsky's booking was that he was one of the few bookers who understood how to work the internet age fans and get them emotionally vested in the product no matter how smart they thought they were. He had done it many times before, and it worked again with Nigel's heel turn, because much like Ric Flair in the 80s, every time Nigel came out the fans were dying to see him drop the title, and every time he somehow was able to retain, it just made the fans want to see him lose that much more.
From the point where he turned heel on, Nigel tore through the entire ROH roster, defeating every imaginable contender, with conquests including Chris Hero, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and multiple wins over Bryan Danielson, Kevin Steen, El Generico, and Claudio Castagnoli. Nigel also made a star out of Tyler Black by defeating him on four occasions, but the matches were so good and so close that Nigel made everyone believe that Tyler was on the level where he could become champion. Eventually, Nigel started running out of challengers internal to ROH, and to that end both Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA were brought in from Pro Wrestling NOAH, but Nigel defeated them both. For the last several months of his title reign, Nigel was working on another bicep tear, and by the time he faced KENTA he had reinjured the other arm and went into the match with two torn biceps, but had an easy MOTYC regardless. Nigel McGuinness went on to surpass Bryan Danielson's record to become the second longest reigning ROH Champion in the history of the title, and was less than two months away from matching Samoa Joe's record when he was finally defeated by Jerry Lynn. In spite of the injuries and the negative reactions from the fans, Nigel McGuinness made a hell of a mark as ROH World Champion, and deserves to be ranked alongside Joe and Danielson as all time ROH Championship greats.
Eleventh Champion: Jerry Lynn
This all brings us back to current champion Jerry Lynn, who comes into his title reign as probably the most nationally established ROH Champion to date. He's been around a long time and still has a strong following with the indy crowd from his ECW days, during which he held their World Title as well. Even though he's probably slightly past his physical prime, Lynn still works very hard and goes out of his way to make whoever he's working with look good, and still gets great crowd reactions. Lynn is the flagbearer for the company as they enter their TV era, and with any luck ROH will be able to capitalize on his past national exposure to help draw in the hardcore fanbase to their product. Truth be told though, I don't see Jerry having a spectacularly memorable reign. I think Jerry Lynn's story was told during his road to the title, with the war of words with Nigel McGuinness as well as the interview segments on the ROH Video Wire, but now that he's won the title, the story is pretty much over. I think he'll have a nice four or five month long reign that will see him have some good matches, but before too long he'll drop the title, probably to Austin Aries or Tyler Black. For now though, I'm happy to see Jerry get that last shot at the top, he deserves it.
And that's that for now, I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I'll be back before too long with the latest ROH goodness to spring from my head. Until then, thanks for reading and I'll see you all soon!
Stuart Carapola can be reached at stupwinsider@yahoo.com.
