A DEEP AND SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE WHO IS THE GREATEST ROH WORLD CHAMPION OF ALL TIME

By Stuart Carapola on 2012-02-28 15:58:04

Yesterday I said that I was going to write a column ranking the ROH World Champions as part of my retrospective on Ring of Honor's first ten years of existence, but when I went to write out the list and start numbering, I realized that exactly 16 men have been the ROH World Champion. You can't ignore a magic number like that, so instead of counting down from 16 to 1, I thought it would be even more fun and provide a more scientific method of determining who is the best if I did this in pseudo-tournament format.

So here's the rules: this isn't fantasy booking, I'm not writing imaginary matches where I put one person over another. This is simply a series of head to head comparisons where I decide based on merit who was a better ROH World Champion. I think it's very important to note that I'm not picking who the better WRESTLER is, because I'm sure there's going to be matchups where the better wrestler will lose. Instead, it's going to be based on who did the best job as the flagbearer for the company based on various criteria that will be discussed as this progresses.

I stuck the names in a hat (okay, a red solo cup) and randomely drew the first round matches, and I will put the winners back in the hat (or red solo cup) for each round so that we can't look at the first round and say "Oh, so and so is going to have a clear road to the finals" just based on who is in their bracket. Here we go...

Note from Stu: after writing all this, I realized it's actually only been 15 guys, and I didn't realize I wrote Austin Aries twice because he's the only two time champion. Still, I think that both Aries and the company in general had changed so much between his first title reign and his second that I'm okay with putting him in twice and counting his two reigns separately. So today's your lucky day, Austin Aries!

First Round

Austin Aries (first reign) vs Low Ki: Right off the bat, we have a case of how good someone is as a wrestler not necessarily equating to making a good ROH World Champion. I'll never deny how important Low Ki was to the first year or so of ROH, and he was of course the first champion, but he had one successful title defense. Aries, on the other hand, had arguably an even bigger title win than Low Ki did because he ended Samoa Joe's 21 month title reign, then went on to beat Joe in a rematch and defeat other top guys like Bryan Danielson and Homicide. Sorry, Low Ki, but you're out and Austin Aries #1 moves ahead.

Bryan Danielson vs Austin Aries (second reign): Unfortunately for Aries, things don't go as well the second time around. Danielson and Aries had one of the longest and best rivalries ever in the company, but that Austin Aries was not the one who held the ROH World Title in 2009-10. That Aries picked up the pace when he felt he had something to prove, but often sleepwalked through his matches, including what I still consider the worst match in ROH history between him and Tyler Black at Final Battle 2009. To me there's just no comparison, Danielson moves ahead.

Eddie Edwards vs Takeshi Morishima: Morishima was a great champion, in large part because he was just so different from anyone who had held that title previously. He rolled in for what was only announced as a four-appearance tour, but ended up annihilating Homicide to win the ROH World Title and then spent the next six months decimating everyone else who stepped up to challenge him, including several of the other guys on this list. He and Eddie are actually alike in the sense that nobody expected them to win the title when they did, but the difference is that Eddie only held the title briefly as part of the build to Davey Richards beating him for it and their ongoing storyline for the rest of 2011. He had three very good title defenses, but it doesn't match up to Morishima, who advances to the quarterfinals.

Davey Richards vs Roderick Strong: If we're grading this on quality of matches alone, they're dead even. Both guys had/have among the best matches on any given ROH show, and I really can't rank one above the other in that regard. The difference, and what gives Davey the advantage, is that when Roderick held the title, everybody was just waiting for him to lose it. Beating Tyler Black to win the title was a big moment for him, and he was the champion for six months, but you never got the sense that he was the guy the company was going to build itself around. Davey, on the other hand, has been that guy from day one of the Sinclair Era. He's the only champion they've had since their return to TV, he's headlined all the major shows for almost a year now, and he's to ROH in 2012 what Samoa Joe was in 2004 and what Bryan Danielson was in 2006. Davey moves on.

Homicide vs Nigel McGuinness: Much like Low Ki, Homicide's importance to the company doesn't translate to a strong title reign. For as great and loved as he is by the ROH fans, he held the title for a month and a half, had three suspenseless title defenses, and then was squashed by Morishima and was done. Nigel had the second longest reign in ROH history, is tied with Danielson for the most successful title defenses in ROH history, and even though business wasn't as strong when he was champion compared to some others, he wound up being the guy who had to lead the company when a lot of the old guard like Joe, Homicide, Christopher Daniels, Colt Cabana, and others left and the new guard like Steen & Generico, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Chris Hero, and Claudio Castagnoli moved up to take their places. Homicide's out, Nigel is in the second round.

James Gibson vs Xavier: Geez, I think the better question here is who was the less bad champion! Actually, the answer is easy: Xavier was a much better champion than Gibson, and a lot better than people gave him credit for. That guy had so much more heat than anyone else in ROH during the six months he held the title because of the way he beat Low Ki and turned heel in the process. He also had great matches during his reign and, because the fans hated him so much, they would go nuts when he would wrestle AJ Styles, Jay Briscoe, and Paul London because they so badly wanted him to lose. Also, he was the guy Samoa Joe beat to win the title, which if nothing else ensures that his name has a guaranteed place in history. On the other hand, there was nothing memorable at all about Gibson's title reign. He only had a few title defenses, one of which turned into a confusing mess where we didn't even know what the finish was, and he really just happened to be the guy to transition the title from Punk to Danielson. Gibson, you're outta here!

Samoa Joe vs Tyler Black: Joe's obviously winning this one, and it's really hard for me to think highly in any way of Tyler as the ROH World Champion. Even if you throw out what a weak-willed choker he came off as when he was chasing the title, he was the champion at a time when many ROH shows were extremely boring, and he didn't even start having many good title defenses until the last month of two of his reign. That was the point where he finally got some semblance of a killer instinct and an attitude, even before the outright heel turn once he announced he was leaving. By then it was too little too late, and he just does not measure up to Joe's reign in any way.

CM Punk vs Jerry Lynn: Both guys had short reigns at about two months apiece, but Punk's was much better because his reign became one of the most legendary storylines ROH ever did. Punk's heel turn right after winning the title was completely unexpected and an awesome swerve, and it drove attendance at every show for the next two months because everyone assumed he was leaving and they thought each show had to be the one where he was dropping the title and wanted to be there to see it, and they strung that along the entire summer. I love Jerry Lynn and he has always worked hard, but his quest for the title felt forced, the reaction to him winning was anemic, and even though he had excellent title defenses, nobody really cared about him as champion and they just felt like he was holding it for Aries. Punk wins here hands down.

Okay, eight men out, eight men advance. Time to shuffle the names again and draw for the next round as the tournament continues on Page 2!

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