ROH World Championship
ROH World Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | Ring of Honor (ROH) | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | July 27, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Jonathan Gresham | ||||||||||||||||||
Date won | December 11, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The ROH World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship owned by the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion, and is considered the most prestigious title in ROH. The reigning champion is Jonathan Gresham, who is in his first reign.
History
Low Ki defeated Spanky, Christopher Daniels, and Doug Williams in a 60-minute Iron Man match to become the inaugural ROH Champion at Crowning a Champion on July 27, 2002.
Samoa Joe had the longest title reign to date when he held the belt for 21 months and four days. During his reign, ROH held a cross-promotional show with Frontier Wrestling Alliance in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2003, called Frontiers of Honor. At that show, Joe turned the title into the ROH World Championship when he defended it against The Zebra Kid. Since then the title has been defended in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, Japan, Ireland, Italy, and Spain.
On August 12, 2006, the ROH Pure Championship was unified with the ROH World Championship after the ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness lost to the ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson in Liverpool, England in a title unification match.[1] The match was contested under pure wrestling rules, with the stipulation that both championships could be lost by disqualification or count out.
In 2010, the title belt, along with the ROH World Tag Team Championship belts, was redesigned.[2] The new belt has an eagle with its wings spread over a picture of the world with an ROH logo on the top. This design also includes various flags on different countries.
In December 2012, a new design was introduced at the Final Battle iPPV.
On July 3, 2013, the ROH World Championship was declared vacant for the first time since its inception, when ROH Match Maker Nigel McGuinness stripped then-champion Jay Briscoe of the title after he was sidelined with a storyline injury and would be unable to compete for the foreseeable future.[3][4]
In December 2017, ROH unveiled another new design for the title belt, which debuted at Final Battle.[5]
In late 2021, ROH announced it would go on hiatus following Final Battle. Then-ROH World Champion Bandido was supposed to wrestle Jonathan Gresham in a championship match at Final Battle until December 9 when it was announced that Bandido had tested positive for COVID-19, thus ending his participation in the scheduled match.[6][7] Jay Lethal took Bandido’s place against Gresham at Final Battle where Gresham defeated Lethal and won the vacated ROH World Championship, now represented by the original title belt.[8][9] However, during ROH’s hiatus after Final Battle, Gresham and Bandido would appear in different promotions defending their respective championships; Gresham with the original belt and Bandido with the most recently designed belt. The championship was defended on cards promoted by other companies such as longtime ROH national rival Impact Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), the UK-based Progress Wrestling, and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Both men even defended their respective titles with Gresham's new promotion, TERMINUS.[10][11][12]
On January 20, 2022, it was announced that Bandido and Gresham would face each other in a championship unification match at Supercard of Honor XV, the first ROH event after hiatus.[13] On April 1, at Supercard of Honor XV, Gresham defeated Bandido to unify the ROH World Championship.[14] Afterwards, Gresham continued to carry the original belt while the belt carried by Bandido was shelved.
Inaugural tournament
On June 22, 2002, ROH held the first part of a tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Champion.[15] Sixteen wrestlers were divided into four blocks, with the winner of each block competing in a Four-Way Iron Man match on July 27, 2002 to determine the first champion.
Block A | Final | ||||||
Paul London | Pin | ||||||
Spanky | |||||||
Spanky | |||||||
Jody Fleisch | Pin | ||||||
Jody Fleisch | |||||||
Jonny Storm | Pin |
Block B | Final | ||||||
Christopher Daniels | |||||||
Scoot Andrews | Pin | ||||||
Christopher Daniels | |||||||
AJ Styles | Pin | ||||||
AJ Styles | |||||||
Jerry Lynn | Pin |
Block C | Final | ||||||
American Dragon | |||||||
Bio-Hazard | Sub | ||||||
American Dragon | Pin | ||||||
Doug Williams | |||||||
Doug Williams | |||||||
Jay Briscoe | Pin |
Block D | Final | ||||||
Low Ki | |||||||
Prince Nana | TKO | ||||||
Low Ki | |||||||
Amazing Red | Pin | ||||||
Amazing Red | |||||||
Xavier | Pin |
Final
Low Ki won the Four-Way 60-minute Iron Man match to become the inaugural champion.
Wrestler | Points |
---|---|
Low Ki | 3 |
Christopher Daniels | 2 |
Doug Williams | -1 |
Spanky | -1 |
- Due to having multiple competitors, the rules for the Iron Man match were altered to a point system where a wrestler scoring a pinfall or submission was awarded two points, while the wrestler being pinned or submitted lost one point.
Reigns
Overall, there have been 35 ROH World Championship reigns and 29 total champions. The title has been vacated twice. The inaugural champion was Low Ki, who defeated Christopher Daniels, Spanky, and Doug Williams in a Four Way 60-minute Iron Man match at the Crowning A Champion event on July 27, 2002, to become champion. Kyle O'Reilly has the shortest reign at 33 days.
Jonathan Gresham is the current champion in his first reign. He won the vacant title by defeating Jay Lethal at Final Battle on December 11, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland after previous champion Bandido was stripped of the championship after contracting COVID-19 and being unable to defend at Final Battle.
References
- ^ Online World of Wrestling
- ^ "ROH Wrestling | www.rohwrestling.com". April 12, 2010. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Johnson, Mike (July 3, 2013). "More on ROH Championship". PWInsider. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ "Nigel McGuinness Makes a Huge Announcement!". ROHwrestling.com. July 3, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ Jordan, Paul (December 14, 2017). "ROH unveils new World Heavyweight Championship belt". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
- ^ "Jonathan Gresham Gets His Shot At ROH World Champion Bandido At Final Battle". Ring of Honor. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 9, 2021). "Bandido Tests Positive For COVID, ROH Final Battle Match To Change". Fightful. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ^ "JAY LETHAL RETURNING TO FACE JONATHAN GRESHAM AS PART OF DOUBLE MAIN EVENT AT FINAL BATTLE: END OF AN ERA!". Ring of Honor. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ^ ROH Staff. "Final Battle: End Of An Era Recap: Jonathan Gresham Wins Original ROH World Title Belt; Briscoes Become 12-Time World Tag Champs; Shocking Confrontations Transpire". ROH Wrestling. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ^ Jonathan Gresham to defend ROH World Title at GCW Say What You Will - 411 Mania.com
- ^ ROH World Title to be defended in Impact For first time ever - Impact Wrestling.com
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (January 16, 2022). "TERMINUS All Roads Lead Here (1/16) Results: Two ROH Title Defenses, AEW IMPACT, ROH Stars In Action". Fightful. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
- ^ ROH Staff. "Jonathan Gresham, Bandido Will Meet At Supercard Of Honor To Determine Undisputed ROH World Champion". ROH Wrestling. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
- ^ Faria, Colby (April 1, 2022). "ROH Supercard of Honor XV Results: Jonathan Gresham vs. Bandido For The Undisputed ROH World Title + More!". Fightful. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ^ "ROH Championship Tournament (2002) results".
External links
- ROH World Title History at Cagematch.net