Ring of Honor started in 2002, the same time that TNA Wrestling opened its doors and provided another alternative to WWE. Unlike WWE and TNA, which both delivered a more sports entertainment focus on professional wrestling, ROH was all about the in-ring action and focused on putting on the best wrestling matches in the world.
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Ring of Honor also took a painstakingly genuine interest in making its titles mean something. Not only did the world champions have long title reigns, but ROH kept track of how many title defenses the champions had in their reigns, something that carried over from Japanese wrestling. With some very talented champions in its history, here are the 10 best ROH World Champions of all-time, ranked.
10 RUSH
Rush could very quickly move up this list. The former leader of the iconic Los Ingobernables is currently in his second reign as the ROH World Champion as he works to prove he is the man that the company can build itself on. His first title win came at Death Before Dishonor XVII when he beat Matt Taven. He lost the belt to PCO and won it back 78 days later at Gateway to Honor.
9 DAVEY RICHARDS
When Ring of Honor made a move to a national television deal, they did so with Davey Richards as the Ring of Honor World Champion and the face of the company. He represented all that ROH believed in, a tremendous in-ring talent who was about wrestling over entertainment. He brought legitimacy to the title, which he won from Eddie Edwards, and held the belt for 321 days before losing it to Kevin Steen.
8 JAY BRISCOE
When people talk about Jay Briscoe, they talk about his tag team expertise with his younger brother Mark Briscoe. The brothers held the ROH tag titles a record-setting 11 times. Jay was part of the first-ever Ring of Honor event and is still with the company to this day, 18 years later.
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As a singles star, Jay has two world title reigns in ROH. He ended Kevin Steen's title reign in 2013 and then won the belt again in 2014 from Michael Elgin. His two reigns combined for 375 days.
7 KEVIN STEEN
Kevin Owens has proven in WWE that he is a massive star and one of the best characters in professional wrestling today. In Ring of Honor, he was very different than other champions, but he was still one of the hardest workers in the company. He worked his way up from a tag team partner with El Generico to a top heel and eventual ROH World Champion. As Kevin Steen, he beat Davey Richards for the title at Broder Wars in 2012 and held the title for 328 days.
6 AUSTIN ARIES
Austin Aries built a somewhat difficult reputation over the years, starting with his problematic stint in WWE and then an explosive finale in TNA Impact Wrestling after that. However, before all that, Aries was one of Ring of Honor's greatest stars and part of Generation Next. He beat Jerry Lynn for the ROH World Championship at Manhattan Mayhem III in 2009 and held the title for 245 days before losing it to Tyler Black (Seth Rollins).
5 ADAM COLE
Adam Cole might be the best wrestler in WWE today, regardless of brand. The current NXT Champion came in as a star and has proven every step of the way that he deserved that opportunity. However, before this, he started in Ring of Honor at the bottom and worked his way up.
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Cole won the ROH TV title and held that belt for 246 days. He then worked his way up and finally won the ROH World Championship in 2013 in a tournament by beating Michael Elgin in the finals. That reign was 275 days, but he wasn't finished. Cole is the only man to hold the title three times for a total of 445 days.
4 BRYAN DANIELSON
Bryan Danielson was in the main event on the very first Ring of Honor show and ended up as the face of ROH for many years. Since leaving, he proved to be one of the best to ever step in the ring and is a future WWE Hall of Fame superstar.
In ROH, Danielson won the title from James Gibson and held it for 462 days, the fourth-longest reign ever. He also beat Nigel McGuinness to unify the ROH World and Pure Championships.
3 NIGEL MCGUINNESS
Nigel McGuinness had a hard road to the top, but when he made it to Ring of Honor, he proved why he deserved a top spot in the company. McGuinness almost won the ROH title from Bryan Danielson in 2006, but his time was still a year away. In 2007, he finally won it, beating Takeshi Morishima at Undeniable. McGuinness held the title for 545 days, the third-longest reign in history, before losing it to Jerry Lynn.
2 SAMOA JOE
Samoa Joe was considered one of the men who helped carry TNA Wrestling to the top. However, he was more successful in Ring of Honor, where he made his name. Joe was brought in for a short stint as a heavy for Christopher Daniels but soon broke out on his own.
In 2003, Joe beat Xavier to win the ROH World Championship at Night of Champions. He then held the belt for 645 days, the longest single reign in ROH history. Austin Aries finally took the title from him at Final Battle 2004, 21 months later.
1 JAY LETHAL
No one held the ROH World Championship longer than Jay Lethal. While his longest individual title reign (427 days) never reached the length of Danielson, McGuinness, or Joe, he did something none of them could do. He won the title twice.
Lethal's first reign saw him beat Jay Briscoe in 2015, and he went on to hold the title for 427 days, fourth longest in ROH history. His second reign came when he beat Dalton Castle in 2017. That reign lasted 280 days before he lost to Matt Taven. The two reigns combined for 707 days, the longest for any Ring of Honor champion.
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