The Last 10 ROH World Champions, Ranked Worst To Best

The Ring of Honor World Championship is quietly one of the most important belts in wrestling. Few promotions have a world title with as many noteworthy names helping define it and using it to improve their careers. ROH was once known as the place where some of the best wrestlers in the world honed their craft before accomplishing even bigger things.

CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe and Adam Cole are just some of the names to win that title as a huge part of their careers. Recent years have seen ups and downs for the company before Tony Khan purchased it to continue running. The last ten ROH World Champions will be ranked from the worst to the absolute best.

10 Claudio Castagnoli (Just Won Title As Of This Writing)

The first big ROH World Championship title change under Tony Khan’s regime saw Claudio Castagnoli finally winning a world title. Castagnoli was arguably the best wrestler in Ring of Honor history to never win the world title before this moment.

Fans clearly loved the moment and have huge expectations for Claudio’s future. The in-ring skills and hunger of Castagnoli will likely see him rise high up this list at the end of his reign, but it just started and would be impossible to compare to the others.

9 Jonathan Gresham

Jonathan Gresham with the ROH and Progress World Championships

The final person to win the ROH World Championship in the previous regime was Jonathan Gresham with an uncertain future. Gresham had some secondary title defenses on smaller independent shows, but the only two most fans witnessed were against Bandido and Lee Moriarty.

The big changes with Tony Khan running ROH saw Gresham out of place and reportedly quitting after dropping the belt. Gresham unfortunately didn’t have a strong title reign and will be viewed as one of the weaker champions in the title’s lineage.

8 Dalton Castle

Most fans would have assumed Dalton Castle would be at the top of this list when he won the ROH World Championship from Cody Rhodes. Ring of Honor set up a great moment of Castle defeating the top heel with confetti falling to end the night.

Unfortunately, Dalton’s injuries prevented him from having a title reign that lived up to his full potential. Castle tried to battle through the injuries before having to drop the belt faster than expected. All the momentum for Dalton being the next top ROH star was sadly missed due to things outside his control.

7 Matt Taven

The polarizing move to have Matt Taven win the ROH World Championship in Madison Square Garden was met with some criticism. Taven also had the bad luck of being the first new champ after The Elite wrestlers left to form AEW and ROH declined.

The matches and programs of Taven were solid, but there was nothing must-see in ROH at the time. Taven tried his best to carry the fledging promotion during a tough time. It just wasn’t meant to be as his title reign is now a relatively overlooked one.

6 PCO

The story of PCO becoming a big player on the independent wrestling scene showed the former WWE talent from the ‘90s having a resurgence. PCO was nothing like this old Pierre Carl Ouellet character that fans may have remembered at the time.

Ring of Honor signing PCO added a rare act with momentum during their difficult final years. PCO defeating Rush to win the ROH World Championship was a great moment to give ROH some buzz. The title reign had fun matches utilizing his new hardcore style for a few months.

5 Rush

AEW signing Rush has added him to a bigger roster partially thanks to his previous great work in Ring of Honor. The background of Rush in Mexico gave him a lot of momentum to get signed by ROH when they badly needed new top stars.

Rush won the ROH World Championship twice in this time frame to become a major player for the company. The match quality of Rush helped the company appease the remaining fans. Tony Khan made the right call signing Rush to work for both AEW and the new ROH.

4 Christopher Daniels

Ring of Honor set up a great moment by having Christopher Daniels win his first world title in the promotion. Daniels was a huge part of ROH’s early history, but his returns led to him becoming a tag team wrestler with Frankie Kazarian.

Adam Cole was the ruthless heel ROH World Champion who entered an emotional storyline with Daniels. The emotion of Daniels’ big win truly was a special moment and set up a fun title reign. Daniels did his best to add a world title to his legacy for a promotion that he held a strong role in.

3 Bandido

Bandido was the last wrestler to have a lengthy ROH World Championship reign before the company announced they were stopping production. This was one of the company’s bright spots thanks to Bandido having classic matches with relative ease.

The start of AEW saw ROH offering a bigger contract to Bandido to make him a top star after his main event match at the original All In show. Bandido continued to deliver the goods and become a successful ROH World Champion during the worst time possible when the company was inching towards the end.

2 Cody Rhodes

The past few years of Cody Rhodes’ life provided fascinating moments in multiple promotions. Ring of Honor was actually the place Cody made his home to continue his reinvention long before AEW was a thing or WWE offered him a seven-figure contract.

Rhodes joining the Bullet Club allowed him to make ROH his home promotion in between the NJPW tours. The fans reacted like it was a massive moment when Cody won the ROH World Championship. Rhodes proved he was a great champ by drawing some of the biggest crowds in ROH history.

1 Jay Lethal

“The Franchise” was rightfully the moniker given to Jay Lethal for his role in Ring of Honor. Lethal joined the company after TNA released him to completely reinvent his career. ROH placed the world title on him multiple times, but the second one is the only relevant to this subject.

Lethal defeated Dalton Castle to win the ROH World Championship when Castle’s injuries doomed his title reign. The 280-day title reign by Lethal featured many great matches and a strong run as the face of the company. Lethal’s success in ROH helped him land the AEW contract and a presence in the new version of ROH.