Takeshi Morishima
Homicide defended successfully against Chris Hero and Samoa Joe on January 26 and 27. Homicide then successfully defended the championship against Jimmy Rave on February 16 in the same building where he won the belt, the Manhattan Center in New York City. The next evening, however, in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory, Homicide was defeated for the ROH World Championship by Takeshi Morishima, a Japanese professional wrestler visiting the United States. The two would compete against each other again at "Fifth Year Festival: Chicago", when Homicide teamed with Samoa Joe to face Morishima and Nigel McGuinness.