List of ROH World Champions

= List of ROH World Champions =
The ROH World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship owned by the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. The championship was created and debuted on July 27, 2002, at ROH's Crowning a Champion event. Originally called the ROH Championship, the title was renamed to the ROH World Championship in May 2003 after the title was defended outside the United States for the first time—earlier that month, then-champion Samoa Joe had defeated The Zebra Kid in London, England, at the Frontiers of Honor event co-promoted with the Frontier Wrestling Alliance. On August 12, 2006, the ROH World Championship was unified with the ROH Pure Championship after then-champion Bryan Danielson defeated ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool, England. The Pure Championship was deactivated after this match.
Current champion Chris Jericho
ROH World Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes. Some reigns were held by champions using a ring name, while others used their real name. Reigns that were won on pay-per-view events aired on tape delay up to weeks or months apart. Reigns that were won at live events were released on DVD. The inaugural champion was Low Ki, whom ROH recognized to have become the champion after defeating Christopher Daniels, Spanky, and Doug Williams in a four-way 60-minuted Iron Man match on July 27, 2002, at ROH's Crowning a Champion event.
As of November 2022, there have been 36 reigns among 30 wrestlers with two vacancies. Adam Cole holds the record for most reigns, with three. Jay Lethalhas the most defenses, with 41; Kyle O'Reilly has the least, with 0. At 645 days, Samoa Joe's reign is the longest in the title's history; Kyle O'Reilly's reign is the shortest at 33 days. Chris Jerichois the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Claudio Castagnoli on September 21, 2022 at Dynamite: Grand Slam in Flushing, Queens, New York.
== Title historyEdit ==
=== NamesEdit ===
Name 	Years
ROH Championship 	June 22, 2002 – May 2003
ROH World Championship 	May 2003 – April 2022
April 2022 – present
Undisputed ROH World Championship	April 2022
 
=== ReignsEdit ===
Key
No. 	Overall reign number
Reign	Reign number for the specific champion
Days 	Number of days held
+ 	Current reign is changing daily
No.	Champion 	Championship change	Championship change 	Championship change	Reign statistics	Reign statistics	Reign statistics	Notes 	Ref.
No.	Champion 	Date 	Event 	Location 	Reign 	Days 	Defense 	Notes 	Ref.
1 	Low Ki 	July 27, 2002 	Crowning a Champion 	Philadelphia, PA 	1 	56 	1 	Defeated Christopher Daniels, Spanky and Doug Williamsin a four-way60-minute Iron Man matchafter the Block A, Block B, Block C, Block D ROH Championship tournament finals to become the inaugural champion. 	
2 	Xavier 	September 21, 2002 	Unscripted 	Philadelphia, PA 	1 	182 	1 	 	
3 	Samoa Joe 	March 22, 2003 	Night of Champions 	Philadelphia, PA 	1 	645 	10 	After Joe defeated The Zebra Kid on May 17, 2003 in London, England, the ROH Championship was renamed the ROH World Championship. 	
4 	Austin Aries 	December 26, 2004 	Final Battle 	Philadelphia, PA 	1 	174 	1 	 	
5 	CM Punk 	June 18, 2005 	Death Before Dishonor III 	Morristown, NJ 	1 	55 	1 	 	
6 	James Gibson 	August 12, 2005 	Redemption 	Dayton, OH 	1 	36 	Q 	This was a four-way elimination match, also involving Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe. 	
7 	Bryan Danielson 	September 17, 2005 	Glory by Honor IV 	Lake Grove, NY 	1 	462 	4 	Danielson unified the title with the ROH Pure Championshipon August 12, 2006 by defeating Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool, England. 	
8 	Homicide 	December 23, 2006 	Final Battle 2006 	New York City, NY 	1 	56 	2 	 	
9 	Takeshi Morishima 	February 17, 2007 	The Fifth Year Festival: Philadelphia	Philadelphia, PA 	1 	231 	4 	 	
10 	Nigel McGuinness 	October 6, 2007 	Undeniable 	Edison, NJ 	1 	545 	9 	 	
11 	Jerry Lynn 	April 3, 2009 	Supercard of Honor IV 	Houston, TX 	1 	71 	3 	 	
12 	Austin Aries 	June 13, 2009 	Manhattan Mayhem III 	New York City, NY 	2 	245 	4 	This was a three-way elimination match, also involving Tyler Black. 	
13 	Tyler Black 	February 13, 2010 	8th Anniversary Show 	New York City, NY 	1 	210 	4 	 	
14 	Roderick Strong 	September 11, 2010 	Glory By Honor IX 	New York City, NY 	1 	189 	2 	This was a no disqualification match with Terry Funk as the ringside enforcer. 	
15 	Eddie Edwards 	March 19, 2011 	Manhattan Mayhem IV 	New York City, NY 	1 	99 	2 	 	
16 	Davey Richards 	June 26, 2011 	Best in the World 2011 	New York City, NY 	1 	321 	3 	 	
17 	Kevin Steen 	May 12, 2012 	Border Wars 	Toronto, Ontario 	1 	328 	3 	 	
18 	Jay Briscoe 	April 5, 2013 	Supercard of Honor VII 	New York City, NY 	1 	89 	2 	 	
— 	Vacated 	July 3, 2013 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	The title was vacated by ROH Match Maker Nigel McGuinness after Briscoe suffered a storyline injury at the June 23 television tapings and would not be able to compete for the foreseeable future. 	
19 	Adam Cole 	September 20, 2013 	Death Before Dishonor XI 	Philadelphia, PA 	1 	275 	 	Defeated Michael Elginin a tournament final to win the vacant championship. 	
20 	Michael Elgin 	June 22, 2014 	Best in the World 	Nashville, TN 	1 	76 	 	 	
21 	Jay Briscoe 	September 6, 2014 	All Star Extravaganza VI 	Toronto, Ontario 	2 	286 	 	 	
22 	Jay Lethal 	June 19, 2015 	Best in the World '15 	New York City, NY 	1 	427 	 	This was a winner takes all match, also for Lethal's ROH World Television Championship. 	
23 	Adam Cole 	August 19, 2016 	Death Before Dishonor XIV 	Sunrise Manor, NV 	2 	105 	 	 	
24 	Kyle O'Reilly 	December 2, 2016 	Final Battle 	New York City, NY 	1 	33 	 	This was a no disqualification match. 	
25 	Adam Cole 	January 4, 2017 	Wrestle Kingdom 11 	Tokyo, Japan 	3 	65 	 	This was a New Japan Pro-Wrestlingevent. 	
26 	Christopher Daniels	March 10, 2017 	15th Anniversary Show 	Sunrise Manor, NV 	1 	105 	 	 	
27 	Cody 	June 23, 2017 	Best in the World 	Lowell, MA 	1 	175 	 	 	
28 	Dalton Castle 	December 15, 2017 	Final Battle 	New York City, NY 	1 	197 	 	 	
29 	Jay Lethal 	June 30, 2018 	Ring of Honor Wrestling 	Fairfax, Virginia 	2 	280 	 	This was a four-way match, also involving Matt Taven and Cody.
Aired July 23, 2018 on tape delay. 	
30 	Matt Taven 	April 6, 2019 	G1 Supercard 	New York City, NY 	1 	174 	 	This was a three-wayladder match, also involving Marty Scurll. 	
31 	Rush 	September 27, 2019 	Death Before Dishonor XVII 	Sunrise Manor, NV 	1 	77 	 	 	
32 	PCO 	December 13, 2019 	Final Battle 	Baltimore, MD 	1 	78 	 	This was a "Friday the 13th Massacre" no disqualification match. 	
33 	Rush 	February 29, 2020 	Gateway to Honor 	St. Charles, MO 	2 	498 	 	This was a three-way match, also involving Mark Haskins. 	
34 	Bandido 	July 11, 2021 	Best in the World 	Baltimore, MD 	1 	152 	 	 	
— 	Vacated 	December 10, 2021 	— 	— 	— 	— 	 	The title was vacated after Bandidotested positive for COVID-19. 	
35 	Jonathan Gresham 	December 11, 2021 	Final Battle 	Baltimore, MD 	1 	224 	 	Defeated Jay Lethal for the vacant title. Former champion Bandido still had the ROH World Championshiptitle belt, while Gresham won the Original ROH World Championship title belt. Gresham defeated Bandido at Supercard of Honor XV to determine the UndisputedROH World Champion.	
022
ueen
== Combined reignsEdit ==
As of November 14, 2022.
One-time and record longest reigning champion Samoa Joe
Record three-time ROH World Champion Adam Cole
Jay Lethal, a two-time champion, holds the record for most combined days as champion, with 707.
†	Indicates the current champion
Rank	Wrestler 	No. of
reigns	Combined
days
1 	Jay Lethal 	2	707
2 	Samoa Joe 	1	645
3 	Rush 	2	575
4 	Nigel McGuinness 	1	545
5 	Bryan Danielson 	1	462
6 	Adam Cole 	3	445
7 	Austin Aries 	2	419
8 	Jay Briscoe 	2	375
9 	Kevin Steen 	1	328
10 	Davey Richards 	1	321
11 	Takeshi Morishima 	1	231
12 	Jonathan Gresham 	1	224
13 	Tyler Black 	1	210
14 	Dalton Castle 	1	197
15 	Roderick Strong 	1	189
16 	Xavier 	1	182
17 	Cody 	1	175
18 	Matt Taven 	1	174
19 	Bandido 	1	152
20 	Christopher Daniels	1	105
21 	Eddie Edwards 	1	99
22 	PCO 	1	78
23 	Michael Elgin 	1	76
24 	Jerry Lynn 	1	71
25 	Claudio Castagnoli 	1	60
26 	Homicide 	1	56
26 	Low Ki 	1	56
28 	CM Punk 	1	55
29 	Chris Jericho † 	1	54+
30 	James Gibson 	1	36
31 	Kyle O'Reilly 	1	33
== NotesEdit ==
: 1.^ – This event was a live event that was later released on DVD.
: 2.^ – This event was a pay-per-view that later aired on tape delay.
: 3.^ – Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the exact number mean they are tied for that certain rank.
== References ==
== External links ==