Every ROH World Champion Ranked From Worst To Best

15. Christopher Daniels

Christopher Daniels’ reign as ROH World Champion may have come several years later than it should have but no one will balk at his name when looking through the list of former champions.

Daniels was someone who defined the early days of Ring of Honor and was one of the pioneers of the modern independent scene.

When he finally won the title from Adam Cole in 2017, it was a feel-good moment to honor a legend.

This is the tier of guys that are really good ROH Champions. It is very hard to find problems with Daniels’ run as champion, you might just wish it had happened when he was a younger man.

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14. Cody

Cody was a very different performer when he arrived in Ring of Honor compared to when he left.

A profoundly WWE guy, Cody used his time in ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling to develop into a much better in-ring performer and a more effective heel.

Cody dethroned Christopher Daniels as champion at Best in the World 2017 and it marked the biggest title win of his career to that point.

His reign was genuinely very good as he used his status as “The WWE Guy” to draw great heat from the ROH fans.

With a very respectable 175-day reign, Cody more than earned his place among the great ROH World Champions.

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13. Davey Richards

Now, this is where this list starts getting tough but for a new reason.

You may look at Davey Richards at number 13 and think “how could that be possible” but when you remember who else is on this list it becomes clear how great the champions have been in ROH.

Richards managed to surpass his tag partner Eddie Edwards at Best in the World 2011 to become champion and if he had focused more on his singles run and less on his team, he would have placed higher.

At the time, there were those who regarded Richards as the best wrestler in the world.

His title defenses reflected that with his match against Michael Elgin at Showdown in the Sun being one of the best in company history.

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12. Roderick Strong

You don’t get the nickname “Mr. ROH” by being a slouch and Roderick Strong was indeed no slouch.

Strong was a fantastic heel by the time Truth Martini led him to the ROH World Championship in September 2010.

His matches were almost all top-notch as champion as he put in a very respectable 189-day reign.

Many of the best reigns in ROH were due in no small part to the quality of the roster at the time. In this case, Strong had a number of excellent challengers, solidifying him as one of the promotion’s best champions.

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11. Tyler Black

Before he would go on to be WWE’s Seth Rollins, Tyler Black seemed destined for big things in wrestling.

When you can have a blowaway match with AJ Styles in your first ever match, you probably have a bright future.

Sure enough, Black entered Ring of Honor at only 21-years-old and won the ROH World Championship in February 2010.

There were members of ROH management who didn’t see Black as their top guy and if they had there is no telling how big an ROH star he could have been.

As champion, word got out that Black was leaving for WWE and he was able to get that special unique “I hate you for leaving” kind of heat on his way out.

• Ring of Honor
• ROH World champion
• Samoa Joe
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