ROH World Television Championship History

 

ROH WORLD TELEVISON CHAMPIONSHIP

Date Established: January 20th, 2010

Current champion(s): Kyle Fletcher

Date Won: December 15th, 2023

First champion(s): Eddie Edwards

Most reigns: 2  reigns (Dragon Lee, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, Roderick Strong and Silas Young have all held the title 2 times)

Longest reign: Samoa Joe (574 days)

Shortest reign: Will Ospreay (2 days)

Oldest champion: Minoru Suzuki (53 years, 288 days)

Youngest champion: Adam Cole (22 years, 360 days)

Heaviest champion: Shane Taylor (350 lb (160 kg))

Lightest champion: Tony Deppen (165 lb (75 kg))

HISTORY:

On January 20th, 2010 it was announced via the official website of Ring of Honor Wrestling that the promotion had created a television championship, called the ROH World Television Championship. Then it was announced that an 8-man, single elimination tournament would take place to crown the inaugural champion. The tournament started on February 4th, 2010 and concluded on February 6th, 2010 at the Arena (formerly known as the ECW Arena) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the tapings of ROH's television program Ring of Honor Wrestling. In regards to the new championship, then-ROH President Cary Silkin said: "We've been talking about adding a secondary championship for some time. Not only will this give the athletes of Ring of Honor another tremendous goal to work towards, it will also give our great partner, HDNet, a championship that is sure to be defended on the television program. We're happy to publicly give thanks to HDNet for giving us the chance to add this title to the television show." 

The ROH World Television Championship is ROH's second secondary singles championship for the male roster. The first secondary championship, the ROH Pure Championship, was initially used from February 14th, 2004 until it was unified with the ROH World Championship on August 12th, 2006. The ROH Pure Championship would eventually be brought back in January 2020. 

After the Ring of Honor Wrestling television show was cancelled in March 2011, the title became inactive. Although Daniels (the champion at the time) stopped defending it, he still carried the belt with him as part of his new villainous character. With the sale of Ring of Honor Wrestling to the Sinclair Broadcast Group and a new television show scheduled to begin in September 2011, ROH reinstated the title for June 2011's ROH Best in the World event. 

INAUGURAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT (2010):

The inaugural championship tournament was scheduled to take place over a two-day weekend, starting on February 5th and ending the next day at events recorded for later broadcast on Ring of Honor Wrestling. However, due to severe weather conditions in the Philadelphia area, the second day of TV taping was cancelled. It was not until about a month later, on March 5th, that ROH held the second day of taping of the tournament. The first four seeds of 8 in the tournament were announced on January 22nd, 2010: Rhett Titus (8), El Generico (7), Eddie Edwards (6) and Delirious (5). The other four seeds were announced on January 26th, 2010: Kevin Steen (1), Kenny King (2), Colt Cabana (3) and Davey Richards (4). The first round of the tournament was determined at the first event on February 5th, with Steen, King, Richards and Edwards all advancing to round 2. On March 5th, Edwards and Richards both advanced to the final, where Edwards defeated Richards to be crowned the inaugural ROH World Television Champion. The matches were scheduled to span over 6 weeks worth of ROH TV. The first match from round 1 that aired pitted Steen against Titus, which Steen won, on the March 8th episode. On the same episode, King versus El Generico was featured, with King advancing. Cabana versus Edwards was the 3rd match from round 1 to air, when it was broadcast on the March 15th episode. Richards defeated Delirious in the final match from round 1, which aired later that same episode. The first match from round 2, Steen versus Edwards, was featured on the April 12th episode, in which Edwards advanced to the final. On April 19th, Richards defeated King to advance to the ffinal. On the April 26th episode, Edwards defeated Richards in the final of the tournament to be crowned the inaugural ROH World Television Champion.

Tournament Bracket:

Round 1 (Ring of Honor Wrestling)

Round 2 (Ring of Honor Wrestling)

Final (Ring of Honor Wrestling)

1

Kevin Steen

Pin

8

Rhett Titus

1

Kevin Steen

6

Eddie Edwards

Pin

3

Colt Cabana

10:00

6

Eddie Edwards

Pin

6

Eddie Edwards

Sub

4

Davey Richards

20:02

5

Delirious

13:30

4

Davey Richards

Pin

4

Davey Richards

Pin

2

Kenny King

7

El Generico

2

Kenny King

Pin

TITLE REIGNS:

1. Eddie Edwards - Won on: March 5th, 2010 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Philadelphia, PA - Reign: 1, Days Held: 280 (Defeated Davey Richards in the final of an 8-man single elimination tournament to become the inaugural champion. The event aired on tape delay on April 26th, 2010.)

2. Christopher Daniels - Won on: December 10th, 2010 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Louisville, KY - Reign: 1, Days Held: 198 (Aired on tape delay on January 31st, 2011.)

3. El Generico - Won on: June 26th, 2011 @ ROH Best in the World 2011 in New York, NY - Reign: 1, Days Held: 48

4. Jay Lethal - Won on: August 13th, 2011 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Chicago Ridge, IL - Reign: 1, Days Held: 231 (Aired on tape delay on October 1st, 2011.)

5. Roderick Strong - Won on: March 31st, 2012 @ ROH Showdown in the Sun: Day #2 in Fort Lauderdale, FL - Reign: 1, Days Held: 90

6. Adam Cole - Won on: June 29th, 2012 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 1, Days Held: 246 (Aired on tape delay on June 28th, 2012.)

7. Matt Taven - Won on: March 2nd, 2013 @ ROH 11th Anniversary Show in Chicago Ridge, IL - Reign: 1, Days Held: 287

8. Tommaso Ciampa - Won on: December 14th, 2013 @ ROH Final Battle 2013 in New York, NY - Reign: 1, Days Held: 111

9. Jay Lethal - Won on: April 4th, 2014 @ ROH Supercard of Honor VIII in Westwego, LA - Reign: 2, Days Held: 567 (This was a 2-out-of-3 Falls match. During this reign, Lethal also won the ROH World Championship at ROH Best in the World 2015 against Jay Briscoe having him hold both championships at the same time making him double champion)

10. Roderick Strong - Won on: October 23rd, 2015 @ ROH Glory By Honor XIV in Kalamazoo, MI - Reign: 2, Days Held: 119 

11. Tomohiro Ishii - Won on: February 19th, 2016 @ ROH Honor Rising: Japan 2016 in Tokyo, Japan - Reign: 1, Days Held: 79

12. Bobby Fish - Won on: May 8th, 2016 @ ROH Global Wars in Chicago Ridge, IL - Reign: 1, Days Held: 194

13. Will Ospreay - Won on: November 18th, 2016 @ ROH Reach for the Sky Tour 2016 in Liverpool, England - Reign: 1, Days Held: 2

14. Marty Scurll - Won on: November 20th, 2016 @ ROH Reach for the Sky Tour 2016 in London, England - Reign: 1, Days Held: 175

15. Kushida - Won on: May 14th, 2017 @ ROH War of the Worlds in Philadelphia, PA - Reign: 1, Days Held: 131

16. Kenny King - Won on: September 22nd, 2017 @ ROH Death Before Dishonor XV in Sunrise Manor, NV - Reign: 1, Days Held: 84

17. Silas Young - Won on: December 15th, 2017 @ ROH Final Battle 2017 - Reign: 1, Days Held: 57 (This was a 4-Way Elimination Match, also including Punishment Martinez and Shane Taylor.)

18. Kenny King - Won on: February 10th, 2018 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Atlanta, GA - Reign: 2, Days Held: 56 (Aired on tape delay on Feruary 25th, 2018.)

19. Silas Young - Won on: April 7th, 2018 @ ROH Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans, LA - Reign: 2, Days Held: 70 (This was a Last Man Standing match.)

20. Punishment Martinez - Won on: June 16th, 2018 @ ROH State of the Art, Day 2 in Dallas, TX - Reign: 1, Days Held: 105 (This was a Proving Grounds 6-Man Mayhem Instant Reward match.)

21. Jeff Cobb - Won on: September 29th, 2018 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Paradise, NV - Reign: 1, Days Held: 222 (Aired on tape delay on October 19th, 2018.)

22. Shane Taylor - Won on: May 9th, 2019 @ ROH x NJPW War of the Worlds, Day 2 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Reign: 1, Days Held: 218 (This was a Four Corner Survival match, also involving Brody King and Hirooki Goto)

23. Dragon Lee - Won on: December 13th, 2019 @ ROH Final Battle 2019 in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 1, Days Held: 469 

24. Tracy Williams - Won on: March 26th, 2021 @ ROH 19th Anniversary Show in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 1, Days Held: 35 (Defeated Kenny King, who was filling in for an injured Lee. The match where he lost the title aired on May 1st, 2021, but the exact date the match took place was March 26th, 2021, as ROH has held closed-door tapings at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena since August 2020 after resuming operations following a 5 month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

25. Tony Deppen - Won on: April 30th, 2021 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling Taping in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 1, Days Held: 72 (The match aired on May 1st, 2021, but the exact date the match took place is April 30, 2021, as ROH has held closed-door tapings at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena since August 2020 after resuming operations following a 5 month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

26. Dragon Lee - Won on: July 11th, 2021 @ ROH Best in the World 2021 in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 2, Days Held: 133

27. Dalton Castle - Won on: November 21st, 2021 @ Ring of Honor Wrestling in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 1, Days Held: 20

28. Rhett Titus - Won on: December 11th, 2021 @ ROH Final Battle 2021 in Baltimore, MD - Reign: 1, Days Held: 111 (This was a Four Corner Survival Match, also involving Joe Hendry and Silas Young. During this reign, Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor.)

29. Minoru Suzuki - Won on: April 13th, 2022 @ ROH Supercard of Honor XV in Garland, TX - Reign: 1, Days Held: 12

30. Samoa Joe - Won on: April 13th, 2022 @ AEW Dynamite in New Orleans, LA - Reign: 1, Days Held: 574 (This title change happened during an All Elite Wrestling event.)

- VACATED on November 8th, 2023 @ AEW Dynamite in Portland, OR --- This was an All Elite Wrestling event. Samoa Joe relinquished the title to focus on pursuing the AEW World Championship.

31. Kyle Fletcher - Won on: December 15th, 2023 @ ROH Final Battle 2023 in Garland, TX - Reign: 1, Days Held: 2+ (Fletcher defeated Komander, Lee Moriarty, Lee Johnson, Dalton Castle and Bryan Keith in a Survival of the Fittest match to win the vacant title.)