Who Should Have Been ROH Champion?

[TKK]

Are there any guys from ROH's past and present which you feel should have held the ROH World title by now?

I think that Jimmy Rave should have held the belt at one point. He spent a good two years being the most over heel in ROH by a long shot, but never broke out past mid card mediocrity. He was The Embassy's only shot at having a world champion and I can't say that I would have minded it. That gimmick with a bit of credibility put behind it would have been so much better.

Another person who I believe should have been ROH champion was BJ Whitmer. Coming off the ROH/CZW angle he was the breakout star in the company and though his technical wrestling wasn't up to par with a McGuinness or a Danielson, he could still have great matches as one of the company's top brawlers. I think that he should have been the man to defeat Danielson for the belt, it would have solidified him as a legitimate main eventer in a company which was slowly, but surely losing its star power.

 

[Stopspot]

Nice shout out on Whitmer. Definitely deserves a reign. Maybe a thank you one once his career is about to end.

I'd also say Jacobs. Very underrated guy in ROH and a massive workhorse. Ideally he would have been champ when Age of the Fall was at its peak.

 

[Senhor Perfect]

With you on Rave, so underrated. I also think Cabana should have been given a run after Punk blew up to take advantage of him being on that DVD. Could have brought in a lot of new fans.

 

[TKK]

Being honest, I wouldn't be so hot on Whitmer getting the strap now. His time has well passed, but in '06 he was definitely worthy of carrying the company on his back at least until Nigel got his shot.
Jacobs is a good choice. The problem with the AoTF is that they never had any memorable moments apart from their debut, Jacobs winning the ROH title would have changed that.

Normally, I wouldn't agree with Cabana as a world champion because I don't think that his character fits it, but considering Punk dropped the title to Gibson (who wasn't over at all) he might as well have. They could have at least made a good storyline out of it considering that they had so much history together and then had Cabana drop the strap to Danielson.

Another person that I'll mention is Alex Shelley. Until he started working for TNA, he was primed to be the first in Generation Next to win the ROH title. I think the only reason that Aries had his first ROH title run was because he was substitute for Shelley who wasn't consistently at shows because of his relationship with TNA.

 

[Stopspot]

I honestly wouldn't have been against Matt Hardy having a reign with Corino as his manager. SCUM could have ended but Hardy and Corino still dogging ROH could have been good. Hardy got good heat and Corino is a good speaker.

 

[TKK]

Corino could have had a reign himself if he didn't bloat up so much during the earlier 2000s. ROH would have got a shit ton of recognition if Corino was defending the belt over in Zero-1 during 2004-2005.

 

[Stopspot]

Should they have given KENTA a run with the belt when they had the chance? NOAH was not down in the can back then like it is now so it could have been some good press for ROH in Japan.

 

[seabs]

Christopher Daniels should have picked the title up from Punk in 05. He makes his big return after being called out by Punk they feud for a bit then Gibson picks it up before leaving to head back to the WWE....

 

[Stopspot]

Yeah, Daniels should definitely have picked up the belt from Punk. Gibson was a weird choice overall.

 

[TKK]

Wasn't Daniels in the same boat as Shelley? He couldn't dedicate himself to ROH because of TNA? Kind of ironic that they gave the belt to Gibson, but Gabe has always been pretty high on him.

 

[Stopspot]

Cactus Jack since you didn't find it last night.

 

[Messiah1]

Jimmy Jacobs and Jay Lethal.

Mike Bennett is worthy of a title run as well.

 

[Stopspot]

I'm with you on Jacobs and I can see the argument for Lethal. But Mike Bennett? Seriously?

 

[Messiah1]

Bennett is good enough to be Champion in ROH. They've given the title to Jamie Noble before. Bennett is highly underrated imo

 

[Stopspot]

Bennett is not credible to be champion in my opinion. At least Noble came in with the "I was in the WWE" buzz to build some cred. Bennett is a mid card act until he develops his character.