The Most Obscure and Forgotten Champions In Ring of Honor History

The Most Obscure and Forgotten Champions In Ring of Honor History

February 21, 2022

By Ryan Porzl

Continuing our 20th celebration of Ring of Honor, we now move to the second of three articles. In the last article, we looked back at the famous names most people know of but either didn't know or forgot they ever held an ROH championship. In this article, we'll look at different champions. With a promotion that has been around as long as ROH has, not every champion can be memorable or legendary. Sadly, there are those that become forgotten to history and are only remembered from past footage or title history pages on wikipedia. In this article, we'll take a look back at the most forgotten champions in Ring of Honor history.

Xavier

Title Held: ROH World Championship

Let's start with the first and perhaps biggest obscure champion in ROH history. When you look at the history of the ROH World Championship, it's a who's who that have held it. Not only guys who became legends in ROH but guys who made it to bigger fame be it WWE, TNA/Impact, AEW, or Japan. Among the list include Low Ki, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, CM Punk, Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), Adam Cole, etc. In most cases, being the ROH World Champion led to bigger and better things. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Xavier who not only is usually considered the weakest ROH World Champion in history but his reign was more of a "15 minutes of fame" scenario than a sign of things to come. Originally trained by former ECW wrestler Tony DeVito (more on him in a bit), Xavier turned pro around 1995-1997 and for the first five to seven years of his career built a good resume in the northeast independent scene for promotions like USA Pro/UXW, JAPW, and ECWA where he won many championships in UXW while also having held JAPW's Light Heavyweight Championship and in ECWA having held their heavyweight and tag team championships. Xavier would enter ROH at their inaugural show The Era of Honor Begins on February 23, 2002 where he spent the spring and summer as a "by the book" babyface which eventually allowed him to convince inaugural ROH World Champion Low Ki to a title match. On September 21st at Unscripted, Xavier would show his true colors by cheating to defeat Ki, win the championship, and join Christopher Daniels' Prophecy stable. After winning the championship, the self-proclaimed "All Around Best" would hold it for six months as he made four successful title defenses against AJ Styles, Jay Briscoe, and two against Paul London before eventually losing the championship to Samoa Joe at Night of Champions on March 19, 2003 thus beginning the Samoan Submission Machine's legendary 21 month reign. After losing the championship, Xavier would take a break due to a concussion and his ROH run went downward. Upon return, he left the Prophecy and went out on his own for the remainder of the year before becoming an early member of Prince Nana's Embassy stable until leaving ROH in 2004 after a shoulder injury. Upon leaving ROH, Xavier was never able to recapture his previous success as he would receive several WWE tryouts between 2002-2007 but was never hired. From 2006-2007, he made several one night only returns including challenging Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship but came up short. He then took part in a TNA tryout match in 2010 but wasn't hired and largely faded away after that. In late 2019/early 2020, it was announced Xavier would return to ROH for a "Past vs. Present" show during Wrestlemania weekend in March 2020 where he would take on Jay Lethal but the event and match never happened due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sadly, only a few months later, on August 16, 2020, Xavier passed away at the age of 43.

John Walters

Title Held: ROH Pure Championship

Again, kind of like the ROH World Championship, the ROH Pure Championship was another belt that had it's share of Hall of Famers hold it with some already being former world champions like AJ Styles in TNA or Samoa Joe in ROH while others used it to elevate their careers like Jay Lethal, Nigel McGuinness, and Jonathan Gresham. Like Xavier with the world title, the same is true for John Walters as he also tasted ROH gold but wasn't able to use it as a springboard to a hall of fame career. Walters turned pro in 2001 after being co-trained by legendary wrestler and trainer Killer Kowalski and like Xavier, built a good indy career in the northeast. He spent most of his time competing in the New England based Chaotic Wrestling becoming a triple crown winner having held their heavyweight, television, and tag team championships while also competing for ECWA in Delaware where he captured their championship. From 2003-2004, he also did prelim work for the WWE and even got to be one of the Undertaker's druids at Wrestlemania XX. By mid 2003, Walters joined Ring of Honor and had rivalries and feuds with the likes of Xavier and the Generation Next stable before finally achieving championship success. On August 28th, 2004 at Scramble Cage Melee, Walters would defeat Doug Williams to capture the ROH Pure Championship. Walters would also go on to have a six month reign as he fended off challenges from future ROH legends Nigel McGuinness, Homicide, Jimmy Rave two times, and Jay Lethal all the while joining the Embassy halfway through his reign. Eventually, Walters would lose the title to Lethal at Trios Tournament on March 5, 2005. After losing the title, Walters would leave ROH to heal from injuries and largely returned to the independent circuit. From 2010-2012, Walters would then achieve perhaps his biggest fame when he joined the short lived Lucha Libre USA promotion where he changed his name to RJ Brewer and adapted an anti-illegal immigrant gimmick with the claim being he was the son of then controversial Arizona governor Jan Brewer. Walters would achieve success as he not only held the LLUSA Championship twice but also made several media appearances due to the gimmick before the promotion shut down in 2012. Afterwards, Walters continued using the RJ Brewer gimmick on the indy circuit until he began slowing down in 2014. After only wrestling sporadically from 2015-2020, Walters returned to ROH in 2020, once again as John Walters but the promotion would go on hiatus in December 2021 before he could build momentum. Whether he remains with the relaunched ROH is unknown.

Dixie and Izzy

Special K

Title Held: ROH World Tag Team Championship

Special K was one of ROH's staples during the early years with the gimmick being a group of young rich kids who squander their potential on drugs, partying, and raves. They became known for wrestling mostly in the old scramble matches (lucha libre rules) and like Christopher Daniels' Prophecy stable, they didn't adhere to Ring of Honor's code of honor nor did they respect it. The group at times featured a half a dozen members with Jay Lethal even starting his ROH run as a member under the name Hydro. Two of the members of Special K were Dixie and Izzy. Both Dixie and Izzy turned pro right around the same time of 1999/2000 with the Haas Brothers being two of their trainers. They mostly competed for the Jersey All Pro Wrestling promotion winning their share of titles while they held the JAPW Tag Team Titles together. In the summer of 2002, both would become early members of Special K alongside founder Brian XL and as mentioned, became staples of early ROH. After a year in the promotion, Dixie and Izzy would return to championship status when they defeated The Backseat Boyz (more on them in a bit) for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Tradition Continues on October 16, 2003. They would only make one successful title defense against The Carnage Crew (more on them later) before dropping the titles to The Briscoe Brothers sixteen days later at Main Event Spectacles on November 1st. After losing the titles, Special K stock would drop throughout 2004 with members leaving and the remaining members becoming jobbers. In early 2005, Dixie and Izzy broke up with Dixie, teaming with Azrieal would win the Special K name from Izzy, who teamed with Deranged which resulted in Izzy and Deranged briefly joining Lacey's Angels and the two sides briefly feuded until both Dixie and Izzy left ROH in 2005 and briefly retired. After a three year retirement, both would work here and there from 2008-2016 with both men's last matches to date being at JAPW's 20th Anniversary show on November 12, 2016.

Ricky Reyes

Title Held: ROH World Tag Team Championship

Rocky Romero is someone who has built a great career in the wrestling business. While he's excelled as a single, he's probably achieved his biggest fame as a tag wrestler be it in the No Remorse Corp. stable to Forever Hooligans to Roppongi Vice. However, before those more well known teams, Romero was part of a tag team called the Havana Pitbulls and his partner was a man named Ricky Reyes. Reyes turned pro in 2000 and immediately began his team with Romero with the two originally called Los Cubanitos. Reyes worked the indy circuit including for UPW in California and by 2002/2003 was making appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL in Mexico where he and Romero changed their name to the Havana Pitbulls. After making appearances for PWG along the way, Reyes with Romero debuted in Ring of Honor in 2004 and eventually joined up with Homicide, Low Ki, and Julius Smokes as The Rottweilers. On August 15, 2004, at Testing The Limit, Reyes and Romero would defeat CM Punk and Colt Cabana of the Second City Saints to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. The Pitbulls held the belts for more than six months as they held off challenges from the likes of Punk and Steve Corino, The Carnage Crew, various lineups of Special K, Jack Evans and Roderick Strong of Generation Next, and Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer. They would eventually lose the gold to Maff and Whitmer at Third Anniversary: Night One on February 19, 2005. After losing the titles, Reyes would team with Romero and Homicide to win the 2005 ROH Trios Tournament but afterwards, The Pitbulls would get several opportunities but never got the titles back and eventually went their own ways with Reyes leaving ROH in 2007. Reyes would mostly spend years on the indies with the occasional appearance on a national platform. In 2009, he competed for the Puerto Rican based WWC where he won the Junior Heavyweight Championship two times. He would make sporadic returns to ROH in 2009, 2010, and 2012. From 2014-2018, Reyes would compete for Lucha Underground as Cortez Castro becoming a regular but never went higher than the midcard. Since November 2021, Reyes has been wrestling for NJPW Strong as an incarnation of the legendary Black Tiger character where he's had matches against Romero (himself the fourth incarnation of Black Tiger).

Loc and DeVito

The Carnage Crew

Title Held: ROH World Tag Team Championship

Like Special K, The Carnage Crew was another staple and regular during ROH's early years. Both turned pro in the 1990s with DeVito originally becoming known as a regular enhancement wrestler for the WWF during the early to mid 1990s. By 1999, both joined ECW where DeVito became a member of the stable turned tag team Da Baldies where he made regular appearances during their last two years while Loc worked on the ring crew and as a referee while working as a prelim wrestler. Both would remain in ECW until it closed in April 2001. Afterwards, they worked the indies before joining ROH only a few shows into their history in the spring of 2002 where they began teaming as The Carnage Crew while occasionally being joined by indy wrestler Masada and ECW legend Justin Credible. The team was a regular act during the first three years where they received several shots at the Tag Team Championships. After three years of trying, Carnage Crew would finally win the ROH World Tag Team Championship from BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs at Escape From New York on July 9, 2005. Despite the long journey of winning the belts, The Carnage Crew wouldn't hold them for long as they made one successful title defense in an "ultimate endurance" (fatal four way) match against Cheech and Deranged of Lacey's Angels, Eddie Vegas and Excess of The Embassy, and The Ring Crew Express before dropping the titles back to Whitmer and Jacobs at The Homecoming on July 23rd. After losing the titles, The Carnage Crew both left ROH and went into semi-retirement by the 2010s though they still occasionally wrestle from time to time to this day.

Sumie Sakai

Title Held: Women of Honor Championship

Sakai is one of those wrestlers who took the long road but eventually made it to a good destination as she struck good and made history. Sakai originally turned pro in 1997 in her native Japan and mostly spent her time in the JDStar promotion winning her share of titles and tournaments. Outside of that, she also made trips to All Japan Women's, Michinoku Pro, and Osaka Pro Wrestling. In 2002, Sakai would actually make her Ring of Honor debut where she defeated Simply Luscious at Road To The Title on June 22nd. By 2003, she began working regularly in the United States competing for the likes of CHIKARA, WXW, CZW, and JAPW. During all this, she continued to make here and there appearances for ROH over the years facing off against Allison Danger, April Hunter, and Lacey. Eventually, Sasaki joined ROH around 2014 as the promotion was creating it's women's division called "Women of Honor". In early 2018, ROH would unveil the WOH Championship and Sakai entered a tournament to become the inaugural champion. After defeating the likes of Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and Tenille Dashwood, Sakai would defeat Kelly Klein in the finals at Supercard of Honor XII on April 7, 2018 to become the first WOH Champion. Sakai would hold the championship for over eight months as she successfully defeated the likes of Jenny Rose, Madison Rayne, and Dashwood before eventually losing the championship to Klein in a fatal four way also involving Rayne and Karen Q at Final Battle 2018 on December 14, 2018. After losing the championship, Sakai continued working for ROH but wasn't able to regain the championship and began fallen down the cards. Eventually, when the WOH Championship was retired in favor of a ROH Women's World Championship, Sakai entered the tournament hoping for lightning to strike twice but she lost in the first round to eventual winner Rok-C. Sakai continued to work in ROH until it went on hiatus in December 2021. Like Walters, it's unknown if she'll return when they resume in April 2022.

TK O'Ryan

Title Held: ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (3x)

Probably the most recent obscure ROH champion to date and the most successful in terms of how many championships he held. O'Ryan originally turned pro in 2014 and spent his early career mostly competing in New England and Canadian independent promotions. By 2016, O'Ryan made his debut for Ring of Honor and immediately saw success as he joined Matt Taven's Kingdom stable along with Vinny Marseglia (Vincent). They entered a tournament to crown the inaugural ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions as they defeated Superkliq (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks), Team CMLL (Hechicero, Okumura, and Ultimo Guerrero) before defeating Lio Rush, Jay White, and Kushida in the finals at Final Battle 2016 on December 2, 2016 to become the inaugural champions. Their first reign lasted four months as they defended against Jax Dane and War Machine, Jay White and The Motor City Machine Guns, and Dalton Castle and The Boys to name some until O'Ryan suffered an injury in March which resulted in the Kingdom using Silas Young as a replacement when they lost the titles to Bully Ray and The Briscoe Brothers on ROH TV on March 11, 2017 (shown April 8th).

After O'Ryan recovered, The Kingdom marched on and a year later would regain the titles when on May 9, 2018 at ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds: Night One, they defeated the champions of SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky). They would hold the titles for two months as they defended against SCU, the team of Jay Lethal, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Dalton Castle, The Superkliq, Team CMLL's Atlantis, Guerrero Maya Jr., and Stuka Jr., and Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, BUSHI, and SANADA) before losing the gold to Bullet Club's Cody and The Young Bucks on ROH TV on July 21st (shown August 25th).

Four months after the loss, The Kingdom bounced back as they captured a third and final Six-Man Tag Title when they regained the belts from Cody and The Bucks in a rematch at Survival of the Fittest 2018 on November 4th. The Kingdom held the championships for four months mostly defending the belts against Castle and The Boys while also making title defenses for the indy promotion Canadian Wrestling's Elite. They lost the championships to Villain Enterprises which consisted of Marty Scurll, Brody King, and PCO on March 16, 2009 during a broadcast of ROH TV (shown March 29th). After losing the titles for the third time, The Kingdom would eventually fall apart due to issues between Taven and Marseglia while O'Ryan stopped competing for ROH after August 2019. From there, O'Ryan began competing for Canadian Wrestling's Elite until December 2019 when he decided to take a break due to injuries and concussions. As of February 2022, he hasn't competed since and it's unknown if he will.

Johnny Kashmere and Trent Acid

The Backseat Boyz

Title Held: ROH World Tag Team Championship

Another forgotten team from ROH's early history. Originally trained by former ECW World Tag Team Championships The Pitbulls, Johnny Kashmere and Trent Acid began their careers around 1998 and by 2000, they began teaming as The Backseat Boyz. Again, like Xavier and Walters, Kashmere and Acid applied their trade and enjoyed success in the northeast independent scene, specifically for CZW where they competed and enjoyed big success there from 1999-2004 during which time they captured the CZW World Tag Team Championship three times while Kashmere held the titles with CZW legends Robbie Minero and Justice Pain while Acid held the promotion's Iron Man Championship, Junior Heavyweight Championship three times, and won the 2002 Best of the Best Tournament. Outside of CZW, they also held the tag titles of Jersey All Pro Wrestling and the East Coast Wrestling Association. By early 2003, The Boyz made their way to Ring of Honor and quickly rose through the ranks until finally striking gold. In August 2003, AJ Styles and Amazing Red were forced to vacate the ROH World Tag Team Championship due to an injury suffered by Red. The vacancy would be filled on September 20, 2003 at Glory By Honor II with Kashmere and Acid winning a gauntlet match against The Carnage Crew, The Ring Crew Express, two versions of Special K, and The Briscoe Brothers to win the belts. With the win, The Backseat Boyz became the first team to have been CZW and ROH World Tag Team Champions. Unfortunately, they wouldn't hold the titles for long nor make any successful title defenses before losing the titles to Dixie and Izzy of Special K on October 16th at Tradition Continues. After losing the championships, Kashmere would leave ROH in early 2004 while Acid stuck around as a singles before he too left at the end of '04. After their ROH runs, Kashmere and Acid would work and own the independent promotion Pro Wrestling Unplugged while Acid held their championship. They also enjoying success in UXW where they held the tag titles and Acid held several singles championships. By 2008, both left PWU with Kashmere slowing down while Acid returned to CZW and worked for Juggalo Championship Wrestling. Sadly, on June 18, 2010, Acid would pass away of a drug overdose at 29. Following Acid's death, Kashmere finished his career the same year and reportedly went back to school for a computer science degree. Since his passing, Acid was posthumously inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame in 2010 and the CZW Hall of Fame in 2019.

Takeshi Morishima

Title Held: ROH World Championship

I wasn't sure to put this one in since while Morishima definitely fits the bill to American fans and even fans outside of Japan, I wasn't sure if he's been forgotten in Japan. Then again, he retired in 2015 and has largely faded away since then for seven years so I'll include him. Morishima originally trained in the All Japan dojo and turned pro for All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1998. After spending his first few years as a young lion/rookie who mostly paid his dues, Morishima took part in the NOAH exodus in 2000 when Mitsuharu Misawa formed Pro Wrestling NOAH. For the next six years, Morishima was a successful tag team wrestler winning NOAH's GHC (Global Honored Crown) Tag Team Championship with the likes of Takeshi Rikio and Mohammed Yone all the while considered a can't miss prospect. In 2007, Morishima was sent to ROH as part of his learning excursion. After coming up short in his debut against the departing Samoa Joe, Morishima would shock many when only 24 hours later on February 17, 2007 at Fifth Year Festival: Philadelphia he defeated Homicide to win the ROH World Championship. After winning the championship, Morishima would go on an eight month tear successfully fending off challenges from BJ Whitmer, Nigel McGuinness, Jay Briscoe, Jimmy Rave, Adam Pearce, Brent Albright, Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro), Bryan Danielson, and Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens) while also defending in Japan against KENTA and Katsuhiko Nakajima before finally losing the championship on October 6th at Undeniable to McGuinness. After losing the championship, Morishima would make sporadic ROH appearances until late 2008. He eventually returned to NOAH in early 2008 and captured his first GHC Heavyweight Championship that March against Misawa. Unfortunately, despite the big ROH run and ending what would be Misawa's final reign as champion, Morishima, like every other up and comer NOAH tried to push during this time, failed to catch on and dropped the title six months later to legend Kensuke Sasaki. After losing the championship, Morishima remained a staple and top star for NOAH for the remainder of the 2000s and the first half of the 2010s but never became the big star everyone hoped he would. Despite this, he did capture two more tag team championships as he teamed with Sasaki and Maybach Taniguchi while also regaining the GHC Heavyweight Championship two more times. He also ventured into the Mexican based AAA and held their world tag team championships with Taiji Ishimori. Sadly, by 2014, Morishima's body began to break down and he began suffering more injuries. In the spring of 2015, he abruptly announced his retirement after being diagnosed with diabetes and quietly left NOAH and the wrestling business. In 2018, Morishima announced an in-ring comeback but an injury cancelled those plans and since that time, has only been on the radar when he got arrested in November 2018 due to assaulting a taxi driver. A sad end to what should've been a way bigger Hall of Fame career.

Donovan Morgan

Title Held: ROH World Tag Team Championship

Donovan Morgan is like the original MTV VJs: worst case scenario, he'll always be the answer to a trivia question. Not only is Morgan an obscure and forgotten champion in ROH but he's probably the only real obscure and forgotten partner of "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. Seriously, how many amazing teams as Daniels been apart of? Triple X with Elix Skipper and Low Ki, him and AJ Styles, him and Matt Sydal, and SCU with Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky. Yet out of all those teams, he probably made the biggest history making moment teaming with his most forgotten partner in Morgan as they were the inaugural ROH World Tag Team Champions. Morgan began his career around 1995/1996 after training at the APW Boot Camp and began wrestling in the All Pro Wrestling promotion where he competed for the next few years. During his stay, he became a triple crown champion, holding APW's Universal, Internet, and Tag Team Championships. In 1998 and in 2001, Morgan would get several tryouts with WCW and WWF but was never hired. Despite this, by 2002, things looked up for Morgan as he left APW to co-found Pro Wrestling IRON with one of his trainers Michael Modest. He also went to ECWA and won their Super 8 Tournament. During this time period, Morgan and Modest also began touring for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. During this time, Morgan debuted for Ring of Honor where he defeated Christopher Daniels in April 2002. Afterwards, the two struck an alliance with Morgan becoming an early member of Daniels' Prophecy stable. Despite sporadic appearance due to his NOAH commitments, Morgan would not only become an ROH champion but made history doing so. On September 21, 2002, at Unscripted, Morgan would team with Daniels in a tournament to crown the inaugural ROH World Tag Team Champions. After defeating Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka in the first and The SATs (Joel and Jose Maximo) in the semifinals, they would make history defeating Bryan Danielson and Michael Modest in the finals to become the first ROH World Tag Team Champions. After winning the belts, Morgan and Daniels defended them whenever Morgan was available. They would ultimately make two successful title defenses, first teaming with Samoa Joe in a six man title defense against Doug Williams, Homicide, and Low Ki and then against The SATs before Daniels and Xavier lost the titles to AJ Styles and Amazing Red at Expect the Unexpected on March 15, 2003 with Xavier replacing Morgan due to his unavailability as he was touring for NOAH. After losing the titles, Morgan only made two more ROH appearances before leaving in May 2003 reportedly due to his NOAH commitments as well as disputes over accommodations. After leaving Ring of Honor, Morgan continued running PWI and touring for NOAH for another two years until the fall of 2005 when PWI shut down and he left NOAH. Morgan would work his last matches as enhancement talent for Impact in February 2006 before retiring from wrestling later that year. He's since become a mortgage broker.