Ring of Honor Rankings
This will be a reboot of our Ring of Honor Rankings. It has been a long time since we have posted these, so past rankings will have no bearing on the first iteration of these for the New Year.
Ring of Honor World Champion: Nigel McGuinness
1. Erick Stevens – Stevens defeated “American Dragon†Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries in two nights this past weekend. He is also the FIP Champion
2. “American Dragon†Bryan Danielson – Danielson is coming off of a loss at the hands of Erick Stevens, but he has a title shot at the Sixth anniversary show. He is always a top contender.
3. Chris Hero – Hero has a cage match against Nigel, but it may turn out to be a hospital bed match given the injuries currently inflicted upon champ Nigel and the co-holder of the inter-gender tag team titles, Chris Hero.
4. Roderick Strong – Roderick has a title shot right around the corner. He recently lost his FIP title to the rolling Erick Stevens, but is always a threat to upend the champ.
5. Claudio Castagnoli – I would not be surprised to see Claudio rekindle his Pure title rivalry with Nigel with the main belt as the prize. Once Claudio has put SnS Inc behind him, he has to be heading to the thick of the world title race.
6. Jimmy Jacobs – The leader of the Age of the Fall is unpinned since his return to active competition in RoH. He is not in the title picture since he is one half of the tag team champions, but he could always strive for the belt to gain all the power.
7. Kevin Steen – Mr. Wrestling just came off a huge weekend with wins of the Necro Butcher and Brent Albright. I can see the belt bulging around his ample waist at some point in the future, but that is probably a year away or so.
8. Takeshi Morishima – The Japanese behemoth is slated to be a big part of the RoH calendar in 2008. He also has unfinished business with Bryan Danielson and a rematch at some point against Nigel. He may not get the belt, but it would not be impossible and a nice surprise.
9. Go Shiozaki – The protégé of Kenta Kobashi has not wrestled in RoH in the United States, but he has a title shot coming up in Pro-Wrestling NOAH. While he won’t win rumors point to him being a player in RoH through the course of the year so a rivalry could start up.
10. Austin Aries – Aries has taken quite a few on the chin since his title loss to Nigel in a classic at “Rising Above.†He has lost to Danielson, Claudio and Stevens, and seems to be showing a new heelish direction. He will be one to watch, just not as a part of the title picture.
Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions: The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black
1. The Vulture Squad of Jack Evans and Jigsaw – The Vanilla Vulture and the Masked Vulture have a pinfall victory over the champs, although Jack lost to Jacobs in head to head competition, you have to count these two as top challengers.
2. Jay and Mark Briscoe: – The Briscoes lost in their first bid to regain the belts, but you have to consider them as a top challengers. Gabe Sapolsky has even hinted that the Briscoes will go back into “chase mode†as the year goes on.
3. Kevin Steen and El Generico – While they are currently occupied with the Hangmen 3, new tag team champions mean a new chance for Steen and Generico to gain the titles. Steen even beat the Necro Butcher so he has a victory over an Age of the Fall member.
4. The Hangmen 3 of BJ Whitmer and Brent Albright – They are feuding with Steen and Generico at the moment, but the winner of that altercation has to be near the top of the list of tag title contenders.
5. The No Remorse Corps of Rocky Romero, Roderick Strong, and Davey Richards – They are pretty interchangeable as three different tag teams. I think it would be interesting to see these three “Freebird†the belts, but at the moment they are far from the list of top contenders.
These rankings are based on upcoming title shots, storyline superiority, and won/loss records. These are of course all subject to opinion. Prior rankings will also be a factor from here after.
