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With Final Battle and Worlds End both in the wing mirror, we now enter 2025 with new stories ready to begin. Many will be spending the first few weeks of January catching up with matches and moments they missed from the previous year, citing their favourite performers of the year, and what their best show was. I, however — as always — like to look forward: and specifically toward the possibilities in the title scenes of both AEW and ROH. In this first part, I shall be looking at every current title in ROH, predict a likely future champion, and then also suggest someone I’d love to see hold that title, likely or not!
Talk about these thoughts on the near future of Ring of Honor and interact with Samuel and any of our great contributors at the Pro Wrestling Musings Discord!
Ring of Honor Six-Man Tag Team Championship
Current Champions: Dustin Rhodes, Marshall Von Erich, Ross Von Erich
Predicted: There aren’t many six-man tag teams on the ROH roster, but one that has recently gained a bit of notice, is Shane Taylor Promotions, with Taylor announcing the intention of his stable to get noticed. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shaun Dean) just joined the Promotions, Lee Moriarty is already the Pure Wrestling Champion, and Anthony Ogogo is looking to break out, so any of the five men could combine to challenge for the titles.
Suggested: This will be the only time I will raise this as an option, but I do feel it would be better for Ring of Honor if they just disbanded the Six-Man Tag Team Championship, and had the AEW Trios Championship feature on both brands. The Trios Division in AEW is struggling enough now, and ROH has even less depth in the division. However, if they are to continue using the titles, then my suggestion would be for Mansoor and Mason of the MxM Collection, in partnership with either Johnny TV or even ideally, a returning Dalton Castle. The charisma and personalities of the team will help bring some attention back to the division, and a deserved award for their strong work since their debut in 2024.
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Ring of Honor Television Championship
Current Champion: Komander
Predicted: With his recent renaissance in the tag-team division and re-signing with AEW, it looks like Dustin Rhodes will continue to be an integral part of the ROH roster. One area that could help utilise his talent, knowledge and experience, would be a return to the Television Division, having short but reliable matches with the newer / younger members of the roster, to help put over a young talent. If ROH is getting a television deal, a reliable hand like Dustin appearing on a regular basis could benefit the overall roster, akin to what Jericho should be doing in his role as ROH World Champion.
Suggested: The Television Champion must be someone who appears regularly on the ROH product, helping put the product over, a representation of everything that ROH stands for. There was part of me that thought someone like Hologram or Beast Mortos could be a good option — a more unique wrestler who makes you want to tune in. But then, someone jumped out to me, who — even though unlikely — could be great for ten-minute matches on ROH television, and maybe even a thank-you for his service in original ROH.
The return of Nigel McGuinness at AEW All In 2024 was a wonderful moment that I’m glad I got to be there live for, and so far his in-ring role has been limited to putting a bow on his feud with Bryan Danielson and helping to legitimise Lee Moriarty as Pure Champion. But the work he could accomplish assuming ROH is promoted to a network — similar to my prediction for Dustin — could be a benefit both for the roster and for the title.
Ring of Honor Women’s Television Championship
Current Champion(s): Red Velvet
Predicted: She’s held the title for about 150+ days, and could hold it longer, but someone who has been successful with some big victories for ROH, and could get an opportunity with the title, is ‘Legit’ Leyla Hirsch. She lost in the original tournament to Red Velvet herself, and since then, she’s feuded with Diamante, culminating in a victory in a Texas Death Match. With that victory under her belt, Hirsch has an opportunity to step up and challenge for the title, allowing Red Velvet to move into the World-title division.
Suggested: It’s uncertain when exactly she will return to wrestling, but with her husband as a prominent member of the ROH roster, it would make sense for Tay Melo to return to wrestling on the ROH roster. Near the end of her original run, fan apathy had turned against both her and Sammy — their nauseatingly over-the-top smugness as a couple making them unbearable to watch — an unfortunate issue considering how popular she was at one point. A clean break with ROH could allow her to regain her momentum, and a first title reign as Women’s Television Champion could be a feel-good moment.
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Ring of Honor Pure Championship
Current Champion(s): Lee Moriarty
Predicted / Suggested: Last year, I was thinking of the possibility of what could occur with the FTW Title and its main holder, Hook. At the time, I felt that Hook had proven himself charismatic, a crowd favourite, and had impressed with some explosive matches as champion. My question was how Hook could transition from the weapons-heavy, shorter FTW-based matches into slightly longer, more back and forth matches without damaging his current aura. And for me, the best answer is for him to become the ROH Pure Champion.
Hook has always had a submission and suplex-based arsenal which suits the Pure Championship division, and having him deal with the three rope breaks could allow him to build up his match experience and technical prowess, as well as demonstrating some vulnerability without weakening him. Matches against wrestlers like Moriarty, Shibata, and even Nigel McGuinness would be a great learning experience as well.
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Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship
Current Champion(s): Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara
Predicted: It’s surprising how well Dustin and Sammy have performed in the Tag Team Division, but you must give credit for what has been a successful reign to date. Both men are better suited to the singles divisions, so it’ll be interesting to see who dethrones them, but the best-placed team seemingly will be one of the newest debutants of the roster, in James Drake and Zach Gibson of Grizzled Young Veterans.
Suggested: The Don Callis Family has expanded with the recent acquisition of both Brian Cage & Lance Archer, who have featured as a tag team in several matches so far. Despite being two giants, neither of them have really had major success with official titles in AEW and ROH (not counting the FTW Title), apart from Cage’s brief reign as ROH Television Champion. While Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita are achieving success in the Continental Classic and as AEW International Champion respectively, the ROH Tag Team division could be an easy opportunity to portray Cage and Archer in a dominant fashion akin to a modern-day Legion of Doom, building up a young team to challenge and eventually defeat them.
Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship
Current Champion(s): Athena
Predicted: The real answer is that Athena will retire as the ROH Women’s Champion with a reign longer than Fabulous Moolah, but if she were to lose the title, one of the recent breakout stars of the ROH Women’s Division is the impressively powerful and vicious Queen Aminata. She’s already had one unsuccessful attempt at Athena at Death Before Dishonor last year, but Aminata has a wonderful regality to her that seems perfectly made for leading a division.
Suggested: While she is predominantly a mainstay of the AEW roster, Jamie Hayter hasn’t entirely bounced back yet since her return from injury, and unfortunately — despite her excellent talent — the AEW Women’s World title scene doesn’t look like it will be moving on any time soon from the Toni Storm stranglehold of the division. Because of that, it might be beneficial to move Hayter to the ROH roster, as she’s one of the few competitors who could legitimately beat Athena for the title.Â
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Ring of Honor World Championship
Current Champion(s): Chris Jericho
Predicted: As cringe and even downright painful some of Jericho’s title reign has been as ROH World Champion in his ‘Learning Tree’ guise, I can almost see the reasoning if the rumours of an ROH TV show turn out to be true. Jericho did an excellent job leading AEW into the first year of its existence — the inaugural AEW World Champion putting on some great matches with Darby Allin, Scorpio Sky, and Cody before losing the title to Jon Moxley. The issue however is that the Jericho of 2025 is slower, plodding, and a disappointing parasite on the enjoyment of AEW.
If it’s true that ROH will be getting a TV show, the aim overall must be, who does Jericho put over to take the lead as ROH World Champion. And here, I can’t help but look back at the original Four Pillars, of whom there is one former World Champion (MJF), and one primed to become World Champion in the next year (Darby Allin). The one who seems to have fallen the most, is ironically the one with the closest connection to Jericho, in his former protégé, Sammy Guevara. He’s quietly been putting himself back together, with a successful reign as Tag Team Champion with Dustin Rhodes, and a run as ROH World Champion may be a good opportunity to prove himself with a new show.
Suggested: I admit, this is very unlikely, but if I was with Ring of Honor, I’d be doing everything I could to reach out to Josh Alexander after he officially leaves TNA Wrestling and look to bring him to challenge Jericho for the title. His title reign as Impact World Champion was legitimately one of the best reigns of the last five years — he was a fighting champion: his 28 matches over a 355-day reign being some of the best in TNA history, with 10 of those lasting 20+ minutes. A throwback to the classic pantheon of ROH World Champions such as Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson, Jay Lethal — priding himself on technical battles that elevated both the title and his opponent — Alexander has proven capable of leading the Impact brand as their Ace, and no question he could do the same for ROH. The ‘Walking Weapon’ needs to be part of Ring of Honor.
Next time, we’ll cast our eye on the AEW title scene!