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ROH World Championship
Chris Jericho versus Mark Briscoe (c)
In the previous article, I mentioned it was interesting to see so much representation from Ring of Honor on the WrestleDream show. Are they showcasing ROH? Are they trying to show it’s a pay per view quality product? I’m not too sure.
When Tony Khan first purchased ROH in 2022, one of the first things done was to get the ROH World Championship off of Jonathan Gresham. Claudio Castagnoli would be champion for 60 days before losing to Chris Jericho at Dynamite: Grand Slam 2022. Chris Jericho had an actually really great run as ROH World Champion, though he never wrestled on the HonorClub TV. Jericho instead represented ROH on AEW Dynamite, defending the title against Bandido, Bryan Danielson, Dalton Castle, Colt Cabana, at Full Gear against Danielson, Claudio, and Sammy Gueveara, and finally Tomohiro Ishii on the Thanksgiving Dynamite.
Chris Jericho would lose the championship back to Claudio, but that run with the ROH World Championship absolutely elevated it as more important than it was feeling in the Sinclair Broadcasting era. A lot of people wondered if Jericho was champion in hopes of saying to a network, “Hey if you get ROH you get Chris Jericho” but nobody bit if that was the case.
It was still a good run for Jericho, with only one match being a stinker (Boom Boom) and I think that might be why Jericho decided to go after Mark Briscoe here. The Learning Tree at this point is a midcard heel faction mucking it up with babyface midcarders, and if Jericho wants to start moving back up the ranks he could use a championship like the ROH World Championship to do it.
Mark Briscoe defeated Eddie Kingston at Supercard of Honor 2024 this year and even though he’s been on AEW television a lot, he’s been good at representing Ring of Honor and defending the championship on HonorClub TV. Briscoe has defences against Kyle Fletcher, Roderick Strong, Johnny TV, The Beast Mortos, Matt Taven, and this week Josh Woods.
I think Mark Briscoe has been a good ROH World Champion and if he continues I’m completely fine with it. But I also sit at the crossroads here and wonder if it’s actually best if Briscoe moves on from Ring of Honor.
Mark has done a great job filling in Eddie Kingston’s big boots as the heart and soul of All Elite Wrestling, pumping the crowds up each week with big speeches and teaching us the word of the day. The Conglomeration has done a good job filling in the Best Friends void and I think his home is now AEW more than ROH. Until he drops that championship? He’s always going to be connected.
Chris Jericho beating Mark Briscoe and making Ring of Honor his home could be the best compromise AEW could make if Jericho doesn’t want to take a break. If he exclusively works ROH for a while as ROH World Champion he could help build that brand up and still work regularly while not taking up a spot in AEW weekly.
Of course, it’s also possible he just does what he did last time and wins the title and defends it all the time in AEW, which in that case? It’s better to be on Mark Briscoe’s waist.
Jericho and Briscoe have never wrestled one on one against each other, though Jericho did pin Briscoe in a Tornado trios match on AEW Collision. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of match the two have, and if Chris Jericho is ready to take HonorClub to new heights. I still believe ROH’s future should be as development, but who better to develop under than The Learning Tree?
