Top 10 ROH Stars of All Time
By Tim Sherry
6. Jay Lethal
New Jersey native Jay Lethal’s ROH career was clearly the tale of two stories. He first entered the promotion in January of 2003 under the name Hydro. He’d have a decent run with that gimmick as he’d go 35-40-2 (cagematch.net) while also having a short run with the ROH Pure Title. But after nearly 2 years with ROH Lethal left for TNA where he’d become one of the most successful X-Division wrestlers in the history of that company. But in 2011 Lethal returned to Ring of Honor but this time as a global superstar and that showed from the very beginning of his second stint.
This time around Lethal went from being a mid-card worker to a main event quality star and made waves fast. In only his second match back with the company, he defeated El Generico for the ROH Television title which he held for 231 days. About 2 years later he would again taste Television title gold by defeating Tommaso Ciampa for the belt, this time holding on to it for a staggering 567 days. In the midst of holding that title, he also managed to win the ROH World Heavyweight Championship from Jay Briscoe becoming the first man to hold both titles at the same time and also becoming ROH’s third triple crown winner. After another blistering 427 days, Lethal finally lost the ROH championship but he still is to this day one of the brand’s most important members.
Jay’s second stint in ROH has seen him go an impressive 134-72 (cagematch.net) while defeating challengers from all over the world. It’s crazy to see that a guy with 16 years experience in the squared circle is only 31 years old but that’s exactly the case with Lethal. He’s already by far the best Television champion the company has ever had but he still has plenty of time to accrue more accolades that could ensure his place as one of the very best all around wrestlers ROH has ever had.