ROH: Samoa Joe becomes the second longest reigning TV champion

On Thursday, Samoa Joe became the second-longest reigning ROH World Television Champion. He beat Minoru Suzuki on April 13, 2022, and has since held the title for 470 consecutive days. During this time, he also won the AEW TNT Championship twice, where he dubbed himself the “King of Television”. He held the TNT title for a combined 78 days.

Ian Riccaboni, one of the voices of ROH, tweeted that Joe is 97 days shy of surpassing Jay Lethal as the longest-reigning TV champion. Lethal was his protégé. Additionally, Joe owns the record as the longest-reigning ROH World Champion.

The champion defended his title last Friday at Death Before Dishonor against Dalton Castle. He had the week off after retaining his title. Board of Directors member Stokely Hathaway, who is definitely not being bullied by Joe, announced an eliminator tournament to name a new number-one contender for the title.

When Lexy Nair mentioned that some think Hathaway is showing favoritism towards to Joe, Joe said that Hathaway makes his own decisions. “No one tells him what to do, right? Right? So don’t worry about any of that,” confirmed Joe, while gripping Hathaway’s shoulder. Hathaway said that what he says goes and he’s the “Rough Ryder of Ring of Honor. ”

This is the second consecutive tournament to choose a number-one contender for Joe. There were four matches between eight competitors to name his opponent for Death Before Dishonor. Castle defeated Shane Taylor to win that tournament.

Round one of the tournament started with former ROH TV Champion Christopher Daniels defeating JD Drake. Tony Nese beat Cheeseburger. Also in the first round, Gravity won his match against Anthony Henry while former ROH TV champion Taylor defeated Serpentico. The next-round matchups haven’t been announced yet.

Whoever wins this tournament must be ready to face a determined champion. He’s not going to go easy on them and he’s on a mission to become the longest-reigning ROH Television Champion.