The 2019 ROH 25

Welcome to the inaugural ROH 25. It's a simple concept: identifying the 25 best wrestlers in a certain promotion for a year (in this case, Ring of Honor). Now, best is obviously a subjective term. For our purposes, we are taking into account the following factors: in-ring work, placement on the card, influence on the promotion, achievements, notable matches and feuds, visibility on the program, and overall importance to the promotion. Some of these factors are also subjective, but hopefully we can agree on most of them.

Ring of Honor did not have the best 2019. Their live event attendance was abysmal, they got a lot of negative media attention, and their performance at Madison Square Garden was mixed at best. But, we're here to focus on the positives here. Let's look at the inaugural ROH 25.

Angelina Love (Notable Accomplishment: Women of Honor Champion)

This one may seem a little questionable, but keep in mind that Love was the Women of Honor division's top heel of 2019. Her length feud with Kelly Klein was the division's prevailing storyline (even if the feud itself wasn't too great). The former Impact star also did a very good job of putting over Maria Manic at year-end. 

Bandido (Notable Moment: Pinning Shane Taylor on ROH TV)

The two-time BOLA finalist had a pretty good 2019 in ROH, but he should have had a great one. Coming into the year, Bandido was one of the wrestling world's most coveted free agents. Somehow, ROH managed to snag him, but they then proceeded to kind of waste him. They protected him pretty well and often featured him in high-profile matches, but it's hard to escape the feeling that he was a little under-utilized (as was all of Lifeblood post- Juice Robinson).

Brody King (Notable Accomplishment: 2019 Crockett Cup)

King might have ended 2019 as the fourth-most important Villain Enterprises member (partially due to injury) but he still had a great 2019. His tag team with PCO provided many highlights and saw him hold three different titles across ROH and the NWA. Unfortunately, he's yet to develop any sort of real character, which he'll definitely need in 2020. 

Dalton Castle (Notable Moment: Turning Heel in Madison Square Garden)

The former ROH World Champion had a mixed-bag of 2019. His in-ring work was meh at best but his character work was always at least solid (though the booking certainly didn't do him any favors). I think if ROH had handled him correctly he could have been one of the promotion's top heels and a possible World title contender. Instead, we got a usually entertaining character with inconsistent character motivations. 

Dragon Lee (Notable Accomplishment: ROH Television Champion)

Despite only wrestling 10 matches for ROH in 2019, it's hard to argue Lee doesn't belong on this list. His tag team with Rush against The Briscoes on ROH TV was arguably the best ROH match of the year and he ended the year as ROH TV Champion. The match in which he won the belt, against Shane Taylor at Final Battle, was a surprising highlight of the show and put over the former CMLL star in a big way.

Flip Gordon (Notable Moment: Joining Villain Enterprises)

Gordon started off 2019 as one of ROH's top, white-meat babyfaces but ended it as one of the promotion's purest heels. The fact that he's the only true heel in a group called Villain Enterprises is pretty impressive. Gordon deserves a lot of credit for his character work, as he's been a very good bad guy, something that seemed almost impossible at the beginning of the year. Hopefully, we see him in a bigger role in 2020. 

Jay Briscoe (Notable Accomplishment: Two Reigns as ROH Tag Team Champion)

Without the Briscoes, ROH's tag team division would have been sunk in 2019. Losing the Young Bucks and SCU was a big blow to the division, although they did gain new notable teams in Villain Enterprises, Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham, and 2 Guys 1 Tag. The Briscoes/ G.O.D. feud was one of the year's best and single-handedly kept the tag division afloat through the summer months. Jay also gets special love for being one of ROH's best in-ring workers, indicated through matches such as the aforementioned TV tag match with Rush & Dragon Lee and the tag title match at Final Battle. 

Jay Lethal (Notable Accomplishment: ROH World Champion)

If Jay Briscoe wasn't ROH's best in-ring worker of 2019, it has to be Lethal. The two-time ROH Champion put together a catalog of great matches, including the hour-long draw with Matt Taven, the ladder match inside Madison Square Garden, and the match with Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor. Though he'd been a popular face for years, his villainous turn was a breath of fresh air for both the tag division and promotion overall. 

Jeff Cobb (Notable Accomplishment: ROH Television Champion)

Everything I said about Bandido being popular and slightly wasted by ROH can be said about Cobb here. Granted, he did have an impressive first-half of 2019 that saw him beat Will Ospreay at Madison Square Garden and feature on a number of ROH PPVs. After he dropped the Television title to Shane Taylor and lost a World title match to Matt Taven, Cobb's stock fell. While part of this can be attributed to his dates with New Japan, it still doesn't explain why one of the company's biggest stars did not have a main card match at Final Battle. Hopefully we see him as a main event star in 2020.

Joe Hendry (Notable Match: Time Limit Draw with Shane Taylor)

When Hendry returned to ROH, it was like a breath of fresh air. The former WCPW Champion quickly became one of the company's most entertaining performers. His rivalry/partnership with Dalton Castle didn't make a whole lot of sense booking-wise, but at least he delivered in the ring with Shane Taylor. 

Jonathan Gresham (Notable Accomplishment: Defeated Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor)

For those unfamiliar with Gresham's work on the European indy scene, they were probably surprised to see what a great heel he can be. This was hinted at in his feud against Silas Young and was out in full display alongside Jay Lethal by year's end. At Final Battle, Gresham and Lethal won the ROH tag belts, giving Gresham his first ROH title (something long overdue). 

Kelly Klein (Notable Accomplishment: Three Reigns as Women of Honor Champion)

If we can ignore all the ugly stuff involving Joey Mercury and Joe Koff, Klein had a solid 2019 as the ace of the Women of Honor division. Between trading the title with Mayu Iwatani & Angelina Love, Klein held the Women of Honor title thrice. 2019 may have been Klein's last year with ROH, but she certainly made it count. 

Kenny King (Notable Accomplishment: 2019 Honor Rumble)

King is one of those divisive figures that fans either love or hate (though it seems like most fall into the latter camp). Still, we need to give King credit for his strong character work, whether he was feuding with Jay Lethal or feigning a serious eye injury. When ROH signed off for the year, we saw King as part of a new Los Ingobernables-style faction alongside Rush and Dragon Lee. If booked properly, we should see King here again next year. 

Mark Briscoe (Notable Accomplishment: Two Reigns as ROH Tag Team Champion)

Often overshadowed by his older brother, Mark also had a very successful 2019 (granted, it was mostly alongside his brother). As noted above, the tag matches against Rush/ Dragon Lee & G.O.D. were among the year's best. 

Mark Haskins (Notable Match: Lifeblood & PJ Black vs. Villain Enterprises at Best in the World)

After an excellent run in the International Cup in 2018, expectations were high for Haskins in 2019. Unfortunately, he was thrown into the Lifeblood stable that was handled terribly post-Juice Robinson. Still, Haskins was consistently excellent in the ring and always delivered. See the tag match with Tracy Williams against Lethal & Gresham for proof of that. 

Marty Scurll (Notable Accomplishment: Longest Reigning ROH Six-Man Tag Champion)

Everyone wondered what Scurll would do without The Elite. ROH opted to put him in charge of a new group: Villain Enterprises. The quarter (which included Brody King, PCO, and eventually Flip Gordon) was portrayed as the promotion's top stable and they dominated the Six-Man tag title scene. Yes, he probably should have won the World title at G1 Supercard, but it didn't spoil the rest of his year. 

Matt Taven (Notable Moment: Winning ROH World Championship at Madison Square Garden)

Taven's ROH World title win and subsequent reign were exceptionally divisive, but at least the man had some good in-ring performances. The ladder match at MSG, the hour-long draw with Jay Lethal, and the Death Before Dishonor match against Rush. I might be higher on Taven than most people, but it can't be argued that Taven was one of ROH's most important performers in 2018. 

PCO (Notable Accomplishment: ROH World Champion)

Credit to ROH on this one: they actually booked PCO pretty well in 2018. Of course, we can debate if the company should have put their World title on him at the biggest event of the year, but the fact remains that the former WWE star was one of the company's most popular acts in 2019. Fans were always behind him and his entrance always always commanded a big pop.

Rush (Notable Accomplishment: ROH World Champion)

I'm one of the people that believes Rush should have had a longer with the World title. Before his World title match against Taven, the former CMLL star put in some electric performances against the likes of Flip Gordon and Dalton Castle. He was arguably the company's most successful heel, which he parlayed into a main event spot at Final Battle against PCO. The match itself was overbooked and overly cartoonish, but it proved Rush was one of the company's most important players.

Shane Taylor (Notable Accomplishment: ROH Television Champion)

In 2018, Taylor won our award for ROH's Most Underrated Wrestler. It's possible ROH took notice of this, as 2019 saw Taylor win the ROH Television title and have a number of pay-per-view matches. His new "Shane Taylor Promotions" gimmick wasn't particularly well-developed, especially since ROH expected us to know who all of the random people with Taylor, but it still gave him some extra character.

Silas Young (Notable Feud: Against Jonathan Gresham)

While Young didn't reach the peaks he did during his feud with Jay Lethal, the former Television Champion had a noteworthy 2019. His rivalry with Jonathan Gresham and tag team with Josh Woods always ensured he at least had a place on the card. Yes, his character alignment was all over the place, but it wasn't enough to stop him from being on this list.

Tama Tonga (Notable Accomplishment: ROH Tag Team Champion)

You could make the argument that Tama Tonga's post-G1 Supercard promo actually hurt ROH (although you can't argue it was an amazing promo). If you do subscribe to that line of thought, you also have to give him credit for making the tag titles a prize worth fighting for.

Tonga Loa (Notable Accomplishment: ROH Tag Team Champion)

I've talked about that G.O.D./Briscoes match from Summer Supercard ad nauseam, but it really was one of ROH's best matches in 2019. We also need to give the Guerillas credit for the work they did in ROH's tag division. Without them, the division would have been a lot less interesting in 2019.

Tracy Williams (Notable Match: Lifeblood vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham at Masters of the Craft)

Williams was ROH's utility player last year. If they wanted a great tag match, Williams was their guy. If they needed a competitive challenger for Shane Taylor and his TV title, Williams was more than up for the task. It would have been nice to see him get some actual character development but alas, such is the fate of Lifeblood.

Vincent (Notable Moment: Turning on Matt Taven at The Experience)

It feels like at some point in 2019, ROH realized Vincent's nickname was The Horror King and decided to lean into that completely. He started announcing his arrivals by releasing red balloons (which admittedly, was a guilty pleasure of mine) and maimed his rivals with an ax. It's still hard to buy him as a top-level heel, but he at least feels fresh.

Thanks for reading everyone.