ROH World Television Championship

History

The creation of the ROH World Television Championship was announced via ROH's official website on January 20, 2010. An eight-man single elimination tournament was then planned to determine the inaugural champion. The tournament was to start on February 4 and conclude on February 6, 2010 at The Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the tapings of ROH's television program Ring of Honor Wrestling. Regarding the new championship addition, ROH President Cary Silkin said, "We’ve been talking about adding a secondary championship for some time. Not only will this give the athletes of Ring of Honor another tremendous goal to work towards, it will also give our great partner, HDNet, a championship that is sure to be defended on the television program. We’re happy to publicly give thanks to HDNet for giving us the chance to add this title to the television show...".

It is ROH's second secondary singles championship in their history. The ROH Pure Championship was used from February 14, 2004 to August 12, 2006, prior its unification with the ROH World Championship. After the championship announcement, wrestling columnist James Caldwell gave his comments: "I like the idea. It gives mid-card wrestlers on ROH's roster something to fight for in the context of trying to win a wrestling match to "move up the company ladder." Caldwell further remarked that "ROH bringing back the TV Title to national TV is consistent with ROH's current marketing under Jim Cornette to "re-capture an old-school flavor" to their product."

After the Ring of Honor Wrestling show was cancelled in March 2011, the title became inactive. Although Daniels stopped defending it, he still carried the belt with him as part of his villainous character. With the sale of ROH to the Sinclair Broadcast Group and a new television show scheduled to air in September, ROH reinstated the title for June's Best in The World event.

Tournament

The tournament was scheduled to span over a two-day weekend, starting on February 5 and ending on February 6 at events recorded for later broadcast on Ring of Honor Wrestling. However, due to severe weather conditions in the Philadelphia area, the second day of taping was canceled. It was not until almost a month later, on March 5, that ROH held the second recorded event, which closed out the tournament. The first four seeds of eight in the tournament were announced on January 22, 2010: Rhett Titus (8), El Generico (7), Eddie Edwards (6), and Delirious (5). The other four seeds were announced on January 26, 2010: Kevin Steen (1), Kenny King (2), Colt Cabana (3), and Davey Richards (4). The first round was determined at the first event on February 5, with Steen, King, Richards, and Edwards all advancing to round two. On March 5, Edwards and Richards both advanced to the finals, where Edwards defeat Richards to be crowned the first ROH World Television Champion. The matches were scheduled to span over six episodes of Ring of Honor Wrestling. The first match from round one that aired pitted Steen against Titus, which Steen won, on the March 8 episode. On the same episode, King versus El Generico was featured, with King advancing. Cabana versus Edwards was the third match from round one to air, when it was broadcast on the March 15 episode. Richards defeated Delirious in the final match from round one, which aired later in the same episode. The first match from round two, Steen versus Edwards, was featured on the April 12 episode, in which Edwards advanced to the finals. On the April 19 episode, Richards defeated King to advance to the finals. On the April 26 episode, Edwards defeated Richards in the finals of the tournament to become the first ROH World Television Champion.

Belt designs

The championship belt was introduced on March 5, 2010, when it was given to the newly crowned inaugural champion Eddie Edwards. The physical championship belt was designed All Star Championship Belts d/b/a ASCB, LLC. The title's base is a black leather strap that is covered with four small silver plates. The center of the title has one large silver plate. All plates have an inner blue covering. The two small outer plates have a caricature of the earth and a satellite in orbit. The middle plates have figures resembling a cameraman filming a television production. Underneath each figure, lies the ROH logo and the words "Ring of Honor Wrestling". The central plate has the engravings of the ROH logo as well as the statement "World Television Wrestling Champion" hovering above the backdrop of a city, with a television lying on top of a globe with an overhead shot of a wrestling ring between them in front of the skyline. The design was changed again in November 2012 to its current design during the reign of Adam Cole. Longest reigning champion Jay Lethal modified the current design which emphasizes the "ROH Champion" portion of the title, claiming the championship is more prestigious than the ROH World Championship because he (Lethal) is the champion.

Champions

Overall, there has been 14 reigns by 12 wrestlers. The inaugural champion was Eddie Edwards, who defeated Davey Richards in the finals of an eight-man tournament on March 5, 2010.

The current champion is Marty Scurll, who is in his first reign. He defeated Will Ospreay on November 20, 2016, in Seymour Leisure Centre, London, England at the ROH Reach For The Sky UK Tour.

List of combined reigns

As of March 22, 2017.