10 Wrestlers Who DOUBLED DOWN On Legendary Title Reigns

You need only watch five minutes of a Samoa Joe match from his time as ROH World Champion to understand his appeal in the mid-noughties.

Joe worked a style so atypical of North American wrestling at the time, blending stiffness with chain wrestling, that set him apart. Best displayed in bloodthirsty fights with Homicide, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk, Samoa Joe established the prestige of the ROH World Championship, so much so that by the time Joe dropped the title, it was superior in status to that of the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships in niche circles.

As ROH Pure Champion, Samoa Joe produced a series of unparalleled acts of pure professional wrestling against the style's leading artists. His first defence, vs. James Gibson, was perhaps his best. Joe, less than a month after first tasting the Pure Championship, illustrated how well he'd adapted to the rules of the Pure division, exchanging counter reversals to avoid rope breaks in a match-long spot that played into the finish. Gibson, having used every rope break, reached desperately to escape a Coquina Clutch before succumbing.

It was a brilliantly planned match for a championship which has gone largely neglected to time. Now held by Katsuyori Shibata and having been defended against modern-day pure wrestling artists, the prestige of the championship is once more being felt.