The Top 3 Guys of ROH

[yomadcool]

Since its inception, there always seem to be three guys to be the forefront of ROH. At first it was the Founding Fathers of ROH (Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, and Low Ki). After them it was the three icons of ROH (CM Punk, Homicide, and Samoa Joe). Then it seemed to be Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuiness, and -insert name here-. After Danielson and McGuiness left it became Tyler Black, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong. When Black and Aries left it was followed by Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, and Roderick Strong. Following them was Kevin Steen, El Generico and -insert name here-. Following Steenerico's departure it was Adam Cole, Jay Briscoe, and Michael Elgin. Now it seems as if the next three are Adam Cole, Jay Lethal, and Kyle O''Reilly. What are you're thoughts agree or disagree? Did I get the icons right from the past? Who would you put for -insert name here-?

[supersonic]

The downswing era was Aries, Danielson, and McGuinness.

[Brada]

While I get the folks that are on board with Kyle O'Reilly.......I don't see how you could put him in the top 3 currently above Jay Briscoe.......personally, I would go Lethal, Briscoe, Cole

Lethal is the clear cut #1.....I think you could argue putting him in the top 3 ROH All Time.

[Big Red Machine]

I think the third name in there with Dragon and Nigel is "The Briscoes" as a unit.

Right now, as much as I don't like it, Brada is correct: Jay Briscoe is the third guy, not Kyle. That being said, I think the idea of Lethal being top three in ROH all-time is horribly incorrect. He doesn't even crack the top five. Maybe not even the top ten.

[yomadcool]

While I get the folks that are on board with Kyle O'Reilly.......I don't see how you could put him in the top 3 currently above Jay Briscoe.......personally, I would go Lethal, Briscoe, Cole

Lethal is the clear cut #1.....I think you could argue putting him in the top 3 ROH All Time.

I would've put Briscoe in the top 3 but the way things are looking I say that Lethal is gonna lose at DBD to Cole who then would lose it to O'Reilly at this years Final Battle similar to what they did with Elgin, Briscoe, and Cole in 2013

[yomadcool]

I think the third name in there with Dragon and Nigel is "The Briscoes" as a unit.

Right now, as much as I don't like it, Brada is correct: Jay Briscoe is the third guy, not Kyle. That being said, I think the idea of Lethal being top three in ROH all-time is horribly incorrect. He doesn't even crack the top five. Maybe not even the top ten.

Facts Top 10 would probably be
1- Bryan Danielson
2- Samoa Joe
3- Nigel McGuiness
4- The Briscoes
5- CM Punk
6- Austin Aries
7- Homicide
8- Kevin Steen
9- Low Ki
10- Christopher Daniels

[Brada]

I think the third name in there with Dragon and Nigel is "The Briscoes" as a unit.

Right now, as much as I don't like it, Brada is correct: Jay Briscoe is the third guy, not Kyle. That being said, I think the idea of Lethal being top three in ROH all-time is horribly incorrect. He doesn't even crack the top five. Maybe not even the top ten.

Big Red Machine.....I am mistaken. You are correct. I put some more thought into it. Jay Lethal isn't top 5 all time, I do however put him in the top 10, and I think that is debatable from both points of view.

My top 5 all time

1. Danielson
2. Punk
3. Joe
4. Briscoes
5. Nigel

[Burnside]

was followed by Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, and Roderick Strong. Following them was Kevin Steen, El Generico

Nope.

[yomadcool]

was followed by Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, and Roderick Strong. Following them was Kevin Steen, El Generico

Nope.

Even though Generico never won the World Title, he still main evented two Final Battles with Steen and had a feud and match of the year with him. If it wasnt Generico, then who were the other two guys when Kevin Steen was on top?

[Burnside]

It's your timeline that's really at issue. Generico's first FB main event definitely did not come AFTER Davey/Eddie/Roddy. And during Steen's entire title run, Generico was absent from the company entirely except for exactly ONE match, FB 2012, after which he left for WWE. So there's no way he can be considered a top guy in that period.

Your Davey/Eddie/Roddy period ends I'm assuming when Steen beats Davey for the belt in May 2012. I would argue that Steen really stopped being the ROH centerpiece in June 2013, and during his remaining year after that he was important and very over but was not the centerpiece anymore. During Steen's reign, the other top guys were Davey (trailing off), Elgin (being built), Lethal (babyface main event push that didn't click), and Jay Briscoe (most over babyface but underpushed during most of this period).

Maybe it makes more sense to define the period as Border Wars 2012-Final Battle 2014. Top 3 in that period are Steen, Jay Briscoe, and Adam Cole.

Since then, Cole is still up there, Lethal has replaced Steen, and O'Reilly is in the process of being phased up but isn't there yet. Briscoe is being phased down again, but as has often been the case for most of the past five years, he's the most over babyface in the company but is underpushed.

[yomadcool]

So then it'll look like this
Era of Honor Begins-Expect The Unexpected: The Founding Fathers (Daniels, Dragon, and Ki)
Night of Champions-Unforgettable: 3 Icons of ROH (Joe, Homicide, and Punk)
Enter The Dragon-Glory by Honor VIII: Aries, Dragon, and McGuinness
Clash of the Contenders-Defy Or Deny: Aries, Black, and Strong
Manhattan Mayhem IV-Rising Above: Wolves and Strong
Border Wars-War of the Worlds2014: Briscoe, Cole, and Steen
Best in the World 2014-Supercars of Honor 2015- Briscoe, Elgin, and Cole
Best in the World 2015-Now: Briscoe, Cole, and Lethal

[Burnside]

I guess then maybe the most recent era should start when Steen left? August 2014?

[yomadcool]

I guess then maybe the most recent era should start when Steen left? August 2014?

How does it look now?

[Burnside]

Yeah, makes sense.

[BlackLesnar]

Honestly I'd widen the parameters a bit and sand it down to:

Punk-Joe-Bryan
Nigel-Aries-Tyler
Davey-Eddie-Roddy
Cole-Kyle-Elgin

There's a lot of wiggle room besides that. Ki didn't stick around long enough, Briscoe stuck around TOO long, and Steen's entire shtick when champion was that he was a stand-alone counter-culture anomaly, not part of any neatly-ordered system.

To me Lethal was The Fourth Musketeer of the Davey-Eddie-Roddy era, he just took until the next kalpa to get his due. Come to think of it you could probably tack on a late-blooming fourth member to each trio. Briscoe to the first, Steen to the second... Ciampa, Cedric, and Bennett are all gone so lord knows who that last one would be.