Ring of Honor has announced that Jay Lethal’s next title defense will be on January 13th in Concord. His opponent will be former ROH World Champion, Dalton Castle.
BREAKING: @TheLethalJay will defend the #ROH World Championship against @theDALTONcastle at Honor Reigns Supreme! #ROHHRS
Sun Jan 13 – 7e/4p – #ROHConcord
Streaming LIVE for #HonorClub!Get your tickets now: https://t.co/ATK9E1DRv8
Event Info: https://t.co/0FWWnN0BM9 pic.twitter.com/PunaQXQ94q— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) December 17, 2018
An ROH press release explained the booking decision as follows:
“With several competitors owed a title match,” the press release begins. “Castle earned the right to be first in line during the international television taping in Philadelphia over the weekend. Castle, who won the title from Cody at Final Battle 2017, holds a victory over Lethal, as he successfully defended the ROH World Title against him at the 16th Anniversary Show this past March.”
Lethal lost to Matt Taven at Final Battle 2018. He never received his title rematch after losing the belt in June, however.
Jay Lethal’s Ring of Honor World Championship Statistics
This match could be the last title defense for Lethal before he ties Samoa Joe’s record for combined days spent with the title on February 3rd. Lethal will tie Joe with 645 combined days spent as champion then. Joe earned all 645 days spent as champion during a single reign, whereas Lethal split his up amongst two different reigns.
If successful, Lethal’s defense against Dalton Castle would be his 37th split amongst his two reigns. It would bring him one behind the record of 38 tied between Nigel McGuiness and Bryan Danielson.
