Ring of Honor/Characters

Jay and Mark Briscoe

 * Badass - Yes, this is a wrestling character page, but the fact that the Briscoes are total badasses needs to be reiterated.
 * Badass Beard - Mark.
 * Bald of Awesome - They both have shaved heads.
 * Beauty Equals Goodness - Usually averted, they've spent a good part of their career as faces.
 * Blood Knight
 * Blue Oni - Mark.
 * Berserk Button - Do NOT hit Papa Briscoe. Likewise, for Papa Briscoe, do not kick either one of the brothers in the testicles.
 * Deep South - Their trunks even have the Stars and Bars on them.
 * Subverted, in that they're from Delaware, which never seceded.
 * Genius Bruiser - Believe it or not, Mark Briscoe. Jay isn't that far behind himself.
 * Lightning Bruiser - Both of them, they're known for both brawling and high flying.
 * Red Oni - Jay.
 * Sibling Team
 * Trope2000 - Originally they were billed as the Briscoe Brothers 2000.
 * Wrestling Doesn't Pay - Are legitimately chicken farmers in addition to their wrestling exploits.
 * Wrestling Family

Colt Cabana

 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass - Homicide, Jimmy Jacobs, Kevin Steen, and Steve Corino all know this too well.
 * Groin Attack - Attacked with Lacey's high heels, no less.
 * Karmic Trickster
 * Romantic False Lead

Steve Corino

 * The Atoner - To hammer it home, his sponsor was Jimmy Jacobs.
 * Commuting On a Bus
 * Couch Gag - The reverse of Bryan Danielson's couch gag, as Bobby Cruise gives him the introductions.
 * Disc One Final Boss - To Homicide during his world title run in 2006.
 * Jerkass – And how.
 * Large Ham
 * Leaning On the Fourth Wall
 * My God What Have I Done - The fact he motivated Kevin Steen to turn on El Generico, just to watch as Generico took Steen out of ROH.
 * Pet the Dog - After Kevin Steen's departure, he did this to all of ROH's top prospects, except for Mike Bennett.
 * The Reason You Suck Speech – Gave a devastating one to Green Lantern Fan at Fight of the Century.
 * Reformed but Rejected
 * Smug Snake
 * The Snark Knight – One of the things you could predict on any ROH show with Corino is a very caustic one-liner.
 * Villainous BSOD - Goes hand-in-hand with My God What Have I Done.

Christopher Daniels

 * Horrible Judge of Character - He willingly shook Claudio Castagnoli's hand at The 100th Show, marking the first time Daniels had ever adhered to the Code of Honor. Later that night,
 * Fridge Brilliance. Like recognizes like.
 * Lampshade Hanging - Often does this with his alter ego, Curry Man.
 * Put On a Bus: Twice, both times after signing with TNA.
 * The Bus Came Back: Shocked the world when he appeared at a PPV mere days after his unpublicized release from TNA.

Bryan Danielson

 * Catch Phrase - "I HAVE 'TIL FIVE," and the fan chant of "YOU'RE GONNA GET YOUR FUCKING HEAD KICKED IN!"
 * Couch Gag - He always comes up with custom entrances for Bobby Cruise.
 * Memetic Mutation - The Final Countdown, lampshaded by ROH themselves with "The Final Countdown Tour."
 * Put On a Bus: At the same time as McGuinness, but ended up taking a different bus.
 * Red Baron - The American Dragon.
 * Worthy Opponents - Austin Aries, Nigel McGuinness, Roderick Strong, Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn.

Homicide

 * Big Damn Heroes - When everyone thought ROH would lose to CZW in Cage of Death...
 * Draco in Leather Pants - Even when he attempted to murder Colt Cabana, he was still treated as a hero in NYC.
 * Heroic BSOD - In 2006, he had shots at the Tag Team, Pure, and World titles, and lost in all three of them. Cue him quitting on ROH.
 * Redemption Quest - The whole impetus for the "Road of Homicide" in the second half of 2006.

Dan Maff

 * Dropped a Bridge On Him - Written out of ROH due to a "car accident."
 * Possibly related to real life problems between him and Homicide.

B.J. Whitmer

 * Badass Decay
 * Determinator
 * Dropped a Bridge On Him - Attacked by the Hangmen 3 after objecting to the Sweet 'n Sour hostile takeover. However, this appeared in clip form on the Take No Prisoners PPV.
 * Genre Savvy
 * Honor Before Reason - He tried to get between Jimmy Jacobs's quest to earn the love of Lacey. Not only did he lose the blow-off cage match in decisive fashion,
 * Redemption Demotion
 * The Worf Effect

Samoa Joe

 * Badass: Definitely.
 * Catchphrase: THE CHAMP IS HERE!
 * Exactly What It Says On the Tin: He's Joe, from Samoa.
 * Fake Nationality: He's Joe, but he's not Samoan.
 * Leitmotif: Just like he does in TNA, the Godzilla March Theme is placed right before whatever theme song he's using.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Wild Samoan: In the ring, he is. He's a pretty quiet guy, though.

Alex Shelley

 * Hostile Show Takeover
 * Reformed but Rejected

Austin Aries

 * The Ace - Often competed against Bryan Danielson for this title.
 * Batman Gambit - Used to lure
 * Big No - Actually invoked 9/11 to get heel heat at Manhattan Mayhem III.
 * Complete Monster - The Delirious feud pushed him to this from Smug Snake.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Determinator
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu - Pinned Samoa Joe. THREE TIMES.
 * Harsher in Hindsight - In promos during the first night of a doubleshot weekend, Aries would sometimes refer to a market as a B-market, or that particular show as a B-show. He did this during Injustice II (Edison, NJ), Eliminating the Competition (Danbury, CT), Final Countdown Tour: Boston, and Eye of the Storm II (Manassas, VA). To date, ROH has not run shows in any of those four cities since 2009, and even abandoned New Jersey and Connecticut altogether. ROH has relocated their Virginia and Massachusetts strongholds to Richmond and Plymouth, however.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard - Roderick Strong turned on him by giving him a half-nelson backbreaker.
 * Hostile Show Takeover - This was the whole point of ROH "Generation Next."
 * Jerkass
 * - As his debut promo with  says.
 * Moral Event Horizon - Crushing Delirious's throat.
 * The Reason You Suck Speech - Gave big ones to Ricky Reyes at Final Battle 2005 and Jimmy Jacobs at Return Engagement.
 * Smug Snake
 * Take That Audience - See Harsher in Hindsight above.
 * The Bus Came Back: A month after his TNA release.
 * Turned Against Their Masters - He kicked Alex Shelley out of Generation Next via Strong backbreaker.
 * Unwitting Pawn - Jimmy Jacobs was baiting him into his heel turn all this time.
 * Worthy Opponent - To Bryan Danielson.

Delirious

 * Ax Crazy - Only when he switches from the trademark green to red.
 * Put On a Bus - After becoming head booker he stopped wrestling for ROH, presumably to prevent any conflict of interest (which is something that people like Kevin Nash would have been wise to do in the past). He has since performed only once at an ROH show, in a match with Colt Cabana dedicated to the late Larry Sweeney.
 * Slasher Smile - Even as a face, there's something unsettling about Delirious's smile.
 * The Unintelligible

Jack Evans

 * Hostile Show Takeover
 * Keet
 * Pretty Fly for A White Guy

James Gibson

 * Put On a Bus: Back to WWE.
 * Redemption Quest

Jimmy Jacobs

 * The Atoner: After he returned, he said "My name is Jimmy Jacobs, and I'm an evil person." The idea was that he was a recovering evil person and that he was Steve Corino's sponsor.
 * Beard of Evil
 * Blood Lust - One of the most gruesome examples.
 * Breakup Breakout - Used in his favor with BJ Whitmer, and used against him with Tyler Black.
 * The Chew Toy - For Lacey.
 * Hannibal Lecture - Given to both Austin Aries and Tyler Black.
 * He's Back
 * He Who Fights Monsters / Evil Feels Good: At ROH's Tenth Anniversary Show, he took on Kevin Steen in a no holds barred match where he released the old, evil Jimmy Jacobs. He even pulled out the spike and stabbed Steen with it. Unfortunately, this led to him apparently being horrified at what he had done and suffering a Heroic BSOD which allowed Steen to recover and catch him off-guard, beating him. But when he was seen next at "Showdown In The Sun", he interfered in Steen's Last Man Standing match against El Generico and stabbed Generico with the spike, joining forces with Steen! The next show opened with him cutting a promo where he said that for a year he had been trying to be good and do the right thing, and that it basically sucked. That when he stabbed Kevin Steen with the spike and froze, it wasn't because he was horrified; it was because he felt like somebody who'd been chaste for a year and then finally had an orgasm. There was no getting him back on the wagon after that.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard - The debut of the Age of the Fall was marked by a bloody Jay Briscoe hanging from the rafters while his blood rained down on Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs's ROH tenure ended when Tyler Black did the same exact thing to him.
 * Humiliation Conga: Death Before Dishonor VI to End of an Age was a particularly cruel one for Jacobs. Necro Butcher left the Age of the Fall; Jacobs replaced him with Delirious. Jacobs and Tyler Black lost the World Tag Team Titles to Steen and Generico and then Steel Cage Warfare to Austin Aries and the Briscoes the following night. Aries would win the feud between the two in an I Quit Match at Rising Above 2008 when Lacey returned. However, Jacobs blamed Black for the loss, kicking him out of the stable. Delirious turned on him as well. Black and Delirious ended up winning their feuds against Jacobs decisively, and the same masked followers that were present on Day 1 turned their backs on their former leader.
 * Keet - Before he found Lacey.
 * Madden Into Misanthropy - Jimmy's dissatisfaction with Lacey falling in love with him started the Age of the Fall.
 * Moral Event Horizon - Pulling the spike out on the normally despised Lacey.
 * The Plan
 * Pyrrhic Victory]]
 * Redemption Quest]]
 * Unstoppable Rage - After BJ Whitmer attacked Lacey with a railroad spike.
 * Wham Line - In the same promo: "Love doesn't save. NOTHING SAVES." "This project is over. The Age of the Fall has just begun."
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
 * World of Cardboard Speech - Supercard of Honor 2 started with one from Jacobs.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess - As soon as the Necro Butcher left, he lured a heartbroken Delirious over to the Age of the Fall.

Nigel McGuinness

 * Evil Foreigner - Played straight during his Pure Title reign, subverted afterward.
 * Put On a Bus: At the same time as Danielson, but ended up taking a different bus.
 * The Bus Came Back: He's back as a color commentator.
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit - Played a sick one on Bryan Danielson at the 6th Anniversary Show.

Adam Pearce

 * Put On a Bus - When he became head booker in 2008.
 * Ted Baxter
 * The Bus Came Back - He would appear at "Showdown In The Sun" to be interviewed by Jim Cornette one night after successfully defending the NWA World Championship against Adam Cole at an NWA show. This led to an impromptu non-title rematch between the two, the first time ROH fans got to see Pearce wrestle in an ROH ring in quite a while.

Jimmy Rave

 * Couch Gag - As part of the Embassy, Rave received a shower of toilet paper in lieu of streamers.
 * Humiliation Conga: Rave endured this frequently:
 * 2005: From the CM Punk feud to the rekindled AJ Styles one, and against Generation Next, the Embassy were thorns in everyone's sides all throughout 05. However, everything unraveled for them with Steel Cage Warfare. Rave got it the worst when Roderick Strong dropped him with backbreaker after backbreaker after backbreaker, forcing him to tap out to the Stronghold minutes later. Then, in a beautiful role reversal, Jade Chung used RAVE as her footstool.
 * 2007: Just when Rave was getting himself back on track after Prince Nana disbands the Embassy, Homicide beats him in a World Title match where Rave used the previously banned Rave Clash. The next night, he ends up in a match with Samoa Joe in lieu of suspension. Joe dismantles him easily. How could it get worse? Nigel McGuinness ends the feud in Liverpool by breaking Rave's jaw with the rebound lariat. When he came back, Bryan Danielson said he should've beaten Rave in a shorter time than he did back at the 4th Anniversary Show. The 4th Anniversary Show title match went 32; the rematch at A Fight at the Roxbury went only 10. Then, for some odd reason, he would get another World Title match at Driven against Takeshi Morishima. Morishima dismantled him in 4 minutes.
 * Put On a Bus: Shortly before Necro Butcher became the Crown Jewel of the Embassy, due to real life problems.
 * Rescued From the Scrappy Heap
 * Smug Snake
 * Ted Baxter
 * The Bus Came Back: Rave returned in December 2011 to challenge Tomasso Ciampa at Final Battle.

Ricky Reyes

 * Put On a Bus

Rocky Romero

 * Put On a Bus

Matt Sydal

 * Estrogen Brigade Bait
 * Hey Its That Guy: Evan Bourne, is that you?
 * I Have the High Ground

Roderick Strong

 * Badass Nickname: The Messiah of the Backbreaker.
 * Breakup Breakout - A rather weird case, as every member of Generation Next has seen a good deal of success after leaving the stable.
 * Every Year They Fizzle Out - Before he won the World Title at Glory By Honor IX, Strong was 0-15 in ROH World Title matches.
 * Hostile Show Takeover
 * Jerk Jock
 * Turned Against Their Masters - He formed the No Remorse Corps after he and Davey Richards attacked Austin Aries.

Brent Albright

 * Hired Guns - The Only in It For The Money variety.

Tyler Black

 * Breakup Breakout
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait
 * Put On a Bus: Signed a WWE developmental contract.

Necro Butcher

 * Badass Beard
 * The Stoner

Claudio Castagnoli

 * Bald of Evil
 * Catch Phrase / Red Baron: Claudio would frequently refer to himself as "Very European", which became as much a nickname as a description.
 * Evil Duo: With Chris Hero.
 * Evil Foreigner
 * Must Have Caffeine: Claudio's often seen drinking coffee in promos and at ringside (when not competing). He also hosts "Claudio's Cafe".
 * Put On a Bus: Around the time an identical looking fellow named Antonio Cesaro showed up in FCW.

Matt Cross

 * I Have the High Ground
 * Le Parkour - Ran up a wall to deliver a somersault plancha at Death Before Dishonor V: Night 2.
 * The Scrappy

Eddie Edwards

 * Determinator: He's not called "Die Hard" for nothing. Just watch his title matches at Best in the World and Final Battle 2011 to see how hard, and how many times, Davey Richards had to kick him in the head to keep him down.
 * Implacable Man
 * Made of Iron - Competed in Glory by Honor IX's Ladder War with a broken elbow, and the Survival of the Fittest finals with a torn muscle in his shoulder. He won both.
 * Made of Win - Combine Made of Iron with the fact he is
 * Nakama - With Davey Richards, to the point where Richards didn't want to challenge Edwards for the ROH World Title.
 * Red Baron - Die Hard.
 * Repetitive Name - Eddie Edwards is actually his full name. As a result, Austin Aries once referred to him as Eddie "Eddie Edwards" Edwards alleging that he had no charisma.

El Generico

 * Heroic BSOD
 * Iron Woobie
 * Kayfabe: A tongue-in-cheek version. Even in shoot interviews will wrestlers (jokingly) refer to him as Mexican.
 * Morality Pet:
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge

Chris Hero

 * Badass Long Hair
 * Chest Insignia: Used to wear a "CH" patterned after the Superman "S".
 * Evil Duo: With Claudio Castagnoli.
 * Large Ham: Just one example.
 * Red Baron: "That Young Knockout Kid"
 * Smug Snake

Takeshi Morishima

 * Acrofatic

Kenny Omega

 * Put On a Bus - Hasn't been seen in ROH since Death Before Dishonor VIII.
 * Shout Out - One of his finishers is the HADOUKEN!

Davey Richards

 * Butt Monkey
 * Determinator
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Mangst
 * Nakama: With Eddie Edwards. Richards was reluctant to challenge for the World Title until
 * Old Shame
 * Stoic Woobie
 * Took a Level In Badass
 * You Get Me Coffee

Go Shiozaki

 * Evil Foreigner - Averted, even when he was a member of Sweet 'n Sour Incorporated. While he was aligned with Larry Sweeney, he never really did much in the way of evil.

Kevin Steen

 * Ax Crazy
 * Bilingual Bonus: A native of Quebec, subjecting him to this this promo set before a ROH show in Montreal:.
 * Steen also did two promos for this show entirely in quebecois, neither of which were subtitled by Ring of Honor -- albeit they're straight-forward and serious instead.
 * The Cracker - Actually hacked the ROH message boards to play his videos.
 * Complete Monster
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * He's Back
 * Moral Event Horizon -  at Glory by Honor IX.
 * Pet the Dog - Undeniable 2007: Kevin Steen declined an offer from the Hangmen 3 after they attacked El Generico.. however..
 * Self Fulfilling Prophecy - On the same show, Steen told Adam Pearce he was the only one who would have fun smacking Generico around. Two years later...
 * Slasher Smile
 * Wham Line - "Generico, I just wanted to say... I hate your fucking guts."
 * Wham Line - "Generico, I just wanted to say... I hate your fucking guts."

Erick Stevens

 * Badass Decay
 * Demoted to Extra - When the Necro Butcher became the official crown jewel of the Embassy...
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Slasher Smile
 * Put On a Bus
 * Yank the Dogs Chain - Stevens won the FIP World Heavyweight Championship twice, unseating Roderick Strong both times at Final Battle 2007 and FIP's Hot Summer Nights 08. In both reigns, he lost the title in his first defense inside an FIP ring (he had successful defenses in ROH against Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, and Davey Richards, however.)

Larry Sweeney

 * Large Ham
 * Smug Snake
 * Too Cool to Live: Good night, sweet prince.

Shelton Benjamin

 * Blue Oni
 * Screwed By The WWE
 * Those Two Guys - With Charlie Haas.
 * The Worlds Greatest Tag Team

"The Prodigy" Mike Bennett

 * Creators Pet - The entire point of his character. It works.
 * Jerkass
 * The Scrappy
 * Ted Baxter

Harlem & Lance Bravado

 * Affably Evil
 * Cloudcuckoolander - Both of them.
 * Family Values Villains - Their grandmother makes excellent sugar cookies!
 * Put On a Bus - They're training/touring with Pro Wrestling NOAH as of January 2012.
 * Team Rocket Wins - They actually defeated

Tommasso Ciampa

 * Beard of Evil - In his recent appearances
 * Captain Ersatz - Of Erick Stevens.
 * Delinquent Hair
 * Implacable Man
 * Psycho for Hire
 * Villainous Breakdown - His inability to beat  resulted in severe Sanity Slippage.

Adam Cole

 * Blue Oni
 * Flanderization - Arguably, compared to his character in CZW.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait

Charlie Haas

 * Cluster F Bomb
 * Hot Blooded
 * Red Oni
 * Screwed By The WWE
 * Those Two Guys - With Shelton Benjamin.
 * The Worlds Greatest Tag Team

Kenny King

 * Estrogen Brigade Bait - He even moonlights as a Chippendale's Dancer.
 * Expy - Of Shelton Benjamin, no less.
 * Hey Its That Guy - He was on the second season of WWE Tough Enough.
 * Jerk Jock
 * Old Shame - Appeared in the Cool Dr. Money episode of My Brother and Me.
 * Took a Level In Badass

Truth Martini

 * Blank Book: The Book of Truth is a hardcover book with Martini's face on the cover and complete nonsense inside.
 * Fashion Victim Villain
 * Great Big Book of Everything - What Truth claims the Book of Truth is.
 * Small Name Big Ego - in kayfabe he's a self-help guru writer that no one's ever heard of; this doesn't stop him from trying to join everyone to join the House of Truth.

Grizzly Redwood

 * Broken Pedestal - He went from sharing beard sizes with the Necro Butcher to watching him sell out to the Embassy.
 * Canada Eh - A rare instance where the traditional version is played straight instead of the professional wrestling version; he's a lumberjack billed from the Yukon Territory.

Kyle O'Reilly

 * Canada Eh - The pro wrestling version.
 * Morality Pet: To Davey Richards.
 * Red Oni

Andy Ridge

 * Red Baron - "Right Leg."

Rhett Titus

 * A Man Is Not a Virgin
 * Handsome Lech
 * Jerkass
 * Large Ham
 * Really Gets Around
 * Ted Baxter
 * Took a Level In Badass

The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)

 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guys: They're very good at playing the part of insufferably cocky assholes who think nobody can beat them.
 * Evil Duo
 * I Have the High Ground: Not their entire offense, but a good portion of it. Their finisher, "More Bang For Your Buck", is one brother hitting a 450 splash on their opponent followed immediately by the other hitting a moonsault and then going for the pin.
 * Jerkass: Times two.
 * Kick the Dog: In Real Life, Rhett Titus had suffered a legitimate injury and needed some time off to have it surgically repaired and to rehab. In Kayfabe, the Bucks were the ones who intentionally injured him and put him on the shelf.
 * Large Ham
 * Small Name Big Ego: After returning to ROH following a stint in TNA, this is basically their gimmick. They have very high opinions of themselves, refuse to shake hands with anybody but each other, and give themselves sole credit for selling all the tickets to the shows.
 * Smug Snake
 * Wrestling Family

Michael Elgin

 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Went from simply being a guy with a few impressive power moves to having a huge following after having a match of the year candidate with Davey Richards.
 * Implacable Man
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Red Baron: "Unbreakable."
 * Noble Top Enforcer: To Truth Martini and Roderick Strong but that could change soon.