text: Joe quickly rose through the ranks and became ROH Champion by defeating Xavier at Night of Champions in March 2003. After he defeated The Zebra Kid at "Frontiers of Honor" in London, England in May 2003, the title was renamed the ROH World Championship. Joe held the title for a record 645 days, defending the title 29 times in the United States and in Europe. During this time, he had a critically acclaimed trilogy of title defenses against CM Punk (the second of which received a "five star" rating from veteran journalist Dave Meltzer, the first match in the United States in seven years to do so). In October 2003, Joe faced Ares in a bout promoted by the German Wrestling Association in Bad Schwalbach, Germany with both Joe's ROH World Championship and the vacant GWA Heavyweight Championship on the line, defeating Ares to win the GWA Heavyweight Championship (the title was deactivated later that year). In March 2004, Joe successfully defended the ROH World Championship against Ahmed Chaer in a bout promoted by German Stampede Wrestling in Lennestadt in Germany. In June 2004, Joe successfully defended the ROH World Championship against Shinya Makabe in a bout promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling at the Inoki Dojo in Santa Monica, California. Joe's reign finally ended after 645 days when he lost to Austin Aries at Final Battle in December 2004.
  Soon after losing the ROH World Championship to Aries, Joe became the ROH Pure Champion by defeating his on-screen protégé Jay Lethal in May 2005. He lost the title to Nigel McGuinness at "Dragon Gate Invasion" in August 2005. In October 2005, when Japanese heavyweight superstar Kenta Kobashi made a "once-in-a-lifetime" trip to the United States, he was signed to two Ring of Honor shows. ROH officials selected Joe to face him in a singles match on the first night and a tag match on the second. Joe proved to be a formidable opponent for Kobashi, in a back and forth match, which Dave Meltzer again gave a five-star rating. The match went on to win the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for "Match of the Year", with the Wrestling Observer Newsletter also naming Joe "Most Outstanding Wrestler" for 2005. In 2015, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter described the match as being "widely considered one of the company's defining moments".