ROH and PWG Announce Stacked Cards for WrestleReunion Weekend in Los Angeles

For the second consecutive year, two of the premier promotions in independent wrestling will put on huge live shows at the WrestleReunion convention.

Ring of Honor, the Philadelphia based promotion and arguably the third biggest name in the United States wrestling scene, returns to the West Coast for a huge Friday night event on Jan. 28. The following night, California’s top independent company, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, will present a loaded card for Kurt RussellReunion II: The Reunioning.

ROH has yet to announce the full card for their return to Los Angeles, but two huge main event matches have been revealed.

El Generico finally gets another shot at the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. He will face either Roderick Strong, the current champion, or Jay Briscoe, depending on the outcome of their title match on Jan. 15 in Charlotte, N.C.

Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, look to gain retribution against the current ROH World Tag Team Champions, the Kings of Wrestling, in a non-title rematch of their outstanding clash at Glory By Honor IX.

The remainder of the ROH card should take shape following their weekend of shows on Jan. 14 and 15, but their first two announced matches for WrestleReunion are quite exciting.

Last month, Benjamin and Haas announced that they would be competing full-time in ROH and they appear to have their sights set on becoming the tag team champions in 2011. After their controversial loss to the Kings in September, the WGTT will be coming to California with revenge on their minds.

Generico has finally put his year-long feud with Kevin Steen behind him, after an epic clash at Final Battle 2010. Has the “generic luchador” recovered enough, both emotionally and physically, to focus on becoming the ROH World Heavyweight Champion?

The final weekend of January could be the most important one in the career of Generico, as he also has been given the first shot at dethroning the new PWG World Heavyweight Champion, Claudio Castagnoli.

Castagnoli, one half of the Kings of Wrestling, won the top prize in PWG back in October at The Curse of Guerrilla Island event. He defeated his tag team partner, Chris Hero, as well as Joey Ryan and Brandon Gatson, in a four-way match to determine a new champion after the title had been vacated.

Generico earned a shot at the belt last month, when he and Paul London successfully defended their PWG World Tag Team Championship against the Kings of Wrestling. The match was originally scheduled to be a non-title contest but the teams agreed that the belts would be put on the line as long as Castagnoli would put his title on the line against either Generico or London at a future show.

It turns out that Generico gets the shot on the very same weekend that he also gets his chance to become the top champion in ROH. With two cracks at championship gold, WrestleReunion has the potential to be a historic experience for El Generico.

Kurt RusselReunion II: The Reunioning will also feature the return of Low Ki to PWG. The former Kaval, winner of season two of NXT, comes back to a promotion where he has had incredible success and will square off against Davey Richards in what could potentially be the best match of the entire weekend.

Richards and Low Ki are both former PWG World Heavyweight Champions and are no strangers to each other. Their upcoming match marks the first time in almost four years that they will wrestle each other, according to the press release by PWG. Given all that has happened to both of these men over that period of time, this one has that dream match feeling written all over it.

Wrestling legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts will put an end of his career inside of a PWG ring when he takes on Sinn Bodhi in his official retirement match.

Bodhi, known mostly for his very brief run as Kizarny in the WWE, has reemerged on the indy scene with recent appearances in CHIKARA and now he receives the honor of being the last man to compete against one of the most well known names in the history of pro wrestling.

Speaking of wrestling legends, PWG has booked a legends battle royal featuring numerous big names from the past few decades. The list includes The Barbarian, "Dangerous" Danny Davis, Shane Douglas, Terry Funk, Mike Graham, Sean “Val Venis” Morley, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Barry Orton and "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Ken Patera, “Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Rock Riddle, Tatanka, Tito Santana, Vampiro, Savio Vega and The Warlord.

If anything, it should be a fun nostalgia trip.

Four teams will collide in a number one contenders match as the Young Bucks, the Cutler Brothers, the RockNES Monsters and the Fightin’ Taylor Boys all look to become the next team in line for a shot at the current PWG World Tag Team Champions, Paul London and El Generico.

PWG also has Kevin Steen vs. Chris Hero, Shane Helms vs. Joey Ryan and the continuation of a lucha libre rivalry as CMLL stars Rey Bucanero and Mr. Aguila (formerly Essa Rios in the WWE) are set to do battle.

With these huge events taking place, the fifth WrestleReunion event looks to be perhaps the best yet. Things should only get more interesting when the rest of the ROH event takes shape over the next few weeks.

That same weekend, the eyes of the wrestling world will mainly be focused on Sunday night’s WWE Royal Rumble in Boston.

While the biggest wrestling company in the world descends on the East Coast, ROH and PWG hope to draw some of those eyes to the West in what is indisputably going to be a huge three days for wrestling fans.