As I had somewhat erroneously reported back a few months ago, Rob Van Dam has been signed to appear for PWG during the big WrestleReunion event in January. I said it would be a joint card between PWG and ROH. I was wrong, they're just both running cards on the event. Well, the PWG event is called Kurt Russell-mania (Best event name ever? Yeah, best event name ever.), and the first two matches signed for it are doozies: El Generico vs. Jushin "Thunder" Liger and Rob Van Dam vs. Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero.
That is some tasty wrestling. Generico/Liger has been announced for awhile now, and while Liger doesn't carry as much name caché as Mr. Monday Night, he's a veritable legend and perhaps the most influential junior-heavy of all-time with apologies to Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid. Generico is almost the perfect opponent for him from the roster of PWG guys, as he's the closest they have to an NJPW-styled jr. heavy that works in the states right now.
But if that wasn't incentive enough for me to hand over my hard earned cash for the DVD once this is released, Rob Van Dam, working away from the shelter of the safer WWE style, will be free to go back to what made him great in ECW against two guys that are more than capable in Hero and Strong. While I'm skeptical about three-way matches, I think this might work. Hero's elbow-based offense seems to be the kind of moveset that plays well into the counter-kick offense/defense of Van Dam, and Strong may be the best worker in the indies now that Bryan Danielson is in the WWE.
So yeah, damn you and such SoCal. But hey, even if ROH's booking sucks, they still have great matches, and of course, we get Chikara up here. I can't complain too much.
Oh yeah, one note to pass along, Dot Net is reporting that Charlie Haas asked for his release, and instead of giving it to him, the WWE gave him a raise and hasn't booked him much since. The reason? Apparently, Kurt Angle had a role in mind for him in TNA, so rather than let him, a marginal talent who was about as over as a fart in church, walk to a company that they swear isn't competition to them, they're paying him to sit on his ass. Maybe TNA is in the back of Vince's mind more than he'll let on?
