9 Former PWG Champions Who Now Wrestle In WWE

7. Roderick Strong

roderick strong
ROH

As mentioned previously, Roderick Strong held the PWG World Tag Team Championships with current WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville. The Messiah of the Backbreaker had a more successful career in PWG than most. His title runs weren't limited to brief tandem reigns, to say the least. Strong wrestled over 100 matches for PWG during his 11 years with the company, winning everything there was to win in the process.

Strong was a three-time PWG World Tag Team Champion, although he only managed to successfully defend the titles once. As well as his run with PAC, Strong held the gold with Davey Richards and Jack Evans - although his and Evans' reign ended with El Generico filling in for the injured Evans, and his run with Richards lasted just the one day.

More impressively, Strong is also a former PWG World Champion, winning the belt by defeating Kyle O'Reilly at Black Cole Sun in December 2014. Strong went on to hold the title for 449 days, making him the second longest-reigning champion in PWG history behind Adam Cole and his 538 day reign. Strong's championship reign was ended by current champion Zack Sabre Jr. at All Star Weekend 12 in 2016.

This run as PWG World Champion did wonders for the perception of Strong, who until that point was considered a guy that had great matches and little else. His heel turn and championship run showcased a side to him that had been missing - a side that will need to come out in WWE further down the line.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.