Views from the Hawke’s Nest: PWG DDT4 2014

January 31, 2014
Reseda, California

Commentators: Excalibur, Rick Knox, Chris Hero, Joey Ryan, Kevin Steen,

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament First Round
Best Friends (Trent? & Chuck Taylor) vs. RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma & Johnny Goodtime)

The Best Friends were over like rover.

The Best Friends were running through the Monsters for a while. Yuma blocked Chuck’s slow motion slingston senton by getting his knees up. The crowd was OUTRAGED. The Monsters then worked Chucky T over after that. Chuck eventually escaped, and Trent? made a hot tag. The teams started going back and forth. Movez. This is how recap indie tag wrestling now. Deal with it. Goodtime hit a big dive on Trent?, and Yuma then got a nearfall on Chucky T with a Sex-Factor. Best Friends caused the Monsters to give themselves the 3D. Then they did Dudley Boys taunts. Chuck called for the secret weapon, which turned out to be a trench coat. THEY HIT THE TRENCH COAT MAN CHOKESLAM: 1…2…3!

Wow, it’s so refreshing to watch this match after the bore that the majority of ASW X was. Everything the Best Friends did was super over, and the Monsters were great foils for their antics. The match did not overstay its welcome, and they executed everything quite well. This was a great DDT4 opener.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament First Round
The Unbreakable Fucking Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) vs. PPRay (Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas)

PPRay attacked them before the bell and twice went for stereo dives. The Machines caught them both times. That was super. PPRay briefly worked over Cage, but he kept doing things to them at the same time. Elgin then briefly got cut off, but Elgin was also eventually to do things to both of them at the same time. PPRay was finally able to sustain some momentum! They even got a real nearfall! The Machines came back obviously. Elgin squished Rosas with his corkscrew senton. Cage ate a sloppy Yoshi Tonic/crucifix bomb combo. The match is officially overstaying its welcome. Eventually, Avalon was hit with a series of devastating movez that ended with an Elgin Bomb: 1…2…3

The match started out really fun, but my interest waned the longer it went. At the very least, it set up the Machines as a threat for their next round match.
Match Rating: **1/2

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament First Round
The World’s Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan & Candice LeRae) vs. Cole Steen Cole (Adam Cole & Kevin Steen)

Joey and Candice attacked Mount Rushmore before the bell. Candice was cut off shortly after that though. She was worked over for a while. Candice eventually cut Steen with a stunner, and Ryan made a hot tag. Ryan seemingly took out Steen with a tope suicida, but then the next shot was of Steen giving Ryan an apron powerbomb. Ryan then got worked over.Ryan escaped, and Candice made a fantastic comeback. Cole ate the Ballplex. Ryan and Candice did the assisted hurricanrana on Cole that sent him into Steen. Candice killed Cole with a reverse ‘rana for a great nearfall. Candice ate Cole’s shitty Canadian Destroyer. Ryan gave him a superkick, but Steen then gave him the pop-up powerbomb. Ryan ate a superkick/package piledriver combo and then another superkick: 1…2…3!

The ending of this match was wild, which made up for the relative pedestrian middle section. Candice really deserves some big singles matches in PWG, but her tag team with Joey is clearly the best use of either of them in PWG for quite some time.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament First Round
Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet & Rich Swann) vs. African American Wolves (AR Fox & ACH)

Ricochet was offended by the Fox and ACH’s new tag team name. He made Trinidad then announce them as the Martin Luther Kings of Wrestling and Malcolm Degeneration X. Great stuff.

There were a lot of flips and dives early on. The Wolves were in control after a Lo Mein Rain from Fox. There was some earlier humor about Swann and ACH looking alike. The payoff was that Ricochet accidentally tried to tag out to ACH because he thought he was Swann. He eventually figured it out and tagged out to the actual Swann. He made a delightful comeback. Swann got cut off and then worked over some more. I can’t think of a matchup that needs two heat segments less than this match. Swann hit Fox with a rolling DDT, and Ricochet then made a hot tag. Time for the back and forth action with all the movez. There was a “Tag Team Wrestling” chant. Fuck that chant. This match is eh. Ricochet gave Fox a DVD from the turnbuckle to the apron. What the fuck. Swann called for a 450 off apron, but ACH kicked him off. ACH then hit an Air Jordan where he seeming got a mile into the air. That was amazing. Back in the ring, ACH ate a Lethal Injection from Swann but avoided the jumping 450. Ricochet came out of nowhere with a springboard 450: 1…2…3

I don’t know. If you loved this match, more power to you. There were definitely enough cool moments to make it okay overall, but the match did not come together in a satisfying way. There were TWO heat segments in this match for reasons that cannot possibly be justified.
Match Rating: **3/4

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Thornstowe
Ciampa only has the second worst haircut in this match, which says an awful lot about Thornstowe. Thornstowe hit an early tope con hello, and then they traded arm pit spots. Ciampa eventually got control of the match and worked the PWG newbie over. Thornstowe came back with some kicks. Ciampa came back with a deadlift German. Thornstowe came back with a wizard and a fucked-up Red Star Press. Ciampa hit an apron Air Raid Crash. They traded lots of strikes. Ciampa caught him with a knee strike out of nowhere: 1…2…3

This was a match. Thornstowe kind of reminded me of Corey Graves in that he seems to be doing a lot to try to stand out, but he mostly just seems like a boring amalgamation of a bunch of ideas instead of having a clearly unique style/character. Ciampa continues to not get the greatest opportunities to succeed in PWG.
Match Rating: *1/2

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinals
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. Cole Steen Cole (Adam Cole & Kevin Steen)

Cole seemed offended that the Best Friends were better friends that Cole Steen Cole and went to the back. The referee started to count them out, but they got back just in time. Now, they were in matching gear. The friendship bar has been raised. Cole and Steen then tore apart the trench coat! THIS IS SERIOUS! A brawl broke out. They brawled in the crowd for a while. The Best Friends did hilos off the stage and then hugged. They finally got back in the ring. Steen managed to cut Taylor off with a senton. Trent? tried to save him, but Steen hit a diving fisherman buster. Trent? then reversed a Panama City Destroyer into a Jig ‘n’ Tonic, but Steen made the save. Cole backdropped Chuck into chairs, as Steen hit Trent? with the Sleeper Suplex. Cole and Steen set up Trent? for their finisher from round 1, but Candice LeRae showed up. Cole chased after her, and Trent? caught Steen with a jackknife pin: 1…2…3!

Steen teased attacking Cole after the match, but he resisted.

Other than the finish, this match was a nice change of pace from recent tag team matches in PWG. There was no real heat segment, and it was mostly just a fun brawl with a few good exchanges at the end in the ring. The finish was annoying, but the fans liked it at least.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinals
The Unbreakable Fucking Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) vs. Martin Luther Kings of Wrestling (Ricochet & Rich Swann)

The teams went back and forth trying to get the crowd to chant for them. As Excalibur said, stop burning out the crowd with three matches left! Elgin and Ricochet did a nifty sequence to start the match. Cage hit Swann with a lionsault. “Y2Cage!” chants. Cage was doing stuff like that in 2012 before he put on an extra fifty pounds of muscle. Ricochet got worked over by the Machines for a while. Ricochet eventually caught Elgin with an enzuigiri. Swann made an okay comeback. It was more kicky than flippy. The teams went back and forth for a while, but it did not do much for me. They did the indie tag team match spot where they hit movez until they all went down. The sheep chanted “This is awesome!” I’m becoming mean to the Reseda crowd. Ricochet hit his turnbuckle hilo on Elgin and then a springboard SSP to Cage on the floor. Springboard 450 on Cage: 1…2…NO! Good nearfall. They did an incredibly labored setup to cause Cage to DDT Elgin. Elgin ate the standing 450 and then a 630. Cage tried to give Ricochet a Weapon X, but Swann stopped and Cage got doubleteamed pinned: 1…2…3

There was some good stuff towards the very end (and the very beginning), but like a lot of recent PWG matches, the majority of this match did not do much for me. It was long with a vague sense of structure, but they did not really build to anything or even do the basics required for an exciting tag team match with a long heat segment (that hot tag by Swann being the prime example of things not done especially well). I think it’s time for Michael Elgin to return to the singles division full time. There are still enough interesting matchups for him there, and his tag team with Cage has run its course. Ricochet may need to go back to working heel, as he’s seeming just been off lately.
Match Rating: **3/4

Johnny Gargano vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Chris Hero vs. Drake Younger

All four guys have failed to defeat Adam Cole for the PWG Championship in the past year. The winner of this match will get a rematch.

They did some mildly amusing four-way feeling out each other spots. That was different. It was very mildly amusing. The monotony of it was broken up by a Drake moonsault to the floor one everyone. They got back in the ring and did some movez. Gargano built up some momentum. It was then KO’s turn. Hero caught KO with an elbow for a good nearfall. There was a four-way submission spot. They did the indie tag team wrestling spot that caused everyone to collapse. Hero hit a bunch elbows. A low of movez were traded. KO and Gargano went back and forth. Hero went to moonsault KO, but Drake sent him to the floor. Drake hit KO with a diving Death Valley Bomb. KO came back with two brainbusters and a cross armbreaker. Drake hit a piledriver for a nearfall and then hit Drake’s Landing: 1…2…3

This match was very ambitious, but I never really got into except for a few spots here and there. I much preferred the last two four ways PWG has booked (Mystery Vortex and Matt Rushmore), as those matches were tighter with less down time. I was fine with Drake winning when I heard about it, but I guess hit title shot is up in the air since he pulled out of the March PWG show (his wife is scheduled to give birth).
Match Rating: **1/2

Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament Finals
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. Malcolm Degeneration-X (Ricochet & Rich Swann)

Ricochet and Swann hit early dives that were very pretty (especially Ricochet’s). The Best Friends came back with stereo tope con hellos. The teams went back and forth doing lots of movez. Best Friends hit the Best Friends chokeslam: 1…2…no. Ricochet made a comeback. Trent? then killed him with a half-nelson suplex on the apron. Swann went for the Lethal Injection on Chuck, but Chuck caught him and hit the Omega Driver: 1…2…3!

Chuck seemed genuinely shocked. He told the crowd they were all now his best friends. Ain’t that sweet.

This was a satisfying enough finals for the tournament, and the right team went over. The Best Friends are very over in a Drake Younger sort of way, and I think they will have a fantastic match with the Young Bucks.
Match Rating: ***

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The 411: While I did not find this show to be disheartening like the ASW X shows, PWG continues to underwhelm on a fairly consistent basis. The matches and shows just do not consistently deliver the way they used to before 2013 (never mind before 2012). If PWG ran more shows a year, I would be considering taking a break for a while until the quality improved, but I'll stick around unless we start consistently getting "thumbs down" shows. I mildly recommend watching this show on mp4 when that is available on Highspots around April/May.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]