Written by: Jim
DDT4
May 9, 2010
The Young Bucks (c) vs Jerome Robinson and Johnny Goodtime – PWG Tag Team Titles
After being disappointed by LTP and Goodtime at the last show, they really stepped it up for this match. There’s never a dull moment in this and it’s smartly booked. The legal man was always the one going for pins and they surprisingly kept the kick outs to a minimal. Despite knowing that the Bucks would win, LTP and Goodtime had me believing that there could be a huge upset. Without question, the best match I’ve seen from LTP and Goodtime since their arrival to PWG. Watching this match right after watching the Bucks’ 2009 DDT4 matches, you can just tell how much Matt and Nick have grown as wrestlers. 3 1/4 Stars.
¡Peligro Abejas! vs Scott Lost and Chuck Taylor
While the first match was a lot of fun and memorable, this was neither. It wasn’t bad or anything, but it never felt as if it really got going. The only thing that stood out in this match was Scott Lost’s usual moveset that continues to entertain me. The hot finish helps ends the match on a high note, but for a Generico match, it’s so uneventful. 2 1/4 Stars.
The Cutlers vs Ryan Taylor and Roderick Strong
You could almost tell as if this would be treated as the least important DDT4 tournament match. Taylor and Strong were the least likely to make it to the finals and while the Cutlers had a decent show to be the unlikely winners, there were other teams more important in this. The result is a fairly tame match with the objection being just to make Taylor look good and provide the fans with a decent match. They did manage to make the result unpredictable near the end though. 2 1/2 Stars.
The Briscoes vs YAMATO and Akira Tozawa
I can understand why some may hate Tozawa, but he’s the kind of guy who will fit in perfectly with PWG. He reminds me a lot of a Japanese Top Gun Talwar. The fact that he loved showing his ass and Excalibur claimed that he had snorted twenty lines of coke before the match only confirms my speculations that Momma Talwar had a kid in Japan. The crowd was pretty into this and overall, I found it to be a great improvement over the last two matches. I look forward to seeing more of Top Gun Tozawa in PWG. 3 Stars.
The Young Bucks (c) vs The Cutlers – PWG Tag Team Titles
This is now the forth title shot the Cutlers are receiving from the Bucks. I’d have to check, but that may be a record for most shots during a single reign. These two teams tried to create an exciting match, but they encountered several little problems throughout the bout. The last few minutes has the most awkward moments of all. One of the problems was that they had all four men in the ring for far too long. It became overkill and lost some of the drama that tag matches are supposed to have. On a positive note, Dustin Cutler looked incredible in the match. There was one sequence where he was just a total monster destroying both Bucks. Without question, this was the best performance of his PWG career. Maybe it’s just because Dustin did so well, but Brandon looked fairly weak. Then again, his punches didn’t even connect half the time. Overall, it’s a decent match that jumped back and forth between the good and bad side of the fence. When it was good, it was really good though. 3 Stars.
The Briscoes vs ¡Peligro Abejas!
Say what you will about Paul London since his return to the indy’s, but at least for one match, he showed signs of his old self. He was virtually botch free and connected with all of his shots. He was *Gasp* the best wrestler in the match. I really enjoyed the heated exchanges between Generico and the Briscoes as well. My only issue with the match was how abrupt the ending was. Generico was Doomsday Device, but London took out the Briscoe on the top rope. That allowed Generico to pick up the win with a victory roll. PWG is known for letting their matches last for too long, but in this case, they ended it a few minutes too early. Still, it’s still a fair match and the best London has looked in years. 3 1/4 Stars.
Chris Hero vs Brandon Bonham
They had one goal for this match and it was to make Bonham look as if he belonged in the main event. To some extent, they succeed. Bonham was able to hang with Hero during all of the stiff strikes and even got the best of Hero at times. The problem is that that’s all they did. It was always just the showcase of both men seeing what the other could give back. With the match lasting longer than any other match on this night, I don’t understand why they didn’t try advancing the story at all. Still, Bonham looked pretty good and seemed ready to mix it up with other top guys in PWG. However, assuming PWG doesn’t have to reshuffle the card for SEVEN, Bonham’s next two opponents in the company was/will be Ryan Taylor (DIO!) and the debuting Brian Cage (SEVEN). What was the point of even giving him the Hero rub if they were going to have him go back to wrestling the rookies? 3 Stars.
The Young Bucks (c) vs ¡Peligro Abejas! – PWG Tag Titles
So here you had the single biggest PWG tag match in years and the worst possible thing (An injury) has to happen. Nick Jackson’s concussion hurt the match in two ways. For one, there was a few minute break in the middle of the match and then I was more (Legit) worried about Nick every time he took a move or shot to the head, that I wasn’t as emotionally invested in the finish. It’s quite the same since the end was a huge moment. Not only did you see new tag team champions, but it’s also the end of the longest PWG tag title reign, the end of the title reign with the most defenses and Generico making history with tying Scott Lost for most tag title reigns at four. (Well, unless you count Scott Lost having two title reigns when he beat Joey Ryan to have sole ownership of the belt, then it’d be five for Lost). Regardless, it should have been a huge moment, but it just wasn’t. The match also loses points for being so damn formula base with there being so many kick outs from finishers. This is the kind of match you should have those huge kick outs, but since you do them in every Bucks match, it doesn’t mean anything. Despite the problems (Both planned and not), I did enjoy the story of the match. One thing I’ve been skeptical with DDT4 tournament is what happens if the champions lose the match by DQ or count out. Rick Knox being the MVP of the night addressed this earlier in the night when he was commentating and made sure that this match only ended on a pinfall or submission. Kudos Knox, kudos. Had this fixed the formula booking of the end and the injury not have happened, this could have been a MOTYC for PWG. Instead, it’s not even the best of the night. 3 Stars.
Overall
Well, it’s certainly not a bad show of wrestling. In fact, the worst match is just disappointingly average. However, this is DDT4 we’re talking about. This is the one night a year that PWG showcases it’s tag division more than any other. You need at least one MOTYC to show the fans that this is one of the biggest shows of the year. This doesn’t have anything near MOTYC. The Bucks last two title defenses (Against Chuck Taylor/El Generico and the Briscoes) were better than anything on this show. Sadly, this lack of anything great must make this year’s DDT4 a failure. You can still see some good matches and the best matches out of four guys (Goodtime, LTP, Dustin Cutler and Paul London), but that’s all.
Worth Checking Out
LTP and Johnny Goodtime vs The Young Bucks
The Briscoes vs ¡Peligro Abejas!
Avoid
¡Peligro Abejas! vs Scott Lost and Chuck Taylor (Seeing a Generico match this average is sad)