Event: April 21, 2012 in Reseda, California
DDT4 (Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament) is a tag team tournament held yearly by PWG, generally for the PWG World Tag Team Championship. The titles weren’t on the line this year as Super Dragon, one half of the Tag Team Champions Appetite for Destruction (with PWG World Champion Kevin Steen) was out with an injured heel. Appetite for Destruction was replaced by the team of 2 Husky Black Guys (El Generico & Willie Mack).
Match 1: RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma) vs. The Fightin’ Taylor Boys (Brian Cage-Taylor & Ryan Taylor)
Summary: If you’re not familiar with PWG, these are two very talented teams. The Fightin’ Taylor Boys have a gimmick where they discovered late in life that they were half-brothers along with “The Kentucky Gentleman” Chuck Taylor. RockNES Monsters were considered one of the favorites to go far in the tourney heading into this thing. I, like most were expecting RockNES to steal the match, but Brian Cage-Taylor dominated the match. Highlights include an extended vertical suplex by Cage-Taylor on Goodtime that included Cage-Taylor doing squats with Goodtime. Later on Goodtime lifts Yuma up to use as a battering ram as they often do, but Cage-Taylor picks them both up and delivers a huge suplex to the two men. Seeing as he dominated the match I found it strange that Cage-Taylor would be the one to take the pin after a double team maneuver by RockNES that ended with an ace crusher. Great opener and I could easily see Brian Cage-Taylor end up in the WWE one day, guy has the look and the skills.
Winners: RockNES Monsters
Match 2: The Dynasty (Joey Ryan & Scorpio Sky) vs. Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly)
Summary: Despite breaking up in ROH, Future Shock is still going strong in PWG. The more experienced Dynasty was the favorite going in to this one as the more established team, this was Future Shock’s first foray into the DDT4 tournament. I’m not high on O’Reilly, but the other three competitors are always enjoyable to watch. I’m not a big fan of his “kicking attack”, but he didn’t overdo it like he can sometimes do. Kevin Steen & Excalibur were on commentary for this match and as you could expect it was thoroughly enjoyable. Adam Cole nailed a Superfly Splash and Steen noted “just like Tamina Snuka”. Prime commentary right here. Some highlights include a big codebreaker/samoan drop combo by Dynasty on O’Reilly that only gets a two count and the finishing exchange that ended with a discus lariat on Sky that allowed Future Shock to pick up the win and move on to the next round. Overall a good match not quite as enjoyable as the opener, but still worth watching. Fairly surprising ending as Future Shock gets the minor upset.
Winners: Future Shock
Match 3: 2 Husky Black Guys (El Generico & Willie Mack) vs. Sami Callihan & Roderick Strong
Summary: This was originally going to be Appetite for Destruction vs. Callihan and Strong. I was looking forward to Steen facing off with Callihan, but you can’t always get what you want. This was Callihan’s PWG debut. I have to note that 2 Husky Black Guys is one of the best tag team names in the history of tag team wrestling, possibly even better than the 2 Skinny Black Guy name that was used by El Generico & Human Tornado. Willie Mack in particular I would like to see take some east coast bookings, but like RockNES I imagine the cost of travel is preventing that from happening. Callihan is brutal with hard chops to Mack’s chest and face. Later on a few corner spots that are reminiscent of Human Tornado, gets a Tornado chant from the crowd. At one point Willie Mack was strung up on the middle rope and Strong dragged him across the ring all the way to Callihan. Cool spot that I’ve never seen before, apparently neither have the commentators. Excalibur points out that Steen’s son holds a victory over him at a previous DDT4 event. Once again the commentary is one of the best parts of the match, specifically an exchange about Nick Gage’s bank robbery. Finish comes when Generico hits a Brainbuster on Strong and gets the pin while Mack holds Callihan back. Very good match, both of these makeshift teams have a lot of potential. Afterwards Callihan gets on the mic and accepts Steen’s open challenge for the PWG Championship later in the show. Now that’s what I like to hear.
Winners: 2 Husky Black Guys
Match 4: Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied) vs. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)
Summary: The Young Bucks are definitely the favorites here. They’ve been in the finals of DDT4 the past three years, winning the tournament two of those times. Both of these teams have killer entrance poses. Great teamwork and lots of posing early on by Uno & Stupefied, the fans are very pro SSB. This is probably the hottest the crowd has been for a match so far. Usual acrobatics from Stupefied and the Bucks abound, not that that’s a bad thing. The highlight was a HUGE tandem tombstone piledriver from the Bucks onto Stupefied, but Uno barely breaks it up. Stupefied gets a flash pin on one of the Bucks for the big upset victory. That wraps up the first round and not a single match has disappointed so far.
Winners: Super Smash Bros.
Match 5: RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma) vs. 2 Husky Black Guys (El Generico & Willie Mack)
Summary: RockNES are the more rested and have more experience as a team so they have to be looked at as the favorites for this one. Yuma looks very tiny in the ring across from El Generico. Fans are pretty evenly split between the two teams. Early on Goodtime goes for the tag, but Yuma jumps off the apron to avoid it. A bit of dissension for RockNES? Eventually Yuma accepts the tag. 2 Husky Black Guys with awesome dual dives out of the ring onto the Monsters, rare to see Willie do something like that and the crowd responds in kind. Willie Mack gets the win out of nowhere with a spike tombstone piledriver on Yuma to advance to the finals. Another good match, somewhat surprising the last minute addition to the tournament would make the finals.
Winners: 2 Husky Black Guys
Match 6: Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno vs. Stupefied)
Summary: Roderick Strong joins Excalibur on commentary and starts off by asking which one of the Smash Bros is Stupefied… alright then. Match starts a bit slowly with a feeling out stage, but it picks up a bit once O’Reilly and Stupefied get in the ring together. At one point Stupefied hit a big spinning DDT on O’Reilly which was highlighted by O’Reilly showing some Dolph Ziggler-esque selling. Eventually “Yes!” starts chant and Roderick Strong is less than pleased. Uno hits a big moonsault and the fans chant one more time, before he gets the chance Cole and O’Reilly hit a big combo that ended in a pinning attempt. Somehow Uno was able to kick out at 2. Ridiculous double stomp/ace crusher combo by SSB earns “This is Awesome” chants from the crowd. I have to agree with the fans this has been one of the best matches of the night so far. After a bunch of superkicks by both teams, Stupefied matrixes under a lariat attempt and counters with a double kick on both Cole & O’Reilly. Awesome dual submissions by Future Shock countered into suplex pin attempts by SSB, countered again into different submissions by Cole & O’Reilly. Finish comes when SSB hit the Fatality onto O’Reilly and Uno holds off Cole. Awesome match, easily match of the night so far. The last few minutes were especially ridiculous. The crowd is really into it and chants “PWG” and then “Future Shock” out of respect for the losing team. The DVD is worth it just for this match alone, not to mention there hasn’t been a bad match as of yet. You got to see this.
Winners: Super Smash Bros.
Match 7: PWG Championship Match: Kevin Steen © vs. Sami Callihan
Summary: If you’re at all familiar with these two wrestlers you have to be looking forward to this match. It promises to be hard hitting and intense and the match starts off as so with the two competitors go right after each other. Steen puts on a Super Dragon match and chops Sami onto a pile of chairs in the crowd. These two are just beating the hell out of each other at ringside and into the audience. This has to be a countout, but the commentators point out that the ref is being very liberal with the count and is at two. Finally they’re back in the ring and Steen has Callihan’s jean jacket on. Callihan’s taking a beating here folks. Callihan eventually starts to gain some momentum, but that all ends when Steen powerbombs him onto the ring apron. Steen goes for a swanton, but Callihan gets his knees up. Eventually Steen hits a huge Michinoku Driver on the ring apron, he follows that up with two more powerbombs on the apron. Somehow Callihan kicks out of that. Finally Steen hits a package piledriver and mercifully the match is over. Good showing by both men, Callihan bumped like champ all match. It was a little more one sided than I expected, but still an enjoyable championship match. After the match fans chant “Thank you Sami” until one jackass says “Overrated”. Steen proceeds to verbally rip into the douchebag. Steen then puts over Sami saying he likes him a little and hates him a little too. He also puts over PWG as the best wrestling promotion of all and invites Sami back. “Please come back” chants abound as expected.
Winner and still champion: Kevin Steen
Match 8: DDT4 2012 Finals: 2 Husky Black Guys (Willie Mack & El Generico) vs. Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied)
Summary: Steen is back on commentary and attempts to impersonate Roderick Strong’s commentary. During the feeling out process Generico botches a kip up and then blunders into a sloppy exchange. Generico seems to be selling his back though, Excalibur suggests he injured it during the kip up. Steen compares Willie Mack to Samoa Joe, while Excalibur says he sees him as the black Kevin Steen. Fans chant “Everyone” since they’re behind both teams. Generico hits a nice split legged moonsault, then 2 Husky Black Guys tease the SSB pose only to bust out a pose of their own. A bit later Generico hits an awesome springboard moonsault onto the rest of the competitors. Excalibur calls Generico a “big boy”, this sends Steen into a laughing fit. Some pretty good exchanges and combos by both teams down the stretch. SSB hits their “Get Over Here” exploder combo on the ring apron throwing Generico off onto Mack at the floor. Wow. Uno kicks out of two Willie Mack moonsaults as Generico holds Stupefied back on the outside. Both teams are going all out right now, this is right up there with the SSB/Future Shock match from earlier for match of the night. SSB hit a Fatality on Generico to pick up the win. That is one of the coolest tag team finishers out there. The Young Bucks are out now and attacking both teams. Steen grabs a chair and runs them off. The Bucks grab a mic and claim to be the “Kings of DDT4”. They then claim they want a rematch against “Kevin Steen and Super Faggot”. Not sure if Super Dragon will appreciate that. Steen then puts over SSB and Willie Mack and calls El Generico a piece of shit. That’s all folks.
Winners of DDT4 2012: Super Smash Bros.
Overall a great show without a single weak match. The MVP’s of the show are definitely the Super Smash Bros. & Brian Cage-Taylor. I have no idea why those guys don’t get more bookings elsewhere. This show is definitely worth checking out, the main event and the Future Shock/SSB match are worth buying the DVD alone, and on top of that you get six more great matches. What’s not to love?
