Break It Down: PWG DDT4 (2009)

DDT4 (2009) on May 22nd, 2009.

Excalibur is in the ring with Paul London. London says that he won’t be competing tonight and calls out the birthday boy, Bryan Danielson. Someone in the crowd apparently made a Bryan Danielson doll, which is just incredible. London gives Danielson a new robe, Best of the Four Horsemen DVD, Four Horsemen and Shawn Michaels action figures, and cake. Chris Hero comes out and gives Danielson a partner for tonight, Roderick Strong. Hero makes an open challenge. Excalibur says that Zokre is out of action and that Los Luchas are out of the tournament. Taking their place will be Dark N’ Lovely (Human Tornado and Scorpio Sky). Strong comes out and is crowned an official Hybrid Dolphin. London brings a girl into the ring and they start singing “Happy Birthday”. Joey Ryan and Scott Lost attack Strong and Danielson in the ring, leading to…

Opening Match: First Round: Scott Lost and Joey Ryan vs. Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong
Lost throws Danielson to the outside and the Dynasty work over Strong in the ring. Strong connects with some chops on Lost but runs into a corner double stomp. Lost hits the Superman Spear on Strong and the Dynasty continues to isolate him. Strong avoids a back body drop and makes the tag. Danielson runs through some offense before getting caught with a superkick by Lost. The Dynasty now work over Danielson until he stops the Extinction Agenda and makes the tag. Strong hits a leg lariat on Ryan and a backbreaker on Lost in the corner. Hero reflects on commentary that although Strong is doing well, he hopes that Psycho Sid or Legion Larry steps in as a partner before it’s too late. Lost hits an ace crusher on Strong followed by the Extinction Agenda for a two count. Cool spot as Danielson goes for a running knee on Ryan but gets intercepted with a superkick from Lost. Strong is caught with a spin kick for a nearfall. Another spin kick is countered with a gutbuster. Strong locks in the Stronghold on Lost while Danielson synchs in Cattle Mutilation on Ryan. Lost taps out to give the Hybrid Dolphins the win at 10:00. Energetic opener to kick things off. I am totally convinced at this point that Strong provides the best hot tag I’ve ever seen. They did a lot in ten minutes and the finish had the crowd going crazy. Not much more you can ask for here. ***

Match #2: First Round: Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor vs. Human Tornado and Scorpio Sky
Tornado makes Omega dance but gets a little more than he bargained for. Omega lands a hurricanrana. He misses the Hadouken and Tornado follows by missing another Street Fighter move that I can’t spell. Taylor and Sky have a nice exchange before Dark N’ Lovely start working over Taylor’s left arm. Omega tags in and the Men of Low Moral Fiber target Sky’s arm in return. Omega accidentally hits Taylor’s arm, so Sky gives Taylor the opportunity to return the favor. The Men of Low Moral Fiber officially come to blows and need to be separated by Dark N’ Lovely. It all seems to be a hoax as Taylor and Omega use this chance to blindside Tornado and Sky. I love this promotion. Sky is isolated, with a grenade even being used. Sky springboard dropkicks Omega off the apron and rolls through Taylor to make the tag. After some struggling, Tornado drop toe holds Omega into the private parts of Taylor. Tornado follows with the shuffling kicks in the corner. Tornado blocks the stop enzuigiri with a pimp slap. Sky kicks Omega to the outside and follows with a dive. As Sky tries to get back into the ring, Omega just german suplexes him into some chairs. Omega hits Croyt’s Wrath on Tornado followed by the Awful Waffle from Taylor for the victory at 15:39. This did a really good job of combining comedy and quality wrestling. The arm work made the early portion of the match a lot of fun to watch and it’s obvious that when these four turn the action up a notch, it’s going to get good. I might be going a little high on this one but there wasn’t a moment I didn’t enjoy this match. ***½

Match #3: First Round: PWG World Tag Team Titles: Matt and Nick Jackson © vs. Brandon and Dustin Cutler
The Cutlers spit in the Young Bucks’ faces to start and double team Nick. The Young Bucks come back with a launch dropkick. Matt gets tripped up and Brandon hits a leg drop on the apron. The Cutlers work over Matt until he hits a neckbreaker on Brandon followed by a bulldog on Dustin and makes the tag. Nick comes in with an amazing armdrag and hits a springboard hurricanrana on Dustin. He follows with a moonsault to the outside but another dive is blocked. The Cutlers hit a lungblower on Matt followed by some wacky neckbreaker on Nick. Matt lands a double hurricanrana followed by an assisted sliced bread. Dustin powerbombs Nick into Matt but gets caught with a knee. Matt hits a facebuster for a close three count to retain their titles at 10:04. Due to their familiarity with each other, these two teams were able to put together some visually stunning moves and exchanges (try doing play by play). This was very similar to their previous match in that it featured solid action early with a red hot finishing stretch. Plenty of good wrestling packed into ten minutes. ***¼

Match #4: Malachi Jackson vs. Phoenix Star
Star hits a springboard armdrag and some nasty chops in the corner. Jackson comes back with a top rope armdrag and a dropkick. Star catches him with a sloppy powerbomb and follows with rolling suplexes. Jackson misses a dive but is able to land a top rope hurricanrana. He hits a nice rolling chinbreaker and a dive to the outside. Back in, Jackson lands a shooting star press for a two count. Star catches him with a spinebuster followed by an olympic slam for the victory at 5:51. Let’s be honest, Malachi was going to have to bust out some pretty crazy stuff to live up to his older brothers. He wasn’t bad but he needs to build up some confidence in the ring. His performance here, much like the match, was harmless. **

Match #5: Semi-Final: PWG World Tag Team Titles: Matt and Nick Jackson © vs. Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor
Taylor and Matt trade control until Matt sends him to the outside with a dropkick. Nick hits a springboard armdrag on Omega and the Young Bucks connect with dropkicks on Taylor. Nick’s dive attempt is stopped by Taylor and the Men of Low Moral Fiber isolate him. Nick hits an armdrag-headscissors combination and makes the hot tag. Matt hits an ace crusher on Omega and a rolling neckbreaker on Taylor. Omega connects with the stop enzuigiri on Nick and Taylor follows with a missile dropkick on Matt. Omega hits a dragon suplex on Nick for a two count. Taylor catches Nick with Sole Food followed by a facebuster by Omega and a lionsault by Taylor for a nearfall. The crowd thought that was a three count and boo it heavily. Matt spears Taylor and catches Omega with a superkick. Nick victory rolls Omega but Omega counters for another close nearfall. Omega catches Matt with a reverse hurricanrana and Taylor connects with a TOP ROPE SOLE FOOD ON NICK. HADOUKEN ON MATT!!…CLOSE NEARFALL! Nick Stops a dive and the Young Bucks hit More Bang for Your Buck on Omega to retain their titles at 14:11. This one started out a little slow but it was never dull. Once the hot tag was made, the match was taken up to a whole other level. The crowd made the finishing stretch of the match and both teams took advantage of such an atmosphere. Since the crowd genuinely thought the Men of Low Moral Fiber had the match won on more than one occasion, they were molten for some of the nearfalls. Make the beginning portion more engaging and we could have been looking at something extraordinary. ***¾

Match #6: Semi-Final: Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong vs. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley
The Motor City Machine Guns received a bye in the first round due to the many changes that the tournament under went. Danielson catches Sabin with a dropkick but Sabin returns the favor. Shelley and Strong have an amazing exchange that ends in a stalemate. Shelley sends Strong to the outside but Strong blocks the dive from Sabin. Danielson and Sabin hit stereo dives onto their opponent on the outside. Back in, Sabin hits a hesitation dropkick on the Hybrid Dolphins in the corner. Strong and Shelley trade chops, with Shelley just taking Strong’s leg out. The Motor City Machine Guns work over Strong until he hits a pair of backbreakers and makes the tag. Danielson locks in the surfboard on Shelley and Strong works over his back. Shelley finds an opening after a codebreaker on Danielson and an enzuigiri on Strong to make the tag. Sabin lands a flying crossbody followed by a missile dropkick on Danielson along with a rolling neckbreaker. Shelley hits another crossbody on Danielson and the Motor City Machine Guns lock in stereo submissions. In a cool spot, the Hybrid Dolphins reverse into submissions of their own. Sabin and Shelley regain control with an air raid crash on Danielson for a two count. Danielson stops another double team and Strong hits an ace crusher on Shelley followed by a backbreaker. Danielson catches Shelley with a flying knee and the Hybrid Dolphins hit a yakuza-german suplex combo on Sabin for a nearfall. Danielson locks in Cattle Mutilation on Sabin with MMA elbows. Sabin reverses into a small package for a nearfall. Sabin and Danielson trade strikes. Shelley hits a flying knee on Danielson followed by sliced bread for a nearfall. Sabin hits an ace crusher on Strong followed by some kicks from Shelley. The Motor City Machine Guns hit stereo kicks on Danielson followed by the Cradle Shock from Sabin for a nearfall. Danielson catches Sabin with a tope rope hurricanrana and synchs in a triangle choke for the win at 22:31. Pretty much what you would expect from these four. I noticed that the crowd was less vocal as they weren’t as active for some of the nearfalls as they had been previously. Regardless, this match had solid action throughout the beginning portion. They didn’t focus on one heat segment; rather they kept it fairly back and forth. The finishing stretch featured some believable nearfalls and I am surprised they didn’t work the crowd up more. I’m going to be lame and not give this four stars, mainly because I feel like something (possibly the crowd) was missing to really put the match over the top. It’s still worth going out of your way to check out though. ***¾

Match #7: PWG World Title: Chris Hero © vs. Joey Ryan
Dueling chants from the crowd, which shows you how some feel about Hero at this point. Hero controls early with chops and hits a senton. Ryan ducks a roaring elbow and retreats to the outside. Ryan finds an opening after Hero misses a blockbuster and takes over. Hero tags Ryan with an elbow and hits a rolling neckbreaker. Ryan hits a spear but Hero responds with a yakuza kick. Ryan superkicks Hero off of the apron and continues the attack on the outside. Back in, Ryan works over Hero’s midsection. Hero escapes a bodyscissors like it’s a trap from one of the SAW movies and hits a senton. Hero tries to jump on the middle rope to try a move but loses his balance and falls to the outside. Back in, Ryan runs into a roaring elbow and falls victim to a running powerbomb for a two count. Ryan hits an overhead suplex and a rolling neckbreaker. Hero catches him with a roaring elbow for a nearfall. Ryan comes back with a spear and counters an elbow with a backslide for a nearfall. Hero hits a roaring elbow but Ryan quickly answers with a superkick for a two count. Hero stops a Pedigree with an elbow. He can’t stop a second one but is able to kick out of a pin attempt. Ryan mockingly hits a roaring elbow and Hero fires back with one of his own to retain his title at 22:03. Pretty much your “typical Hero title defense” which really shouldn’t be a phrase used to describe a match. The over-reliance on the elbows is fine but I wish they would build a story around the move other than “wow, he killed him with that elbow!”. Thankfully there was some nice back and forth down the stretch but there wasn’t anything of much significance happening in the twenty-two minutes. **¼

Ryan and Hero shake hands after the match. Ryan has a change of heart and lays out Hero with the title to a huge pop.

Match #8: Finals: PWG World Tag Team Titles: Matt and Nick Jackson © vs. Roderick Strong and Bryan Danielson
The teams exchange shoves and it’s a brawl to start. Matt launches Nick into a dropkick on the Hybrid Dolphins. Matt wipes out on a dive and Strong tosses Nick into some chairs. Danielson suplexes Matt on the floor while Strong hits a backbreaker on Nick onto the ring apron. Strong does the same to Matt and the Hybrid Dolphins work him over back in the ring. I guess that’s not really the right wording. The Hybrid Dolphins beat the hell out of Matt back in the ring. Danielson and Strong take the Young Bucks to the outside and use chairs to attack them. Back in, the assault continues on Matt. Nick tries to break things up so Danielson throws him into some chairs on the outside and delivers a few kicks. The Hybrid Dolphins chop the life out of Matt and Danielson stomps his knees into the mat off a surfboard. They take turns suplexing Matt and Danielson chokes him. Nick spits at Danielson from the apron so Danielson elbows him to the floor. Matt finds an opening with a standing sliced bread on Danielson and makes the tag. Nick hits a facebuster on Strong and an ace crusher on Danielson. Matt hits a spear on Danielson followed by a frog splash by Nick. A dragon suplex on Nick results in a nearfall. The Young Bucks hit a doomsday bulldog on Strong and land stereo dives to the outside. Back in, Nick lands a top rope hurricanrana on Danielson, who fires back with forearms. Nick hits an inverted neckbreaker on Danielson but Strong kills him with a yakuza kick for a two count. Danielson and Strong both hit superplexes. Danielson hits MMA elbows on Nick while Strong catches Matt with a back suplex on the apron. Danielson locks in the triangle choke but Nick makes the ropes. Nick gets fired up and spits at Danielson, who stomps his head in and locks in Cattle Mutilation. Danielson loses the hold and the Young Bucks both hit superkicks. They follow with stereo superkicks on Danielson and hit More Bang for Your Buck to retain their titles and win the DDT4 tournament at 19:57. This was awesome. PWG listened to the fans, who were not going to get behind the Young Bucks after their match against the Men of Low Moral Fiber. Thus, essentially the first ten minutes of the match were dedicated to the Young Bucks getting their asses kicked. We were also treated to a vicious Bryan Danielson, which is always entertaining. As usual, the action got really good down the stretch and the intensity just made it more enjoyable. I may be in the minority but this is my favorite match of the whole tournament. ****

The 411: DDT4 (2009) is one of the best shows I've seen in quite some time and may be the most consistently great tournament I've ever seen. Every tournament match is highly enjoyable with the Semi-Final and Final matches being something to go out of your way to see. The two non-tournament matches are nothing special, but they don't detract from the show as one is a harmless sprint and the other is a decent title defense. You can't go wrong here. Don't even think about it...just get this show.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]