By Will Pruett

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla - DDT4 2014
January 31, 2014 at The American Legion Hall in Reseda, CA

The show kicked off right around 9:00pm as the all the fans were finally situated in the building. Our group arrived a little later than usual and we were confined to standing room, behind the regular seats on the side of the room. It was quite packed inside. This might have been the largest crowd I've seen at a PWG show, but I'm far too lazy to actually count people.

Excalibur opened the proceedings with his usual preshow remarks. These also included insulting the rowdier side of the crowd, which lead to a large "F*ck that side" chant from the opposite side. This is actually quite logical. Excalibur also reminded us to recycle.

1. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) defeated RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma and Johnny Goodtime) in a DDT4 1st round match. This was an excellent match to get the evening started. The fans were solidly behind Trent? and Chuck Taylor, as it's pretty easy to root against Yuma and Goodtime. The finish came at the end of a competitive match with Taylor and Trent? retrieving a large trench coat from under the ring, Trent? climbed on the shoulders of Taylor, and they Chokeslammed on of their advisories off the top rope. Fun match.

2. The Unbreakable F*cking Machines (Michael Elgin and Brian Cage) defeated PPRay (Ray Rosas and "Pretty" Peter Avalon) in a DDT4 1st round match. This match was all about Cage and Elgin demonstrating how much more powerful they are than Rosas and Avalon (who plays Norv Fernum in TNA). There was the standard long suspended vertical suplex (with Cage and Elgin passing the wrestler back and forth). We saw a few hope spots from PPRay, but the match was all about Elgin and Cage. They won when Elgin hit a series of moves, including his 360 Powerbomb on Avalon. Rosas looked to have possibly been hurt outside the ring towards the end of the match.

3. Adam Cole and Kevin Steen defeated Candice LaRae and Joey Ryan in a DDT4 1st round match. This was a wild match all about vengeance for LaRae, who kicked things off by going after Cole. Steen and Ryan paired off as well. When the match settled in the ring, LaRae was selling for Steen and Cole. Eventually she got a tag to Ryan, who built to a big hot tag for LaRae. The match ended with Steen and Cole going over after a valiant effort from Ryan and LaRae. After the match, Cole spat in Candice's face after the match.

4. Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann) defeated ACH and A.R. Fox in a DDT4 1st round match. As the introductions took place, ACH and Fox declared themselves the "African American Wolves" which lead to the Machine Guns calling themselves "The Martin Luther Kings of Wrestling" and "Malcolm Degeneration X." Hilarious.

This was a show-stealing high-flying match. All four of these wrestlers are ridiculously talented and they tore the house down with their first round match. It's difficult to say exactly what happened, as there was some high flying chaos. Basically, buy this show and watch this match. The Inner City Machine Guns won this match.

This was intermission time, which was pleasant because it was ridiculously hot in the hall.

5. Tomasso Ciampa defeated Adam Thornstowe. Thornstowe has been around Southern California indies lately and was a late replacement for Roderick Strong, who is still out from the Styles Clash he took a few weeks ago. This was a battle of mohawked wrestlers. They had a good singles match (the only singles clash of the night) that was about establishing Thornstowe's toughness while putting Ciampa over. Thornstowe landed on his head at one point after attempting a standing Shooting Star Press. He seemed okay post-match. After the match, the crowd chanted for Thornstowe to come back. I agree. He's miles ahead of other local options, like B-Boy.

6. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) defeated Adam Cole and Kevin Steen in a DDT4 semifinal match. These guys brawled all over the building before the match could even get started. Taylor and Cole ended up right in front of us and Steen was over around us soon as well (pictures on my Instagram account @itswilltime). The match eventually made it to the ring, where it looked like Cole and Steen were sure to win. They set up their Package Piledriver and Superkick combo for the finish when Candice LaRae ran down and spat in Cole's face. Cole took off the chase after her and Trent? rolled up Steen for a pin. Post-match, Steen and Cole had a talk, but agreed to remain friends and beat up Candice later.

7. Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann) defeated The Unbreakable F*cking Machines (Michael Elgin and Brian Cage) in a DDT4 semifinal match. Before this match could even begin, the fans got into a large dueling chant for both teams. It lasted a long time, until a "Start the match" chant took over. When it started, it was a case of speed vs. power. Michael Elgin handled most of the work for his team, as Brian Cage is not an exceptionally talented wrestler. There were long stretches of power wrestling. Eventually it broke down to the Machine Guns winning and the pop of the night from the crowd. People were psyched to see them against Best Friends.

8. Drake Younger defeated Kyle O'Reilly, Chris Hero, and Johnny Gargano in a four way match to become No. 1 contender for the PWG World Championship. This was, sadly, the most disappointing match of the evening. When you look at the names involved, you expect something truly amazing. This was merely okay. The match seemed poorly laid out. It started with the four men exchanging some technical wrestling holds. There were a few unique four way spots, but they wrestled a technical babyface style most of the time. The match built in intensity with Younger eventually being the last to hit his finisher and the victor.

After the match, a "Next World Champ" chant broke out and O'Reilly, Hero, and Gargano shook hands with Younger. Younger let Kevin Steen (who was on commentary) know he was coming for Adam Cole.

9. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) defeated Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann) in the DDT4 finals. This match started off hot and heavy. Both teams filled the high flying expectations fans had of them. It was shorter than I thought it would be, but they started the match in fourth gear and it built from there. The end came after a whole lot of flying with a surprise win for the Best Friends.

After the show, Taylor requested the mic and said they don't often let him do this. He said that tonight, we are all best friends! The crowd chanted "We're Best Friends" as they celebrated in the ring. They shook hands with the Machine Guns and they left. The crowd applauded the amazing night the Machine Guns had, sang Lionel Richie's "All Night Long," and filed out.

PWG will be back on Friday, March 28.

Pruett's Pause: This was an excellent night of wrestling. It always is in Reseda, but this was an even better evening with the unexpected crowning of Best Friends as DDT4 winners. The tag team action was all sorts of fun. The setup for Younger vs. Cole and Young Bucks vs. Best Friends (both of which I assume will happen in March) was great. The long term story of LaRae and Cole was also delightful. PWG is firing on all cylinders and is booking some fun stories along with unique and fun wrestling. Reseda is like no other place in wrestling.

For some pictures and in-process thoughts from the show, along with all sorts of other wrestling and non-wrestling fun, hit me up on the Twitter machine at @itswilltime. Thanks for reading homies!

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