Pro Wrestling Guerrilla DDT4 2013 Preview

Kurt RussellReunion is no more.  Well, for now it is.  Since there is no wrestling convention in Downtown L.A. this year, PWG is not stupid enough to pay a fee to run a show in a hotel when they have a great thing going in Reseda.  Yet, the year must always start out with a bang and what better replacement can you get than with the biggest annual tag team tournament in wrestling.  We have some young teams.  We have some old teams.  We even have a debuting tag team this year.  The Super Smash Brothers took DDT4 by storm last year and rode that wave all the way to the PWG World Tag Team Titles.  With the tournament coming around early this year, can they maintain their status and successfully defend the titles three times in one night?  Or will a new team emerge at the end of the night new PWG World Tag Team Champions?  Yet with all this hype, there’s only one word to say.  “Ole.”

DDT4 Quarter Finals: El Generico and Kevin Steen vs. The Briscoe Brothers

By gawd, El Generico did it.  We all know he is one of the top ring generals on the planet.  Ten years ago he probably wouldn’t even gotten a look at.  He’s paid his dues in Canada, the U.S., Japan, Mexico, England, Europe, etc.  Yet, the one place Generico can really call his home is PWG.  PWG put El Generico on the map.  Every time they gave him an opportunity, he took the ball and ran with it.  Generico statistically is the single most successful wrestler in PWG history, even more so than Kevin Steen, Joey Ryan and Super Dragon.  Generico is a six time PWG World Tag Team Champion, a two time PWG World Champion, DDT4 2010 winnner and BOLA 2011 winner.  He is the only grand slam champion in PWG history.  The closest ones are Davey Richards who needs at DDT4 win and Joey Ryan who never won a DDT4.

Generico and Steen are carrying lingering injuries most likely sustained against one another, so it would surprise no one that they could easily lose in the first round with the fans being totally okay with it.  There is another scenario where they lose and decide to face each other later on in the night but a HIGHLY doubt that.  This will be Generico’s swan song in PWG and I think it will be far more emotional than Joey Ryan’s farewell due to the fact that Generico is the most beloved wrestler on the indies.  EVERYONE LOVES GENERICO.  It’s insane how he connects with kids and adults.  It’s very apropos that he teams with the man he debuted against in PWG, Kevin Steen.

The Briscoes are making their return after a two year hiatus since DDT4 2011.  They lost in the first round to Tozawa and Steen.  It feels like the Briscoes are due for a long run in the tournament and I have a funny feeling they might make it to the finals to play the heel role.  It is expensive to fly them in all the time so I would be totally shocked if the Briscoes left DDT4 with the belts.

These two teams have had quite the rivalry in 2007  and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the tore the house down.  This will be probably be a brawl and a spot fest at the same time.  And really, you wouldn’t have it any other way when it comes to these two teams.  In the end, I think the Briscoes come out on top pinning Generico and sending him on his way to NXT or hopefully, RAW or Smackdown!.

Winners: The Briscoe Brothers

DDT4 Quarter Finals: The Young Bucks vs. The Inner-City Machine Guns

Originally, Swan and Ricochet had the moniker of “World-1 International” since they are members of the stable in Dragon Gate.  However, they changed the name making fun of Sabin and Shelley who ironically teamed together for the first time in PWG at my very first PWG show in September of 2006, coincidentally against El Generico.  Swan and Ricochet have teamed together in Dragon Gate USA and have the same Dragon Gate style as the Bucks who learned the same style in Dragon Gate as they have.  They should click well together and this will probably tear down the house too maybe even more than any of the first round matches because of the style these teams bring to the table.  When these two teams were inititally announced I was hoping for an opening round match between the two and got my wish.  This match will be crazy.  No, it will be insane.  No, it will be amazing.  No wait.. This match will be INSANELY AMAZINGLY CRAZY.  I’m so looking forward to this match you have no idea.  If I had to pick a winner, I’d go with the Guns by virtue of the Bucks winning DDT4 twice already and creating fresher matches with the Guns in the semi’s.

Winners: The Inner-City Machine Guns

DDT4 Quarter Finals: Dojo Bros. vs. Future Shock

Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards debuted as a team in PWX known as the “Dojo Bros.” and won the PWX Tag Team Titles that very night.  The next night in PWG they defeated the Young Bucks in the opening match and the Super Smash Brothers in a non-title match in the semi main event.  They have more momentum out of any team going into the tournament and coincidentally they take on Adam Cole who is the third member of the group.  So it’s almost as if Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts teamed up against Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin, if that makes any sense old-school wrestling fans.

I was surprised that Adam Cole is not defending the title after winning it, however Claudio Castagnoli, I mean Antonio Cesaro, did the same thing when he won the PWG World Title, he immediately challenged for the PWG World Tag Team Titles, but failed.  I really don’t mind since the focus of the show should be on the tag team division.  I think with Dojo Bros. winning last month in a non-title match against SSB, they have a title rematch perfectly setup here at DDT4 and Future Shock don’t really need the win anyway since Cole is doing his own thing now.  It feels like Davey Richards was supposed to be in Adam Cole’s spot, but since it seems he couldn’t make it, Cole is suitable replacement since they entered last year’s tournament anyway.

Winners: Dojo Bros.

DDT4 Quarter Finals/PWG World Tag Team Titles: The Super Smash Brothers(c) vs. The Unbreakable Fucking Machines of Michael Elgin and Brian Cage

“Unbreakable” Michael Elgin and “The Fucking Machine” Brian Cage have come together to try and not only win DDT4 but leave PWG World Tag Team Champions.  It seems the Fightin’ Taylor Boys are done for now in PWG and Brian Cage is making waves throughout the wrestling world as he was just on some show called IMPACT or something.  Anyways, disappointed after his BOLA finals loss and failing to win the PWG World Title from Kevin Steen, Michael Elgin seems to be trying a new avenue for success in PWG, the tag division.  It seems after the epic clash they had at BOLA last year, Cage and Elgin have realized they have a lot in common, being you know “big” and all, that they should come together like all great big man tag teams do like The Road Warriors, The Powers of Pain, Demoltion, etc.  Individually their monsters, but together they seem unstoppable.  And yet their first match together as a team are challenging for the PWG World Tag Team Titles, even though it’s the first round of the tournament.   Can they capture lightning in a bottle in their first match as a team together?  The Super Smash Brothers might have something to say about that.

The Super Smash Brothers were nearly unbeatable last year.  They won the crazy three-way tag match last March, they won DDT4, they won the tag titles after that, they won the arguable Match of the Year ladder match in July and successfully defended the titles last month against the RockNES Monsters.  Yet they hit a road block against Dojo Bros.  Some would think they would have faced the Dojo Bros. in the opening round to setup the title rematch, yet The Unbreakable Fucking Machines have put a wrench in that plan.  It would seem like weak booking to have SSB lose last month in a non-title match and drop the titles here to a brand new tag team.  Yet, everyone wants the Machines to win everything on planet Earth because of how awesome the combination is.  This seems like a serious underdog match for SSB even though they’re going in as defending champs.  Perhaps the Machines may be a one time only attraction and have a falling out afterwards setting up a rematch between Cage and Elgin.  This is by far the hardest match to call out of the four first round matches.  If I were booking long term, I would have SSB win here giving the m the underdog win and setting up the rematch with the Dojo Bros. in the semi finals or perhaps even the finals.

Winners: Super Smash Brothers

Match 2 in a Best of 3 Series-Knockout or Submission Match: Drake Younger vs. Sami Callihan

Since the card last month was not even announced, no one knew at the time of their first match that this was even a Best of 3 Series.  The match was so good that PWG decided to have two more of them, which is completly  fine with me and the PWG fans.  These two nearly killed each other at Mystery Vortex.  Sami actually piledrove Younger on the apron!  Insane.  They are very stiff with one another and bring the best fighting spirit they possibly can out of each other.  This match could very well steal the show as well.  Now I’ve never seen an I-Quit match or submission type match live so this should be a treat.  The drama and the storytelling should be off the charts if Drake can win the sympathy of the crowd like he usually does when he takes a beating.  The stipulation of the match also fits to their styles as well as both Sami and Drake like to nearly knockout their opponents anyway.  This should be great for the crowd emotionally as Drake has yet to gain a singles victory since his debut last July.  Drake has to win this match.  Whey promote a 3 match series if you only have two matches?  The third match stipulation is the real question.  If I had to guess, why not try a 30 minute Iron Man match?  I’m sure Reseda would respond well to it and they had a great 60 Minute Iron Man match in CZW so it would be twice as fast and each minute would be that much more important.

Winner: Drake Younger

  So that’s the announced card.  Of course we’ll get the semi finals and finals of the tournament as well as another non-tournament match featuring Willie Mack making the card a total of nine possible show stealing matches, which sounds crazy if you think about it.  My official predictions for the semi finals are The Inner City Machine Guns vs. Dojo Bros and The Briscoes vs. SSB and the finals of SSB vs. Dojo Bros the big rematch from last month.  That all makes sense to me.  Also, I was going to do a year end review but our senior editor Jerome Cusson will do the honors but here is my official ballot courtesy of the PWG message boards:

 

I will be providing the live results from the show with pictures, details and such.  If you want to follow me, but I don’t know why, here’s my twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianDaBrain

And with that said, here’s the final word: “OLE!”