Team Tremendous vs The Beaver Boys. My first time seeing Team Tremendous and I think they're fantastic. The concept of a duo of police detectives is a terrific angle. I was already a fan of Beaver Boys, particularly John Silver who's got the Crash Holly thing down to a science. We got a nice battle of the super heavyweights between him and Bill Carr. Kind of a screwy finish involving a surprise school boy to put the Beavers over as heels but otherwise a very entertaining comedy match. Really hope I can see Team Tremendous again and based on the reception they got they likely will be back.
Biff Busick and Drew Gulak vs Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet). It's funny I was seated near a small contingent of very anti-Richochet dudes. I think it's just those kinds of dudes who cheer heels and boo faces so I didn't mind it that much. As someone who loves heels I don't see how anyone can dislike Ricochet, he's just so naturally likeable and incredible in the ring. Rich Swann is superb as well and always puts a smile on my face with all his 90's wrestling references. Busick and Gulak brought it with the physicality as expected but they were obviously there to put over Inner City Machine Guns.
Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett (called Trevorett by the crowd) vs Love Ball (Matt Sydal and Speedball Mike Bailey). Chris Sabin was out on an injury so Speedball teamed with Sydal for "Love Ball". This was one of my favorite matches of the night. These are all high spot guys and they know how to put their bodies on the line for the sake of a crowd. Favorite part was a total reversal of the apron spot from Lee and Speedball's match at Don't Sweat The Technique. Trevorett goes over after a hell of a spot fest.
Monster Mafia vs The World's Cutest Tag Team (Champions). It was not clear to me that the titles would be up for grabs in the whole tournament but I suppose it makes perfect sense. For awhile the match was about what you'd expect. Candice underdogging like crazy, Joey getting booed for not being Candice, Monster Mafia doing one devastating looking move after another for near falls. Candice starts getting a bunch of momentum followed by a ref bump when who should run-in, the "shitty little champ" himself Roderick fucking Strong to kick the shit out of LeRae's face before giving her his back breaker finish and leaving to let the Mafia take the titles into the next round. Suffice to say I booed like crazy for that segment and the small group of heel fans popped like crazy.
Semi Finals: The Beaver Boys vs Monster Mafia (Champions). This was a weird match to get into because both teams have been positioned as heels simply because they're new and both teams are running with it. I had to choose so I rooted for the Beaver Boys because I think they're more charismatic than the Mafia. Another shockingly sudden finish with yet another title change. Love John Silver and think the Beaver Boys bring a much needed crudeness that's missing without the Bucks or Adam Cole.
Semi Finals: Inner City Machine Guns vs Trevorett. Another terrific match from two high spot teams. Might have been my favorite match of the night. Again a lot of high spots from both teams and they do them well. I think Inner City was my personal favorites to win going into the tournament but yeah, both teams were crazy over as you'd expect. It shocked the hell out of me when Trevorett took the win but I imagine Ricochet and Swann have better things to do than being an awesome and hilarious tag team.
TJ Perkins vs Johnny Gargano. Gargano was initially going to take on Speedball. They really should have scheduled this match earlier in the card because it killed a lot of momentum in the final half of the show. It wasn't bad it was just unremarkable. Also I'm not a huge Gargano fan. The finish was a sudden tap to a Crossface.
Three Way Title match: Roderick Strong vs Chris Hero vs Brian Cage. As a guy who usually will cheer for heels if they're super entertaining (like all of the Mount Rushmore guys), the draw for PWG shows for me has quickly turned into me just wanting to show up to boo and chastise the shit out of Roderick Strong. The idea of two big guys like Hero and Cage being there to destroy him is a great angle and then to have him weasel his way to a successful title defense was great in how shitty it was. Boo this man, boo the shit out of him.
DDT4 Tournament Finals: Trevorett vs The Beaver Boys (Champions). Have to give the bookers credit, these were not the two teams I expected to see in the finals. Again John Silver stealing the show with the "feats of strength" and also Trevor Lee showing throughout the whole event how freakishly strong he is. Everett starts favoring his braced leg at some point after a spill off the ropes and the Beavers start targeting the leg. Trevorett makes a comeback and Trevor Lee gets the surprise win with the small package pin. So congratulations to the new PWG tag champs Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee. They didn't have a wide array of team up moves in the tournament but they work really well together otherwise. So the last team I expected to win, the two rookies from North Carolina, absolutely won. Very interested to see where PWG takes the tag team booking going forward.
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