This review was commissioned by Dan Vacura over on my Ko-fi account.
I think everyone involved would say this match doesn’t function as it should. At this point in time, they’re nine months into their first of many dynastic reigns as PWG World Tag Team Champions. Much of that reign has been spent as dazzling babyface high fliers. Even with all the innovative spots and cool moves, there’s a simple earnestness to them that probably gets lost in the narrative all these years later. I mean look at those tassels, man. I don’t think they were being ironic in their homage to tag team greats of the past like The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express, and there’s enough in their early work that I’d say they had a fair grasp of how to make that work mechanically in the ring as well.
Here at the 2009 DDT4 tournament though, they reach a certain tipping point. I couldn’t tell you when Reseda began turning on The Young Bucks, but I do know that it’s at DDT4 2009 when things start becoming overwhelming. In the semi-finals of the tournament, The Bucks eliminate crowd favorites Men of Low Moral Fiber (Kenny Omega & Chuck Taylor) and the Reseda faithful are fucking pissed about this development. Omega & Taylor had garnered a strong enough fandom to become sentimental favorites in the tournament, and seeing them fall at the hands of long-reigning champs The Bucks was a blow to the crowd. They booed The Young Bucks for the win, and it’s the start of something truly beautiful.
Peak Young Bucks comes later in history though, specifically around the turn of the decade. That’s the run most people already know and adore, the heel turn, being the little shits that ran Reseda, and the joy of seeing them get battered by our heroes.
Here though, the workers involved think they can still salvage the babyface run though. Unfortunately, this is something of a poisoned premise to start. This match wants to function as a big babyface triumph, but a combination of the performances put into it and the overall temperament from the crowd transforms it into a pilot run of the wonderful Buck Death genre instead.
As with many pilot editions of great things, it’s wonky at points.
Again, the goal is to get The Young Bucks over as babyfaces. As told in The Young Bucks’ autobiography, the idea comes from Danielson and Roddy here to just beat the shit out of The Bucks in an attempt to garner the sympathy of the crowd. Honestly, it’s not an awful idea to try to attack the problem with. They’ll run the Bucks through the ringer, the crowd will be stunned at the local boys absorbing such a brutal beating and then come to their side when they overcome in the end.
The problem is that at this point, no one in that crowd (barring their wives and children) want to see The Young Bucks succeed. And furthermore, Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong are the fucking coolest.
If one really breaks it down, there’s a clear narrative being attempted here. It even mostly follows a pretty simple structure of Dragon & Roddy blitzing the babyfaces early to initiate an extended heel heat segment, before going into a hot tag and finishing run. The problem is that with the feeling in the room, what this ends up becoming is an accidental extended babyface shine. And the problem here is that The Young Bucks really are just so fucking good at dying. They’re willing to take these crazy bumps and even in moments where they have more control from a performance aspect, it’s easy to see how well their skills could translate into being heels instead of babyfaces. Note the way that Matt Jackson bounces between Roddy and Bryan while getting punched in the corner. It’s a good sell! A really good heel stooge sell that does him no favors in this scenario.
I’d argue that Matt’s really the weak link performance-wise here. It can’t be easy getting beat up by Roderick Strong and Bryan Danielson, but Matt doesn’t bring a lot to the table here that feels sympathetic. He’s getting the shit kicked out of him, but he’s not working to the crowd at all. Of course, if his account of it is to be believed, that’s because he’s focused on just not dying out there, but it’s really a big part of why I think they all fail to achieve their purpose here.
Contrast that with what Nick Jackson brings to the table once he gets the hot tag. Nick’s always brought the flash to the table here as arguably the better high flier of the two Jacksons. But watching him here, he’s also easily the better babyface between the two as well. He’s nailing all the cool moves–which do occasionally win the crowd over–but he’s also the one bringing the emotion of a babyface performance to the match. He’s roaring in defiance, absorbing the beatings but never backing down, and when Danielson crosses the line by spitting at them, Nick’s the one with the stones to spit back. For very brief flashes, one can see how it could work with Nick at the helm there.
The other main problem here, while also being a strength, is that Bryan Danielson rocks. He just does, man. And I really do have to applaud him here because one can see the gears turning in the intentions he brings to the match. He is being a dick about this match in a way that Roddy definitely isn’t. Danielson’s being a fucking prick here. Not only the viciousness of his beating, but the pettiness of his violence too. Mostly doling out these really disrespectful slaps, spitting at Nick on the apron, and my personal favorite: standing on Matt Jackson’s face. It really does read like an attempt to temper the visceral satisfaction of the violence his doling out with a smug, cocky streak. But again, because of the room they were in that night, it just reads more like Danielson’s the badass we should be pulling for instead of the two twerps across from him.
All in all, what results is the conception of a cool idea. There’s lessons to be taken from this: it rocks to see The Young Bucks die at the hands of better wrestlers. But there’s also the flaws that might have been patched up that could have gotten them closer to what they wanted initially.
In hindsight though, it’s hard to feel too bad for The Young Bucks in this moment. I don’t doubt that it sucked getting thrown around by Roddy and Dragon for 20 minutes, but there’s also a real lack of awareness for what could be. Chalk it up to getting lost in the moment but lines like “I was hurt and confused. We’d been working hard for this company for two years, so why was the crowd beginning to turn on us?” (Jackson & Jackson, 2020) just read like wanting it one way when the the other is proven to be so much better. I’m glad the Bucks got over themselves and realized they could be one of the great heel acts of the 2010s at least.
You don’t need our love, just our emotions. And hate is as good as any in this business.
Rating: ****+
