Match #1: GHC Tag Team Titles: Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe (The Second Navigation 2008 – 3/2/08)
Jay and Marufuji trade control on the mat. Jay backs him into the ropes and doesn’t give a clean break. Sugiura asserts his power advantage against Mark, but Mark is able to wipe him out with a dive. Jay and Marufuji both attempt dropkicks on the apron and fall to the floor. In the ring, Mark connects with a springboard elbow on Sugiura. Both teams exchange control until the champions settle down and isolate Jay. He hits a flatliner on Sugiura and makes the tag. Mark humorously showcases his karate offense against Marufuji and I’m wondering what the crowd is thinking. He botches a lionsault and lands awkwardly on his neck. Jay clotheslines Marufuji and the Briscoes work him over. Sugiura gets the tag after some miscommunication by the Briscoes. He connects with repeated boots and spears Mark. Sugiura throws Mark around the ring before getting caught by a superkick. He throws Jay into the turnbuckles. Marufuji and Jay tease finishers and Marufuji tries a small package to no avail. Sugiura hits a german suplex on Mark and the champions follow with a dropkick-powerbomb combination. Sugiura hits a tiger suplex on mark for a nearfall. Jay saves his brother from an ankle lock. The Briscoes hit a saito suplex on Sugiura and land stereo aerial maneuvers for a two count. Mark adds a shooting star press but Sugiura won’t stay down. Sugiura escapes the doomsday device and hits a series of german suplexes. Marufuji superkicks Mark but misses the Shiranui. The Briscoes hit a tandem neckbreaker for a nearfall. Marufuji superkicks Jay and hits the Shiranui but Mark is the legal man. Mark hits an exploder on Marufuji and the Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Sugiura. Marufuji counters the doomsday device in mid-air to retain the titles at 30:17. The finish was a huge talking point at the time and it remains one of the most innovative counters to the doomsday device. The final five minutes of this match were excellent, but the action dragged for a bit beforehand and this contest could have been trimmed quite a bit. However, everyone was on their game for the most part, and the bright spots down the stretch make this match worth watching. ***½
Match #2: Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black, and Necro Butcher (Northern Navigation – 7/25/08)
Everyone brawls around ringside and throws each other into the barricade. Aries lands an elbow drop off the apron onto Black. Necro and Mark weren’t originally included in this match, but come out about three minutes into it. Mark’s appearance really brings the crowd to life. The Briscoes take over with their tandem offense. Jacobs misses a dive to the floor and crashes through a chair. Black lands a moonsault off the barricade into the crowd. Jay throws a series of chairs at Necro’s head in the crowd. Necro starts going crazy with a chair, knocking out Paul Turner. Mark turns the tide with some karate offense and dropkicks a chair into Necro. Necro bulldogs Mark from the apron through a ringside table. Jay is busted open as Mark gets helped to the back. The Age of the Fall take over until Jay takes advantage of some arguing between Jacobs and Necro. Aries gets on the microphone to talk some sense into Necro. Necro ultimately walks out on the match. Jacobs traps Jay in the End Time until Aries makes the save. They take out Black with the doomsday device. Jay hits the Jay Driller on Black for the win at 20:11. The fact that they were following Steen/Nigel should say something about how well they were able to get the crowd to invest themselves into this match. Of course, Mark’s return helped matters but aside from the Necro angle, everything clicked and I think they accomplished what they set out to do. ***½
Match #3: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Jigsaw and Ruckus (Death Before Dishonor VI – 8/2/08)
Maskless Jigsaw! Julius Smokes is making vulture noises at ringside. Jigsaw stretches Mark in a gory special and transitions into the slam. They wrestle to a stalemate. Mark connects with a slingshot double stomp and tags out. The Briscoes take down Jigsaw with stereo shoulder tackles. Ruckus enters the ring with the Razzle Dazzle on Jay. Mark lands a dive to the floor onto Ruckus. Jigsaw follows with a dive of his own. Ruckus finishes with a moonsault from the top rope. In the ring, Mark reverses Ruckus’ moonsault leg drop into a rollup for a nearfall. He follows with a flying knee on Jigsaw. Ruckus hits a rolling fisherman buster on Mark. Jay plants Ruckus with a spinebuster. Mark superkicks Jigsaw and hits a powerbomb. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Jigsaw for the victory at 6:02. They packed as much action as they could into six minutes and this ended up being a fun, spirited opener to an amazing show. **¼
Match #4: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide and Hernandez (Ring of Homicide 2 – 10/25/08)
Julius Smokes is in LAX’s corner. Homicide and Mark begin with a back and forth exchange. Things eventually escalate into a strike exchange. Hernandez asserts his power advantage against Jay. Hernandez takes down the Briscoes with a double clothesline. He hits a delayed vertical suplex on Mark. Homicide adds a headscissors and wipes out Mark with a dive. In the ring, LAX continues to work over Mark until he’s able to back Homicide into his corner. Jay unloads a series of strikes on Homicide but LAX isolate him as well. Mark interjects himself from the apron to help out his brother. The Briscoes work over Homicide until Hernandez blind tags into the match with a slingshot shoulder block. He sends Mark across the ring with an overhead suplex and hits a half nelson suplex on Jay. Mark comes off the middle rope but Hernandez elevates him into a sit-out powerbomb. Jay lands a dive to the floor onto Homicide. Mark stops Hernandez from diving with an enzuigiri and lands a dive of his own. Hernandez gets to his feet and lands his impressive dive over the top rope. In the ring, Homicide connects with a top-rope elbow drop on Mark. The Briscoes work together to superplex Hernandez. Homicide hits an ace crusher on Jay and connects with a lariat for a nearfall. He hits the Cop Killa on Mark for a two count. Jay hits the Jay Driller on Homicide for a nearfall. Jay escapes the Border Toss and hits a death valley on Hernandez. The Briscoes catch Hernandez with a top-rope leg drop-shooting star press combination for the win at 23:03. This match took quite awhile to get going, but the action was terrific once it did. Homicide and Hernandez just click as partners in a similar manner as the Briscoes. Unfortunately, I don’t think this dream match quite met expectations at the time due to the slower beginning portion that didn’t seem to matter much when looking at the entire contest. ***½
Match #5: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima (Final Battle 2008 – 12/27/08)
Nakajima shows that he isn’t afraid of the Briscoes by engaging in a strike exchange against Mark. He sends Jay to the floor and wipes him out with a rolling senton off the apron. In the ring, Jay hits a samoan drop on Nakajima. Sasaki tags in and turns the tide in his team’s favor because he’s a beast. The Briscoes back Nakajima into their corner and work him over. Sasaki eventually gets the tag and punishes Mark with clotheslines in the corner. Sasaki and Nakajima begin targeting Mark’s left knee. Mark hits a fisherman buster on Nakajima and tags out. Jay lands a flying crossbody onto Nakajima and knocks Sasaki to the floor. He flatlines Nakajima into the middle turnbuckle and connects with a mafia kick. Sasaki once again turns things around in his favor. He hits a powerslam on Mark and stretches his shoulder. Sasaki suplexes Nakajima onto Jay. Nakajima connects with a billion superkicks on Jay. Eat your heart out Young Bucks. Mark’s knee gives out on a doomsday device attempt. The Briscoes are able to recover with another one on Nakajima for a nearfall. Jay hits the Jay Driller for the victory at 16:46. Sasaki looked good nearly at everyone else’s expense. I think Sasaki works best trading suplexes with his opponents, which is why Brent Albright and Roderick Strong made for better opponents on the previous show. Still, the fact that Nakajima wrestled most of this match for his team led to some exciting exchanges with the Briscoes. ***¼
Match #6: Jay Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong (Tag Title Classic – 4/18/09)
This is a rematch from a bout they had together last month that received rave reviews. They begin with some chain wrestling and Jay snaps off a hurricanrana. Strong fires back with a leg lariat. He wins a strike exchange. Jay connects with a dropkick. Strong blocks a charge and comes off the middle rope with another leg lariat. They battle on the apron and Strong connects with a flying knee strike. He takes control in the ring until Jay hits a blockbuster. Jay follows with a gourdbuster but misses his flatliner into the turnbuckles. Strong hits a slingshot falcon arrow for a nearfall. He adds a half nelson backbreaker and locks in a boston crab. Jay reaches the bottom rope and hits a death valley driver. Jay connects with a mafia kick but Strong responds with the Sick Kick. Jay hits a spinebuster but falls victim to a superplex. They trade punches. Strong attempts the Stronghold but Jay reverses into a small package for the win at 13:39. These two have great chemistry together and I feel as though they have a classic ROH World Title match somewhere in them down the line. With a forty-five minute draw occurring in the main event, they kept this match to the point and it worked out well ***¼
Match #7: ROH World Title: Jerry Lynn © vs. Jay Briscoe (Validation – 5/9/09)
Nigel McGuinness is on commentary comically putting down Lynn’s title reign. Lynn hangs onto an armbar but Jay escapes with a few armdrags. Jay connects with a basement dropkick. Lynn springboard dropkicks him off the apron. Lynn misses a dive off the apron and Jay kicks him into the front row. Lynn hits a DDT onto a chair at ringside. Back in, Jay hits a superplex. They trade punches and forearms. Lynn hits an inverted DDT but Jay answers with a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle. Lynn hits a DDT and both men are down. Jay connects with a superkick. He goes up top but Lynn hurricanranas him to the canvas. Lynn hits a TKO. Jay finds success with a top-rope leg drop. He follows with a death valley driver. Lynn escapes the Jay Driller and hits the cradle piledriver for a two count. Jay recovers with the Jay Driller for a nearfall. Lynn finishes with a cradle tombstone piledriver to retain his title at 16:00. The crowd has been understandably detached from Lynn’s title defenses. While the Roderick Strong defense had the story of Strong’s blood loss, this just felt like a continuous slew of moves without much rhyme or reason. It was almost awkward how much the crowd didn’t care. It’s not like they weren’t trying hard, but you really need some sort of crowd response for a match like this to work. **¾
Match #8: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico (ROH on HDNet Episode 25)
Generico snaps off a series of armdrags on Mark. Steen and Jay stare each other down and have a shoulder block battle. They slap each other and trade forearms. Both teams trade control in usual Briscoes fashion. Steen and Generico eventually settle down and isolate Jay. He flatlines Generico into the middle turnbuckle and makes the tag. Mark showcases his karate offense and hits an alabama slam on Generico. Mark and Generico both land dives to the floor. They trade strikes back in the ring and Generico hits a michinoku driver. Jay and Steen renew their rivalry from earlier in the match with another strike exchange. Generico connects with a corner yakuza kick on Jay but gets caught by an exploder from Mark. Steen elevates Mark into a sit-out powerbomb and all four men are down. Jay plants Steen on the apron with a death valley driver. Mark elevates Generico into a neckbreaker from Jay for a nearfall. Generico answers with an exploder into the turnbuckles on Jay and connects with a coast-to-coast dropkick. The American Wolves run out and attack both teams to cause a no contest at 12:03. This went from a standard television main event to possibly something special to mere storyline advancement once the finish happened. These two teams have undoubtedly had better matches together but those may have been included on prior compilations. ***
Match #9: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Matt and Nick Jackson (The Final Countdown Tour: Dayton – 9/18/09)
Nick and Mark begin the match with some chain wrestling. Mark holds onto a side headlock. Nick escapes and snaps off a headscissors. The Young Bucks work over Mark’s right arm. They hit their neckbreaker-backbreaker combination on Jay. The Briscoes gain control after some double team offense. Mark blocks a superkick from Nick and connects with a spin kick. The Briscoes isolate Nick until he catches Mark with an enzuigiri and makes the tag. Matt connects with a missile dropkick on Mark and hits a powerslam. He lands a crossbody onto Jay. Nick lands a dive to the floor onto Mark. Jay blocks a dive from Matt with a spinebuster. Mark hurls Nick into the barricade on the floor and the Briscoes regain control. Nick eventually gets the tag and cleans house. He headscissors Jay while sending Mark over with an armdrag. He lands a moonsault to the floor onto Mark and hits a slingshot facebuster on Jay in the ring. Everyone trades strikes in the ring and all four men are down. Matt hits a springboard ace crusher on Mark. The Young Bucks miss More Bang for Your Buck and the Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Matt for the win at 18:01. As we’ll see a couple more times on this compilation, I don’t think these two teams have ever had their classic match together. The Briscoes seem to prefer a more back and forth match while the Young Bucks want longer heat segments and distinct points in the match where the action picks up. I might be way off on my reasoning there, but it seemed as though the tension between those two styles hurt the flow of this match. ***¼
Match #10: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe (Final Battle 2009 – 12/19/09)
Richards and Mark trade control on the mat and find themselves at a stalemate. Edwards and Jay tag in. Edwards boots Mark off the apron, which only makes Jay angry. Richards and Jay have a shoulder block battle. The Briscoes catch Richards with stereo shoulder tackles. Mark hits an exploder on Edwards and Jay follows with a boot. Richards catches Mark with a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes and the American Wolves isolate him. Jay just kind of enters the ring and hits a spinebuster on Edwards. Richards takes care of Mark on the floor and connects with the Alarm Clock on Jay. The Wolves hit their superkick-german suplex combination on Jay for a nearfall. The Wolves now work over Jay until he hits a death valley driver on Edwards and makes the tag. Mark connects with a spin kick on Richards and a forearm smash on Edwards. He takes them both out with a dive. In the ring, Mark connects with a missile dropkick on Richards. The Briscoes follow with a flying leg drop-side slam combination. Edwards hits a backpack chinbreaker on Jay and hurricanranas him off the top rope. Richards hits the DR Driver for a nearfall. The Wolves apply stereo submissions but the Briscoes turn them into rollups for two counts. The Wolves hit their double team backcracker on Jay for a nearfall. Jay fires back with a lariat on Edwards and all four men are down. The Briscoes connect with stereo superkicks on Edwards. Jay hits the Jay Driller for a two count. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Edwards to become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions at 22:51. With the right crowd, this match would have felt much more special than it did. Sometimes you’ll run into a tag team match that, without the crowd being invested in the action, it just feels like a collection of moves without any purpose. Unfortunately, this match fell into that category and on a show with a disastrous main event, the show needed something more here. **¾
Match #11: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Jay and Mark Briscoe © vs. Matt and Nick Jackson (ROH on HDNet Episode 48)
Mark and Matt trade control on the mat. Nick snaps off an armdrag on Jay and connects with a dropkick. Jay responds with a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle. The Young Bucks catch Jay with their neckbreaker-backbreaker combination. Nick runs into a spinebuster as Matt gets sent into the barricade. The Briscoes turn Nick inside-out with stereo shoulder tackles. They work him over until he hits a slingshot facebuster on Mark. Matt bulldogs Jay but accidentally elevates Nick into a lariat. Mark follows with a spin kick on Nick and an exploder on Matt. He lands a dive to the floor onto Matt. Jay hits a death valley driver on Nick. Matt and Mark trade strikes. Mark hits an iconoclasm. Nick superkicks Jay, which starts a string of superkicks. All four men are down. The Briscoes hit a double-team neckbreaker from the middle rope on Matt for a nearfall. That could easily be another finisher for the Briscoes because the move looked deadly. Nick lands a dive to the floor onto Mark. The Briscoes recover in the ring with a doomsday device on Matt to retain their titles at 16:08. This was a nice television main event but I still don’t think it’s illustrative of what these two teams are fully capable of together. The Briscoes looked good in victory though, which is important since they just recently won the titles. ***
Match #12: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (Supercard of Honor V – 5/8/10)
King snaps off a few armdrags on Jay but walks into a yakuza kick. Jay follows with a leg lariat. Mark comes off the middle rope with an elbow strike on Titus and clotheslines him to the floor. Mark lands a moonsault to the outside onto King and Titus. In the ring, the Briscoes hit stereo shoulder tackles on King. Mark adds a springboard senton. King flips out of a biel and the All Night Express work over Jay. He takes King down with a crossbody and makes the tag. Mark connects with a spin kick on King and hits a northern lights suplex. Titus crotches him on the top rope and King dazes him with a spin kick. Mark is now isolated until he hits an ace crusher on King and tags out. Jay dropkicks Titus and flatlines King into him. He spikes Titus with a falcon arrow and the Briscoes follow with a diving elbow-side slam combination. King blockbusters Mark onto Titus’ knees. King accidentally kicks Titus and the Briscoes hit stereo fisherman busters. The Briscoes hit a doomsday device on King for the win at 12:53. This was an energetic opener and an effective showcase for both teams. King controlled most of the match for the All Night Express, making Titus more tolerable. They played up the dissention between King and Titus nicely, even subtly with the finish. The storytelling elements were present with solid wrestling to back it up. ***
Match #13: ROH World Tag Team Titles: No Disqualification: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe (Death Before Dishonor VIII – 6/18/10)
Both teams start brawling before the opening bell. Jay lands a dive to the floor onto the Kings of Wrestling. The Briscoes take down Hero with stereo shoulder tackles. Claudio is bleeding after being thrown into the ringpost. Mark lands a flying crossbody onto Hero. The Briscoes connect with stereo superkicks on Claudio. Hero takes Mark to the floor and now he’s bleeding from the forehead. The Kings work over Mark as the match settles down. He lands a springboard crossbody onto both of his opponents and makes the tag. Jay hits a death valley driver on Claudio and boots Shane Hagadorn off the apron. Hero is bleeding from the forehead after being driven repeatedly into the turnbuckle. Hagadorn throws a chair at Jay’s head. Hero chokes Jay against the ringpost with a rope while Claudio keeps Mark at bay in the ring. The Kings hit a doomsday european uppercut on Mark for a nearfall. Hero applies a stretch plum on Mark while Claudio kicks him in the head. Jay makes the save with a fire extinguisher. He sets up a table in the corner. Mark elevates Hero into a neckbreaker from Jay. The Briscoes shoulder tackle Claudio through the table. They hit the doomsday device on Hagadorn for good measure. Hero puts on his loaded elbow pad and connects with a roaring elbow on Jay for a nearfall! Mark starts brawling with Hero. Jay counters the UFO into a rollup for a two count. Hero puts the loaded elbow pad onto his foot. Claudio giant swings Jay into a flash kick from Hero and the Kings retain their titles at 18:08. This was totally different from their Big Bang match but just as great. You just don’t see this amount of effort put into tag team feuds all of the time, but it legitimately felt like the Kings and Briscoes hated each other for the entire eighteen minutes. It’s also refreshing to see this type of match not have a huge reliance on weapons and big spots. Ultimately, they matched and played off of their previous encounter by delivering a memorable brawl. ****
Match #14: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (The Bluegrass Brawl – 7/22/10)
Richards and Jay trade control on the mat. Edwards and Jay do the same until they start shoving each other. The Briscoes biel Richards across the ring and connect with stereo kicks in the corner. Richards escapes a german suplex and lures Jay into a gamengiri from Edwards. The Briscoes answer with some more double teaming. They work over Edwards until he’s able to target Jay’s left leg, slamming it into the ringpost. The American Wolves go to work on Jay’s leg. He creates an opening by hitting a spinebuster on Richards but still can’t make the tag. Mark eventually intervenes with a flying crossbody and gets the tag. He showcases his redneck karate and hits an ace crusher on Edwards, who responds with a superplex. Richards attempts a german suplex but Mark elbows out. They trade strikes and Richards connects with a handspring enzuigiri. Jay hits a death valley driver on Richards for a nearfall. His leg gives out during a Jay Driller attempt. Edwards superkicks Jay and they both connect with lariats at the same time. All four men are down. Jay and Edwards now trade strikes. The Wolves attempt a doomsday device on Jay but Mark interrupts with an ace crusher on Richards. Jay connects with a lariat on Edwards. The Briscoes hit a spike Jay Driller on Edwards for the victory at 25:54. This was a very good main event in a new market and the crowd was excited to see both teams work together. This was less back and forth than the usual Briscoes match and the leg work on Jay was well-done. This was a different kind of match than I expected but a welcome change of pace as well and a huge improvement upon their Final Battle match. ***¾
Match #15: Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Papa Briscoe vs. Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shane Hagadorn (Final Battle 2010 – 12/18/10)
Jay hurricanranas Hero and connects with a leg lariat. Papa gets a chop in before the Briscoes hit stereo shoulder tackles. Mark attempts a rollup a minute into the match. Good. The Briscoes biel Claudio across the ring. Claudio hits a gutwrench suplex on Jay and the Kings of Wrestling continue the attack until Hagadorn screws things up. Papa tags in and stares down Claudio and snaps off a headscissors. This happened. He makes out with Sara Del Rey at ringside and Paul Turner ejects her. The Kings isolate Mark until avoids a boot from Hero and makes the tag. Jay flatlines Hero into the middle turnbuckle and connects with a mafia kick. Hero responds with a roaring mafia kick. Claudio and Mark collide after both attempting clotheslines. Everyone connects with strikes. Hagadorn low blows Jay. Papa takes Hagadorn down to the canvas and reigns down punches. The Briscoes land stereo dives to the floor. In the ring, Hero catches Papa with a vicious roaring elbow. Mark saves him from the KRS-1 and Papa hits a stunner on Claudio. The Briscoes (Jay and Papa) hit the doomsday device on Hagadorn for the victory at 15:36. This was a lot more fun than it had any right to be. Even though the crowd still refused to fully cheer the Briscoes (perhaps due to their interference at Supercard of Honor V), they ate up everything Papa did and popped huge for the finish. Overall, I’d consider this a resounding success, despite having some qualms about the hatred between the Briscoes and Kings not being showcased enough. ***¼
Match #16: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly (Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 1 – 4/1/11)
Kenny King and Rhett Titus were ejected from the building earlier for getting into an altercation with the Briscoes. Mark and Cole have a fast exchange and wrestle to a stalemate. O’Reilly tries an early cross armbreaker but Jay escapes and connects with a boot. Cole catches Jay with a basement dropkick. Mark lights up Cole with chops but falls victim to a double team flapjack. Jay levels O’Reilly with a clothesline and the Briscoes isolate him. He fights them off with a series of kicks and makes the tag. Cole enzuigiris Jay off the apron and takes him out with dive to the floor. Back in, Jay hits a spinebuster on Cole and the Briscoes work him over. Cole comes off the middle rope with leg lariat on Mark and makes the tag. O’Reilly connects with a series of strikes on Mark and hits a double dragon screw leg whip. He follows with a double missile dropkick and hits rolling butterfly suplexes on Mark. Cole hits a wheelbarrow german suplex on Mark for a nearfall. O’Reilly comes off the apron with a missile dropkick on Jay at ringside. Cole lands a flying crossbody onto Mark followed by a neckbreaker. Cole and O’Reilly add stereo kicks for a two count. Mark connects with an enzuigiri on Cole and Jay follows with a falcon arrow. Jay superkicks O’Reilly and Mark adds a nasty exploder. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Cole for the victory at 13:24. There is no doubt in my mind that the Briscoes are better suited as heels. It’s safe to say that a majority of the people in the crowd didn’t see the Briscoes’ heel turn at Manhattan Mayhem IV at this point, yet the Briscoes were being solidly booed by the end of this contest. Some of that credit goes to Cole and O’Reilly, as they were quickly becoming fan favorites in ROH at this point. Everything clicked here and this ended up being a great showcase for both teams. ***¼
Match #17: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 2 – 4/2/11)
The Briscoes enter through the crowd and immediately start brawling with the All Night Express. Titus back drops Mark onto the concrete floor. Jay throws King into the barricade and the Briscoes attack him in the ring. Titus hits a slingshot shoulder block on Jay and King adds a springboard leg drop. Two referees are in the ring to restore order. Titus connects with a dropkick on Jay and King follows with a nice spin kick. Mark blind tags in and catches Titus with a yakuza kick. The Briscoes throw Titus into the ringpost, busting him open. They isolate him until he connects with double knees on Mark and makes the tag. King connects with a spin kick on Jay and hits an overhead suplex. He follows with shotgun knees and elevates Jay to the apron. Titus hits a facebuster on Jay, sending him through the table at ringside. Mark superkicks King and a bloodied Jay adds a lariat. Jay hits a falcon arrow on King. Titus snake eyes Mark into the ringpost. He squares off with Jay as the crowd erupts. They trade strikes and both men fall to the canvas. ANX hit their blockbuster-powerbomb combination on Mark for a nearfall. Titus gets sent to the floor. Jay hits the Jay Driller on King for the win at 16:08. This match escalated the issues between these two teams and firmly established this rivalry as the top feud in ROH. The Briscoes put over hatred extraordinarily well and the All Night Express about matched them in that department. The bloody showdown between Titus and Jay was epic and stood out because it’s something that you don’t see in ROH too often. ***¾
Match #18: Chicago Street Fight: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (Supercard of Honor VI – 5/21/11)
King sends Mark through a table at ringside. The All Night Express double team Jay with Titus utilizing a chain. They attempt to tie him around the ringpost but Mark takes them out with a dive. The Briscoes throw ANX into the barricade. King suplexes Mark onto the floor and uses the barricade to land a moonsault. Titus lawn darts Jay into the ringpost. The Briscoes are busted open. In the ring, Titus bulldogs Mark onto a propped chair. He sets a table between the apron and the barricade. Mark connects with an enzuigiri on King. Titus goes up top but Jay pushes him through the table between the apron and the barricade. The Briscoes work over King in the ring. They use chains to hang him over the top rope. A bloodied Titus tries to make the save to no avail. King uses a fire extinguisher to find an opening. He kicks a chair into Mark’s face but gets caught by a yakuza kick from Jay. King falls victim to a flatliner into a chair. Mark brings a ladder into the ring and sets up a table at ringside. He places King onto the table. Jay climbs the ladder but Titus catches him with a chair shot. ANX hit their blockbuster-powerbomb combination, sending Jay off the ladder. Mark iconoclasms Titus off the ladder but King chokes him with the fire extinguisher cord. King impressively springboards off the ladder but gets caught by a superkick from Mark. Mark comes off the ladder with his frog elbow drop onto Titus. The Briscoes follow with the doomsday device on Titus. King throws a chair at Jay and sends Mark to the floor. By chance, Jay falls on top of Titus for the victory at 19:29. There are a lot of things to like about this match. First of all, this was a relatively smart street fight. They kept a nice pace, made their big spots count, and had the crowd standing for the entire duration. It’s also nice to see King and Titus continuously raising their stock, as they proved that they could hang with the Briscoes in this type of setting. Still, I think others will enjoy this match more than me. When I think about a Chicago Street Fight, I find that most of this match fit the description. However, the finish left a lot to be desired. I understand that this feud needs to continue and that’s okay. Additionally, I think the concept of Jay falling onto Titus by happenstance for the win is a decent concept. I just didn’t like how the finish came off in execution and I think there were some better options that would have achieved the same result. With all of that said, I can safely say that this match is definitely worth watching and I’m looking forward to the blowoff between these two teams. ***¾
Match #19: Ladder War III: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (Death Before Dishonor IX – 9/17/11)
The winners will receive a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Titles at Glory By Honor X. The Briscoes appropriately attack before the opening bell. Mark connects with a baseball slide on Titus. The Briscoes prop a ladder in the corner. The action goes to the floor where the All Night Express get sent into the barricade. Jay suplexes King onto the floor while Mark props a table against the barricade. King connects with shotgun knees on Jay but Mark back drops him through the table at ringside. Jay puts a ladder in between the apron and the barricade. He connects with a mafia kick on Titus in the ring and throws a chair at him. Jay hits a flatliner on Titus, sending him face-first into a chair. Titus is bleeding at this point. After battling over a suplex, Titus sends Mark through the ladder that was in between the apron and the barricade. Titus lands a dive to the floor onto Jay. The All Night Express dropkick a ladder into Jay’s groin. They follow with some double teaming. King lands a plancha onto Jay. Mark throws Titus into the barricade and launches a chair at King. Jay is now busted open as well. Everyone brawls around ringside. King uses the barricade to land a moonsault onto Mark. Jay just hurls a ladder at Titus and suplexes him onto the entrance ramp. Mark dives off the apron and takes out King. Jay positions Titus on a ladder and hits a senton. He blasts King with a chair shot and Mark adds an exploder. The Briscoes biel King into a propped ladder in the ring. The crowd chants “you killed Kenny.” Jay dropkicks a chair into King’s face. The Briscoes are in full control. Titus pushes Mark off the top rope and through a table at ringside. The All Night Express bring another table into the ring. They send Jay through the table with a blockbuster-powerbomb combination. Titus grabs a ladder and begins climbing. Mark stops him with a missile dropkick. The Briscoes bring out a taller ladder because they’re the Briscoes. They setup the taller ladder and a table at ringside. Jay puts Titus onto the table. Mark climbs the ladder and puts Titus through the table with a splash. In the ring, King hits a spinebuster on Jay. He follows with a beautiful shooting star press and sets up the tall ladder. King and Jay climb up opposite ends of the ladder. They exchange punches and Jay falls to the canvas. King grabs the contract to give the All Night Express the win at 27:54. While some may argue that the Ladder War stipulation wasn’t warranted here, these two teams made the most of it and I don’t think this match could have gone much better. It took twenty minutes for someone to even attempt to climb a ladder and grab the contract. More than anything, this match was about both teams’ hatred for each other and there are countless moments throughout the action that I could point to for evidence of that. Sure, this match won’t be for everyone. However, if you’ve taken even the slightest bit of interest in the Briscoes/ANX feud, I think you owe it to yourself to check out this war. ****¼
Match #20: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Matt and Nick Jackson (Glory By Honor X – 11/19/11)
The Briscoes attack before the opening bell after the Young Bucks do their handshake shtick. Mark swings Matt into the barricade while Jay and Nick brawl around ringside. The Young Bucks take some time to regroup until Mark lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, the Briscoes take down Nick with stereo shoulder tackles. The Young Bucks respond with a neckbreaker-backbreaker combination on Mark. Matt catches Jay with a dropkick through the ropes. The Young Bucks isolate Mark until he connects with an enzuigiri on Matt and makes the tag. Jay hits a spinebuster on Nick and yakuza kicks Matt off the apron. He flatlines Matt into Nick’s crotch and follows with a falcon arrow on Nick. Matt catches both Briscoes with a superkick. Nick lands a 450 splash onto Jay. Mark clotheslines Matt on the floor and hits an exploder on Nick. He connects with a shotgun dropkick on Nick and hits an iconoclasm. Matt pushes Mark off the top rope and into a superkick from Nick. Mark avoids a More Bang for Your Buck attempt and connects with his frog splash elbow drop on Matt for a nearfall. The Young Bucks connect with stereo superkicks but get taken down by clotheslines. Jay superkicks Nick to the floor and the Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Matt for the win at 12:17. I’ve yet to see an amazing match between these two teams and this one just managed to be solid for the time given. The Briscoes dominated for the first five minutes and it’s always fun to watch the Young Bucks get beat up. The action down the stretch never reached a higher gear but these two teams don’t necessarily need to throw bombs at each other to receive a reaction from the crowd. ***
Overall: The nice thing about this compilation is that it covers the time period thoroughly and features the Briscoes against a wide variety of opponents. Though some of the matches have appeared on other recent compilations, this release clocks in at a long duration with twenty matches. I think the real value here is the coverage of the feud against the All Night Express, which undoubtedly established King and Titus as future tag team champions. Tag team compilations can often feel very repetitive, but if you’re a fan of the Briscoes and don’t already own most of these matches, I’d feel safe recommending this release.
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