FTR vs. Briscoes

These teams completed a universally acclaimed threematch yesterday, which gives me a great excuse to publish this today. It also gives me a place to put these matches so that I don’t have to include them in either team’s entry in the top 100 tag teams series. Why wouldn’t I want these matches in that series? Because I want to watch as many different FTR and Briscoes matches as possible, that’s why.

April 1, 2022 – Dallas, Texas

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood def. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe {ROH Tag Team Championship Match}
From ROH Supercard of Honor XV. It has been a minute since I’ve seen a Briscoe Brothers match. Nothing could make me feel older than remembering the first time I saw Mark Briscoe, the angle was that he was too young to wrestle in Pennsylvania; now his beard is gray. I love FTR’s old ROH logo-inspired gear. I also love that the Briscoes have the old ROH tag belts! I also love that the crowd is HOT for this match, but I hate that their dueling chants are dorky ass things like, “Fuck WrestleMania!” and, “Tag Team Wrestling!” How about a dueling, “Let’s Go Briscoes!” vs. “F-T-R!” chant? Show these guys some love. Okay, so they did do that exact dueling chant near the end of the match because the wrestlers more than earned it. FTR cheated delightfully, as they do, but more than that we got a few amazing dickhead moments from Harwood. Jay bled, as he does, creating a lot of sympathy early on. We got a bit of blood from Mark and Harwood as well, though none of it was gratuitous enough to distract from the match. I was totally drawn into the whole thing, but the finish was especially beautiful. Jay was out of energy, struggling to get Harwood up for the Doomsday Device. That extra set up time gave Wheeler a chance to disrupt the move and get Mark into position for the Big Rig, giving FTR the titles at 27:25. What a blast. After the match, everyone made nice and FTR let the Briscoes have a moment alone in the ring. The Young Bucks ran out and attacked the Briscoes until FTR made the save. FTR will face the Bucks a few days later in AEW for the ROH and AAA tag titles. I’m not wild about it, but at least they set up the AEW brass as heels for that decision. This match even cracked the Cagematch Top 100 matches of all time, currently [April 2022] sitting at number 54, so consider this review an addendum to my survey of that list. [It has since dropped to number 61, but as of my writing this the final match in this series currently (December 2022) sits at number 43] ****¾

July 23, 2022 – Lowell, Massachusetts

Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler def. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe {ROH World Tag Team Championship 2/3 Falls Match}
From ROH Death Before Dishonor. Why not have the Briscoes come out with their HOG title belts? The first fall was really good. They built somewhat slowly, but by the end of the fall they were trading very believable near-falls. I was surprised a lot of them didn’t end the fall, as teases generally don’t get featured in 2/3 falls matches until the final fall. But these guys love wrestling. Harwood uncharacteristically got cocky and tried to hit Jay with the Jay Driller. Jay countered it to a catapult into the corner, and the Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device to win the first fall about 15 minutes in. The second fall saw Harwood get his ass kicked for a while before making one of the best hot tags I’ve ever seen, exhaustedly falling backwards into his corner with his hand raised. Jay busted Wheeler open with the bell to stop FTR’s momentum. Harwood saves the day, dumping Mark on the ring steps and busting him open, and FTR hits Jay with the Big Rig to win the second fall at the 30-minute mark. The third fall lost some of the momentum had, and then started to run off the rails a bit when an “errant” punch from Harwood to the referee looked deliberate as hell because of weird positioning. And then it’s the heel Briscoes who get screwed by the ref bump after Jay hits the Jay Driller and gets 10 count on a pin. Jay then kicks out of the Big Rig because the referee was slow to get back in the ring. That’s the first time anyone has kicked out of that move. Things pick up a lot in the last few minutes, as Wheeler hits a back suplex from the turnbuckle through a table on the floor. Harwood kicks out of the Jay Driller and then eventually gets his wits back enough to hit a second rope piledriver for the win at 43:26. This couldn’t keep up the energy of their first match, but that’s not much of a slight as that match is one of the best tag team matches in the last 10 years. This was still excellent. The first two falls were spectacular, and the third fall ended in exciting fashion despite a few hiccups along the way. The Blackpool Combat Club B-Team (Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler YUTA) come out to the ramp to stare at FTR after the match. ****¼

December 10, 2022 – Arglinton, Texas 

Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe def. Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler {ROH World Tag Team Championship Double Dog Collar Match}
From ROH Final Battle. FTR have the dates of their ROH tenure on the back of their trunks, ending today. Why telegraph the result? The commentators say the Briscoes earned this shot by winning the first fall of the 2/3 falls match, so they would have won if it had been a traditional match. That’s a rather un-nuanced explanation, as you’d want to imagine wrestlers this good would work differently based on the match stipulation. Mark bleeds first after a fast-paced and exciting first few minutes. Things slow down a bit while the Briscoes methodically dominate. Jay’s face meets chair and he bleeds a lot. The more things change the more they stay the same. Harwood supposedly bleeds next but it’s hard to tell if it’s his own blood or Jay’s. After putting the chain in his own face before hitting a diving headbutt, I’ve been convinced it’s Harwood’s blood. Then the referee gets punched with the chain and he bleeds. That’s gnarly. Caprice Coleman calls it ironic on commentary, and while I’ve certainly never seen a referee bleed before, if it was ever going to happen it’d happen in a match like this. Medium quality use of the word. Mark gets throws from the turnbuckle onto a pile of chairs on the floor in one of the nastiest spots I’ve ever seen. Things get very heated between Harwood and Jay from there. Jay hits Harwood with a superplex on a pile of chairs and then used the chain to make Harwood tap to a Crossface at 22:20. Amazing violence down the stretch there. Probably better than the second match but not as good as the first. The Gunn Club attack FTR after the match, setting up the end of that feud in AEW. ****¼

It is a major bummer that this feud ended by setting up FTR vs. the Gunn Club given that they teased and never delivered on FTR vs. Blackpool Combat Club. It’s not saying anything new to write that Tony Khan is terrible at booking Ring of Honor, but at least we got some great tag team matches between these two teams out of it.