The Independent Mid-Card 06.05.07: Briscoe vs. Briscoe (Part I)

Posted by Samuel Berman on 06.05.2007

It's the start of a month-long IMC event, featuring arguably the two most famous Southern Delawarians in professional wrestling.

Ah, June. The beginning of Summer. Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's edition of the Independent Mid-Card. Today we start a month-long special event that will take an in-depth look at the evolution of arguably the top tag team in all of professional wrestling: Jay & Mark Briscoe. From their start in Ring of Honor (and even before that), Jay and Mark were obviously talented competitors, but their development over the past five years as both singles competitors and as a tag team belies their commitment to the wrestling business and to improving their skills. Though they are now globally recognized main event talents, they began as an important part of the ROH mid-card. Welcome to the first of four parts in the Summer of Briscoe here in the IMC.

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe
Ring of Honor – Honor Invades Boston – Wakefield, MA – August 24, 2002

The Wrestlers:
Jay & Mark Briscoe – To separate the history of the Briscoe Brothers would be foolish, even early in their wrestling careers. Originally establishing themselves as tag team competitors for Combat Zone Wrestling, the Briscoes were participants in the very first Ring of Honor event, though only one wrestled on the show. At the time, Mark Briscoe, the younger of the two brothers from Southern Delaware, was only 17 and was thus unable to compete in Pennsylvania. Of course, Mark was taking out his frustrations with not being able to wrestle by mocking his older brother's losing record. This led to Jay finally challenging Mark to a singles contest at ROH's debut in Boston, where Mark would be allowed to wrestle.

The Match:
We open with a clip of Mark walking out on his brother at Crowning a Champion, indirectly causing him to lose his match to James Maritato. Afterwards, Mark comes into Jay's dressing room to gloat about the loss and Jay pushes him into the wall. Mark of course forces him to back off by reminding him that starting an altercation with a person who's underage will only cost him his wrestling license. Jay then counters by challenging Mark to a one-on-one contest for the next show, because there is no such rule in Massachusetts. Mark obviously accepts the challenge (Mark: "Alright, you'll just lose again…").

Mark comes down to the ring first wearing a red singlet. The chyron confirms that he is making his ROH debut in this match. We cut to Jay coming through the curtain and heading to the ring wearing an identical black singlet. Their outfits are akin to say Superman's regular outfit and Alternate Universe Superman's outfit. It's actually a nice touch to the matchup. Mark was introduced at around 180 pounds while Jay is announced at an even 200, which is quite the contrast to how big they both are today. The size and age difference are instantly noticeable for both guys, but are certainly more startling on Mark than Jay. We quick cut to Jay being checked by the referee and Mark praying in the corner (as is his custom) and then Mark refusing to shake his brother's hand. The referee rings the bell and we're off.

Jay offers a handshake after the bell, and this time Mark takes it, but slaps Jay right across the face mid-grip. Jay, still holding his brother's hand, slaps him right back. The two exchange another slap and Mark finally releases Jay's hand. The two circle, but in a more animated way than most opponents do. We get a lockup in the center of the ring and Mark gets Jay to the corner and hits a spiked elbow strike on the break. Jay gets frustrated and dives right for Mark's leg, but Mark out-maneuvers him and grabs a front facelock on the mat. Jay counters to a hammerlock and then a seated headlock, but Mark reverses back to a front facelock. Mark rides his brother on the mat, condescendingly slapping at the back of his head along the way before grabbing a front facelock again and then snapmaring Jay into a cover for two. Mark segues Jay's kickout right into a cross armbreaker, but Jay is able to reverse into camel clutch position and hits a series of crossface forearms before taking Mark down into a rolling rear naked choke. Mark reverses out of the choke into a seated rowboat surfboard stretch which he only releases to grab a standing anklelock. Jay does the roll-through reversal and locks in the grapevined heel hook. Mark counters out of THAT and moves right into an Indian deathlock. The second time he leans back in the move, however, Jay grabs his head in a side headlock. Mark goes to the eyes to break and then stands up before moving into a Fujiwara armbar. Jay rolls through, but Mark is able to keep hold with a wristlock. Jay rolls through again, but Mark is able to keep with him and takes him over with a side armdrag. They go into a standing switch sequence that ends with Jay taking Mark over with a fireman's carry and grabbing an armbar. The crowd applauds the entire opening sequence as Jay maintains the hold.

Mark works to his feet, so Jay holds him in a wristlock. Mark does a flip sequence (complete with cartwheel and front flip) to try to get out of it, but Mark takes him down with a dragon screw arm whip. Jay goes for a figure four, but Mark kicks him off the ropes. They go right into a leapfrog sequence, but Jay puts the breaks on and lifts up Mark from a duck-down move before chopping away at his chest. Jay then Irish whips Mark into a real leapfrog sequence, but Mark is able to land on his feet on a hiptoss by doing a complete front flip. That was simple, but very impressive. Jay ducks a clothesline and grabs a waistlock, but Mark breaks and comes off the ropes to duck a clothesline and hit a Northern Lights Suplex for two. Mark hops up to sit on the top rope, mocking Jay while he recovers.

The two men circle again and Jay offers a test of strength. Mark accepts and works it into a waistlock. Jay quickly maneuvers out of it and grabs another wristlock. Mark counters that into a modified fireman's carry slam and grabs an armbar on the mat. Jay gets a headscissors to break it up, but Mark is able to nip up out of it and goes running off the ropes. Mark gets a shoulderblock, but Jay no-sells it and challenges him to go again. A second attempt ends the same way, but Jay just plants Mark on the third try. Jay picks up Mark and just clocks him with a roundhouse right. Mark gets whipped off the ropes, but he ducks a back elbow and reverses the whip. Jay then ducks a clothesline and comes off the ropes with a beautiful Yakuza kick that puts Mark down hard. Mark rolls to ringside to recover.

Jay rolls out after his brother and the two exchange chops at ringside until Mark just slams him face-first into the guardrail and then the ring apron. Mark slams him into the guardrail a second time and then whips him face-first into the ring post. Mark takes a moment to catch his breath and gloat before beginning to kick away at his downed brother. Mark sends him into the ring post again and continues the assault on the now bleeding Jay. Mark rolls Jay back into the ring and then slides back in himself.

Jay begins to come back with a couple of shots to the face and then goes to whip Mark off the ropes. Jay puts him down on the rebound with a leg lariat and then follows up with a short-arm lariat when Mark tries to reveres another Irish whip. Jay calls for one more, but gets caught with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex when he comes off the ropes. Mark gets a falling fistdrop to the face and then whips Jay into an armdrag before grabbing a side headscissors on the mat. That's actually really good psychology with Jay having already been busted open. Jay works his way out of it and tries to make the comeback, but when he reverses a hiptoss Mark just punches him in the face to stem the tide. Mark gets the ten count punches from the middle of the ropes (a nice, simple variation on an old sequence) and follows up by whipping Jay right into a rolling sidekick. Mark follows up with a hurricanrana takedown right into a series of mounted punches. Mark then just kicks Jay in the head and covers for two.

Mark picks up Jay and forces him to the corner. He gets a series of punches to Jay's head and then gets a hard chop to the chest that Jay walks off by moving to another corner. Mark goes in for some more strikes, but Jay reverses him into the corner and gets a series of chops. Jay whips Mark cross corner, but Mark floats over on the blind charge and hits a DDT for two. Mark gets another punch to the face and whips Jay off the ropes, but Jay rolls under a clothesline and dropkicks Mark's knee. Jay then comes off the ropes and just stomps on Mark's right hand. That's an interesting strategy, and one I probably wouldn't have thought of. Jay grabs a knucklelock to work the hand while simultaneously kicking away at Mark's chest. Jay releases the hold so he can go for another move and just plants Mark with a sitout gordbuster. Jay goes to climb to the top, being sure to step on Mark's right hand again on his way in a nice touch. Mark cuts Jay off on top and follows him up. Mark looks for a Frankensteiner, but Jay pushes him down to the apron. Mark lands on his feet and comes right back with a springboard top rope Ace Crusher that draws ‘oohs' and ‘aahs' from the crowd. Mark covers for two.

Mark shakes his hand out before he punches Jay in the face, but quickly realizes how bad that strategy is, selling the hand injury. Instead, he gets a series of three kneedrops to Jay's head, which is a great strategic adjustment on his part. Another cover gets another two count. Mark picks up Jay and whips him cross corner, following him in with a running knee strike. Mark gets another cross corner whip and then just grabs Jay and plants him with a Tombstone Piledriver. Instead of going for a cover, Mark goes up for a flying kneedrop, but it misses as Jay moves out of the way. Mark probably could have showboated a little more to make it more reasonable for Jay to move out of the way, but that's a minor quibble. Mark clutches at his knee, so Jay takes a cue and takes him down with a dragon screw legwhip that sends Mark rolling out to the apron. Mark foolishly goes for another springboard maneuver from the apron, but can't get the distance and Jay cuts him off on the landing with another dragon screw legwhip.

Jay continues to work the knee with stomps and then just drops all of his weight onto it with the help of the ropes. Jay then puts Mark into a tree-of-woe and continues to kick away at the knee before coming off the ropes with a baseball slide dropkick to his face. Mark falls out of the corner and Jay hits him with a torture rack into a backbreaker. Jay sets up for a lariat, but Mark cuts him off and hits his modified Side Exploder Suplex. Jay rolls out to ringside, as much because of the momentum as because he wanted the breather. Mark goes for a springboard plancha, but aborts the move back into the ring because his knee won't hold up. Mark goes limping around the ring for a bit as Jay continues to recover on the outside. Finally, Mark works up the strength to go for a slingshot cross body attempt, but Jay sidesteps him and Mark lands badly, further injuring his knee. Jay goes in for the kill, but Mark hits him with a low blow and rolls him back into the ring.

Mark follows Jay back in with a springboard dropkick, making sure to sell the pain while hitting the move. Mark goes rolling around clutching at his knee on the landing, but is eventually able to cover for two. Mark grabs a headlock, but Jay works his way to his feet and elbows out of it. Jay comes off the ropes and ducks a clothesline and then sets Mark up for the Jay Driller (Tiger Driver '98) when he ducks down on a leapfrog sequence. Mark is able to float over, but Jay is able to hit him with a high angle powerbomb. Both guys are down and slowly make their way to their feet as the referee's count reaches six. Jay blocks some right hands from Mark and hits a pair of his own, but Mark quickly returns the favor. Jay gets a kick to the midsection, but Mark floats over on a suplex attempt and goes for a Dragon Suplex. Jay blocks the full nelson, so Mark settles for a bridging German Suplex for two.

Mark grabs a half nelson, but Jay makes it to the ropes and elbows out. Mark counters a clothesline into a full nelson and this time is able to take Jay over with a bridging Dragon Suplex that also gets two. Mark argues with the referee, being sure to sell the knee (what with him having to just hold a pair of long bridges) while he's doing so. Mark puts Jay down with a Fisherman's Buster and goes to the top. Mark braces his knee and goes for a moonsault, but it misses as being forced to check his knee gave Jay just enough time to move out of the way. Mark turns around right into a wicked lariat from Jay. Jay scoops Mark up and hits a Death Valley Driver right into a cradle for two. That absolutely could have been the finish. Jay again goes for the Jay Driller, but Mark reverses right into a Cutthroat Driver (arm-capture Burning Hammer) attempt. Jay floats over and hits Mark with a Screw Driver. Jay goes to the top, but misses a flying back senton and Mark comes running with a flying knee strike. Mark quickly hits the Cutthroat Driver and covers for the three count at 16:55 to defeat his older brother clean in the middle of the ring. The referee raises Mark's hand and then Mark mockingly shakes his unconscious brother's hand before leaving. To Mark's credit, he sells the knee injury all the way to the back. Jay himself is helped by the referee and one of the security guys to get to the back. Behind the curtain, Mark continues to mock a nearly unconscious Jay by boasting about his 1-0 record in ROH competition.

The Analysis:
What we're looking at is a wrestling match of the highest order. When taken at face value, the Briscoes were able to put together an incredible back-and-forth contest complete with consistent selling (Jay of his head injury and Mark of both his hand and knee), well conceived offensive flurries (including Mark's strategic shift to knee drops in lieu of punches), and a well told story (Mark strutting his stuff in his first in-ring contest for the company, trying to out-do his older, bigger brother).

There is a long history of brothers putting on show-stealing contests in wrestling, the most famous example of which is probably the series of matches between Bret and Owen Hart in the WWF in the mid-90's. This is certainly another link to that chain of excellence, with both brothers impressing by hitting their spots cleanly. In truth, I cannot think of a single maneuver throughout the match that wasn't crisply executed. Beyond the technical proficiency, the offense that each brother chose to utilize was sensible and appeared to be seamlessly performed. Furthermore, this wasn't a case of both guys simply hitting their signature spots, as both men integrated moves that were out of their normal repertoires (most notably Jay with the Screw Driver and Mark with the Tombstone Piledriver and the Dragon Suplex).

Now, all of that praise said, the following caveat bears noting: most competitors don't get to rehearse their match everyday for a decade while growing up. To think of this match in the same vein as one between two less connected wrestlers would be ignorant at best and downright silly at worst. Mark and Jay had clearly worked against each other countless times before and the match was elevated significantly as a result. However, to their credit, both brothers were able to make the match come across as a true fight for dominance, rather than the technical exhibition that it might have become. Throughout the contest, it really felt as if both men were trying to beat the other, rather than just show off their flashy offenses and meticulously practiced routines.

The Aftermath:
Mark Briscoe was only able to wrestle for Ring of Honor a handful of times in the months that followed this match, as the company was still running the vast majority of its shows in Philadelphia. Jay Briscoe actually turned his luck around on the shows that followed this one, as frustration over losing to his younger brother fueled Jay to earn victories over Amazing Red and even over then-ROH Champion Xavier in a non-title contest. Though Jay was unable to wrest the title from Xavier in their eventual rematch for the belt, it was clear that Jay Briscoe was intent on elevating his game to a higher level. Meanwhile, Mark had a cup of coffee as a member of Christopher Daniels' Prophecy, at one point teaming with Daniels to defeat Jay and Amazing Red.

At Ring of Honor's One Year Anniversary Show in February of 2003, Jay and Mark faced off for what was supposed to be their final singles contest, this time with older brother Jay coming out victorious. The two then buried the hatchet, deciding to establish themselves as a team with the intention of dominating Ring of Honor's tag team division.

The Final Word:
I received an interesting email after last week's column that I figured I would share here:
Hi,
You wrote: "This show is bar-none one of ROH's best, so please consider it having my highest recommendation for purchase" towards the end of your recent 411 article.
I'm sorry but you are misleading a lot of people with that, it was awful with the exception of the main event (and Jack vs. Strong to be fair) Why do people find the need to over praise ROH, I love ROH, it's my favourite promotion in all of wrestling but I really don't understand why ASE3 is considered so good by yourself - even the ROH community considered it very weak especially with SCOH2 the next night, so maybe you can shed some light on the subject, thanks.
Regards

Now, here's my response, edited only for context:

I'll open by saying that I cannot truly speak to why 'people find the need to over praise ROH'. I feel as if I personally praise ROH just the right amount. I found ASE3 to be one of the better ROH shows I had seen in some time (which includes pretty much every show back to mid-2003). Is it THE best ROH show I've seen? No, it is not. Is it, in my opinion, amongst the best? Yes it is.

I take exception with the idea that ASE3 was a two-match show. I agree that both the main event and Strong vs. Evans were great, but clearly disagree with you in terms of the quality of the Jacobs & Lacey vs. Whitmer & Haze match, the Tag Title rematch and the opening Four Corner Survival that I wrote my column about this week.

I watched ASE3 straight through upon receiving it and loved every minute of it. In fact, in my opinion it was far easier to watch and far more enjoyable overall than SCOH2. I can easily see someone going the other way on the two shows, but when I watched, that's what I felt. You're fully entitled to have not enjoyed the show, but when I write, I'm empowered to express my opinion, whether it flys in the face of conventional thinking or not. I said that the show had 'my highest recommendation for purchase' and it does.

Though on some level I'm actually flattered by the notion that I'm 'misleading a lot of people', I cannot actually believe that so many people take my purchase recommendations so seriously that buying ASE3 will turn them off to the product. I suppose I'm willing to take that chance. As a big ROH fan, I hope you can appreciate that one of my goals in writing a column at 411 dedicated specifically to Independent wrestling is to introduce new fans to the product as well as provide an interesting weekly dose of reading for people who are already fans. If someone who hadn't seen ROH before were to buy ASE3 on my suggestion, I hardly think they would walk away from it without seeing the same greatness in the product that you and I have obviously seen.

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Anyway, I figured that if there were others out there concerned by my endorsement of Ring of Honor's All Star Extravaganza III, that this might help to shed some light as to why I recommended it so highly. As always, everyone's entitled to their opinions and what you read here in the IMC every week is mine.

In related news, you would theoretically be able to se this week's match by purchasing Honor Invades Boston from rohwrestling.com. However, that show is currently sold out and unavailable. It's a fun show headlined by a ROH Title defense with Low Ki putting the belt on the line against "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles. Also on the card are Michael Shane vs. Paul London and "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson vs. Donovan Morgan, both fun contests in their own right. If the show becomes available, consider me having recommended it, especially at its current list price of $12.00.

Elsewhere on 411 this week are a number of other things you should take the time to read. Ari's got Column of Honor, Stu's got Friendly Competition and Bayani's got Truth B Told. There's also a fantastic edition of Buy or Sell, edited by yours truly and featuring Matt Adamson of Destiny and THE BOSS, Wrestling Zone Editor Larry Csonka. Oh, and Stu's also got the first part of his look back at ROH in 2006 in That Was Then. And as always, JD Dunn has a ton of new reviews and television recaps (including ROH's Expect the Unexpected and Final Battle 2006), and you should always consider JD's work to have my HIGHEST recommendation.

We're done for now, but next week will continue the Summer of Briscoe in the IMC with a look at Jay and Mark in their natural habitat: a tag team match. It's going to be fun, I guarantee it. Until then, go here, here or here and support Independent wrestling.

Oh, and one more thing. Go see Knocked Up! I mean like NOW. Easily one of my five favorite movies in recent memory and in my opinion even better than 40-Year-Old Virgin, which itself is already unbelievably awesome. Paul Rudd should really get some consideration for Best Supporting Actor, but of course, he won't because it's not "that kind of film". Still, seeing this movie is BY FAR the best use of your disposable income over the next week.

Ok, now I'm really done.

"It's not about living forever, Jackie… It's about living forever with yourself…"

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