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Jay & Mark Briscoe vs AJ Styles & Matt Sydal: The 100th Show (4/22/2006)
This was the Briscoes' first major test after their return, as AJ had taken Sydal under his wing after wrestling him, and they formed a team and began to pursue the tag title. It became a little difficult to watch AJ wrestling at this point because, even though he was in ROH first, he was now 100% a TNA guy who was allowed to work for ROH on the side, so nobody was ever booked to get any heat on the guy and he'd no sell all the top wrestlers' best moves, and it made it difficult to enjoy watching him wrestle guys like Bryan Danielson since he'd come in and start smacking the crap out of the World Champion. Doing jobs certainly seemed to be out of the question, so anytime he and Sydal lost, you knew he wasn't taking the fall. That's what happened here, as Jay got the knees up on a standing moonsault attempt from Sydal, then they hit the spike Jay Driller for the win.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji: Glory By Honor V Night 1 (9/15/2006)
The Briscoes found themselves in the ring with KENTA several times in 2006 and, one night before KENTA challenged Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Title at ROH's debut in the Manhattan Center, KENTA reformed his team with Naomichi Marufuji to face the Briscoes one last time. This was a unique match not just because it was between two terrific teams you wouldn't normally get the chance to see square off, but also because the fire marshall wouldn't let ROH run inside the building they were booked in that night, so ROH had to get a tent at the last minute and run the show underneath it. I was at this one and it was a good thing they did, because the skies opened up and it started POURING for almost the entire show. The top of the tent sagged down under the weight of the rain, and the ground became muddy enough that it wasn't feasible for anyone to do much outside the ring. It was one of the most unique settings I've ever attended a show in, and it made for a heck of a memorable experience. KENTA and Marufuji obliterated Mark with a seemingly endless series of kicks, then KENTA put him away with Go To Sleep to remain undefeated going into his title shot the next night.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Austin Aries & Roderick Strong: Dedicated (1/26/2007)
After failing on three different occasions to defeat Aries & Strong for the ROH World Tag Team Title in 2006, the Briscoes took some time away from the title chase to finish their feud with Samoa Joe & Homicide before defeating the Kings of Wrestling at Final Battle. That win gave them a new boost of momentum, and they said that 2007 would be their year and nothing was going to stop them from becoming champions again. In order to show that things would be different for them in 2007, the Briscoes challenged Aries & Strong to face them one more time on the first show of 2007 in a 2 out of 3 falls match. The Briscoes defeated them in two straight falls, and the crowd was silent and took a moment to react after they won the second fall because the idea that anyone would win one of these in two straight was unheard of. The Briscoes went on to make the 2 out of 3 falls match their specialty, participating in several throughout the year and winning them all in two straight until finally dropping a fall to Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero in December, though they went on to win that match as well.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Naruki Doi & SHINGO: Fifth Year Festival - Liverpool (3/3/2007)
The road back to the ROH World Tag Team Title was a short one after defeating Aries & Strong, as they went on to beat Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal less than a month later to become three time champions. This was their first, and as it would turn out, only title defense as Doi & SHINGO scored the surprise win to end the title reign the Briscoes had fought so hard to win almost before it started.
Jay Briscoe vs Mark Briscoe: Fifth Year Festival - Finale (3/4/2007)
After the loss to Doi & SHINGO the night before, the Briscoes decided that they had gotten soft and, in true Briscoe fashion, the only way to bounce back and toughen themselves would be to face the toughest guys they knew: each other. They have a pretty funny conversation about it because the interviewer asked them if they liked fighting each other, and Jay said that kicking Mark's ass is easy because he's got long ass arms, but all he's got to do is get ahold of Mark and he'll slam his ass, while Mark says Jay can't get ahold of him because he can just stay back and jab at Jay all day.
This was completely different than the kinds of matches they had back in 2002-03 because both were older and had matured more as wrestlers, and this was also not a product of heat between the two as much as something they felt they needed to do to improve themselves. That didn't stop them from beating the crap out of each other for over 20 minutes, and each man hit their finish on the other, but both were too tired to make a cover and the match ended in a double knockout when both men passed out from sheer exhaustion. It was a great finish, and really made you think about what they would do to other teams if they were willing to do this to each other.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Kevin Steen & El Generico: Driven (6/23/2007)
Now we're on to the real good stuff, as the feud with Steen & Generico is considered by many to be among the best feuds ever in ROH, certainly the best of 2007 in my opinion. Steen & Generico made their ROH careers with what was only meant to be a tryout against the Briscoes at the Fifth Year Festival in Philadelphia, but the match was so good that they earned jobs on the spot and, based on how close the match was, Steen & Generico spent months trying to goad the Briscoes into facing them again with the title on the line. Steen & Generico finally got their wish at Driven, the second ever PPV presented by ROH, and I'd say this was as good as the first match, but more interesting in terms of storyline since you now had Steen & Generico calling the Briscoes out for months and attacking Mark while he was on the shelf recovering from a concussion. Mark got revenge by double stomping Steen through a table, then they put Generico away with the spike Jay Driller.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Kevin Steen & El Generico: Manhattan Mayhem II (8/25/2007)
The feud with Steen & Generico continued through the summer, as the two teams faced off in various tag and singles matches, often with some kind of no DQ stipulation. Steen & Generico scored a few victories over the Briscoes, but never with the title on the line. Many of the matches in the series were included on the first Kevin Steen DVD set, including the night before this when the Briscoes beat Steen & Generico in a cage match, but they met again in New York in what was now well established as the Briscoes' pet match: 2 out of 3 falls. Generico took an insane bump here when the Briscoes gave him the double Beell toss they're known for, but this time they did it from the middle of the ring so Generico was tossed over the ringpost and to the floor. Steen refused to lose the second fall, even becoming the first man to kick out of the springboard Doomsday Device, but the Briscoes finally gave him a Jay Driller followed by a Cutthroat Driver for the win. The aftermath where Steen & Generico attacked the Briscoes with a ladder to set up the first ever Ladder War at the Man Up PPV was cut out, but the Briscoes said this was the feud of their career and that some of the stuff Steen & Generico did out there was insane.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black: Battle Of The Best (9/13/2008)
We see a clip of the start of the Briscoes-Age Of The Fall feud when Jacobs and company came out and attacked the Briscoes after the Ladder War. Necro Butcher wrapped barbed wire around his fist and punched Jay to bust him open, then they hung Jay upside down from a chain that was suspended from the ceiling. In one of the most gruesome scenes ever in ROH, Jay's blood dripped all over Jacobs' white jacket as he stood underneath Jay cutting a promo about how he, Tyler Black, and Necro Butcher were treated like outcasts while the Briscoes were bred for success from the day they came to ROH. They said the Briscoes had all the power because they're the tag champs, but they're going to take the title from them because the Age Of The Fall has begun.
Jay said he didn't remember anything after Necro came after him with the barbed wire, but then he theorized that someone on the inside must have been helping AOTF out because Jimmy Jacobs didn't really have the power to arrange to have a chain capable of holding Jay hung from the top of the arena. Mark said he was hoping Jay wouldn't die, but there wasn't anything he could have done because, even before he had bad knees, he couldn't jump that high that he could have gotten him down. Jay said that Jacobs was a sick dude and they definitely made the Briscoes take it to another level, but then they went over to Japan for this match and they started brawling through the crowd, and it was weird because the fans in America really get into it when people brawl through the crowd, but in Japan they just kind of sat silently and observed.
Anyway, they skipped over nearly everything that happened in the Briscoes-AOTF feud, including Jacobs & Black beating the Briscoes for the tag title at Final Battle 2007 and almost all of the increasingly violent matches they had throughout 2008. Though the real blowoff to the feud would happen a week later when the Briscoes teamed with Austin Aries to defeat Black, Jacobs, and Delirious in Steel Cage Warfare, this was the final straight tag team match between the Briscoes and Jacobs/Black, and as the Briscoes pointed out, it was in front of an extremely polite Japanese audience that didn't seem to know how to react. I actually can't help but crack up now watching this one because you have four guys beating the crap out of each other, and the fans politely applauding every time someone gets a chair whipped at their face. Jacobs speared Mark through the ropes and onto the ramp and then he and Black hit a Contra Code/powerbomb combo on Jay, but he kicked out. Black upped the ante by powerbombing Mark into the crowd and then shoving Jay off the top rope and right into the End Time by Jacobs. Black held Mark off until Jay passed out and the referee stopped the match.
The Briscoes close by saying that they worked hard to get to the top spot, and now the object is to stay at the top and stay humble and not let their accomplishments go to their heads.
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Though there's still a lot of stuff that wasn't touched on given how many great matches and important storylines the Briscoes were involved in during these periods, this DVD set does include a lot of good matches and, to me, the best part was the sitdown interview segments with the Briscoes between matches. It adds a lot more insight and context to the matches that were included on here, and I think that's what makes DVD sets like this stand out when compared to a set that just includes matches. Thumbs up for the entire set, and for information on ordering ROH DVDs, visit their website here.
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