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THE BRISCOE BROTHERS - SANDY FORK ORIGINALS DVD REVIEW: A LOOK AT THE BRISCOES' FEUDS WITH THE AMERICAN WOLVES, KINGS OF WRESTLING, AND ALL NIGHT EXPRESS, AS WELL AS SEVERAL OTHER MATCHES FROM THE 2008-2011 YEARS

By Stuart Carapola on 2013-05-23 21:29:19
Another day, another ROH DVD compilation review. Today we look at the latest release spolighting the Briscoes, and there's no shoot interview this time around, just straight up matches. Briscoe Brothers: Sandy Fork Originals picks up right after the end of their mega successful 2007 tag title reign, and follows them from the beginning of 2008 through their 2011 feud with the All Night Express.

2007 was a great year for the Briscoes, they regained the ROH World Tag Team Title they hadn't held for three years, had the feud of their career against Kevin Steen & El Generico, and went on a tear winning two out of three fall matches in two straight. Unfortunately, they lost a lot of momentum over the next two years due to injuries and unfavorable booking, and that's the timeframe we're looking at on Disc 1.

Though Age of the Fall had defeated the Briscoes for the title at Final Battle 2007 and were their main antagonists throughout the rest of the year, there's only one AOTF match on here and it's Jay and Austin Aries wrestling Jacobs and Black in a No DQ match. The Briscoes had actually regained the tag title in early 2008, but Mark went down with an injury before they even got to have their first title defense, so Aries subbed in for one match as Jay's championship partner to wrestle AOTF in New York, but the match ended in a DQ and the title was vacated after that match. Their fifth title reign is not mentioned at all, but it was really just some backstory to this rematch that I forgot even happened because the AOTF angle got so boring so quickly.

Aside from wrestling Ruckus & Jigsaw at Death Before Dishonor VI, the only other Briscoe matches from 2008 were attraction matches against special guests. They faced Homicide & Hernandez (who I guess weren't allowed to call themselves LAX) at Ring of Homicide 2 in what you historians will recognize as the last show Gabe Sapolsky booked for ROH. Also included are the Briscoes challenging Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura for the GHC Tag Team Title on a Pro Wrestling NOAH show (which I don't believe has ever been released on an ROH DVD before), and the match with Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima from Final Battle where the American Wolves ran out and attacked Mark's knee after the match.

That attack by the Wolves was done to cover for the fact that Mark's knee really was injured and would put him on the shelf for the next six months. Jay worked singles during that time and had an excellent series of matches with Roderick Strong during that time, and the one from Tag Title Classic is included on here, as is Jay's match with Jerry Lynn for the ROH World Title. Mark returned to action in early July, and after matches with Steen & Generico (which I believe was the final time those teams ever faced off) and the Young Bucks, we close the first disc with the Briscoes finally facing the American Wolves and defeating them to regain the ROH World Tag Team Title.

The second disc features much stronger content than the first, and mainly focuses on their 2010 run with the Kings of Wrestling and their 2011 feud with the All Night Express. Though the title loss to the Kings isn't included, we do get the bloody No DQ rematch from Death Before Dishonor VIII where the Kings actually tied a blood-covered Jay to the ringpost by his neck while they proceeded to beat the snot (or I guess blood) out of Mark. We also get the six man blowoff from Final Battle 2010 when the Briscoes and Papa Briscoe defeated the Kings of Wrestling and Shane Hagadorn.

The Briscoes won the feud but didn't regain the title, and their frustration over that led to their heel turn at Manhattan Mayhem IV when they found themselves firmly out of title contention after losing to the All Night Express. The Briscoes proceeded to beat the ANX into a bloody pulp in a really vicious beatdown, which set off a series of increasingly violent rematches between the Briscoes and ANX. This set features the rematch from Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 2, the Chicago Street Fight from Supercard of Honor VI, and finally Ladder War III, where the ANX defeated the Briscoes to win the feud and earn a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Title.

Other matches on the second disc include a Briscoes-ANX match from about a year before their feud broke out, two more matches from the Young Bucks, a rematch with the American Wolves, and a match against Future Shock that Adam Cole described on his DVD shoot interview as being huge for them at the time.

* * *

I kind of feel sacreligious for saying this about a Briscoes DVD set, but there's nothing on here you really need to see. This set covers a big down period for the Briscoes, and while the matches are good, they're mostly not great, and this felt like a "let's slap a bunch of Briscoes matches onto a DVD for the hell of it" release. I can't give a good recommendation based only on the Wolves match from Final Battle 2009 and the Kings match from Death Before Dishonor VIII, so I have to give this one a recommendation to avoid.

For information on ordering this DVD set, head on over to www.rohwrestling.com.

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