wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.4.22
Image Credit: ROH
Loading...Hey kids! Today we’re taking a look at the first two inductees into the ROH Hall of Fame. Not too much of a surprise Jay & Mark Briscoe would be the choices. They’ve been with ROH almost non-stop since Day One. We almost go back to Day One in the first match, then watch Jay & Mark take on two Elite competitors in the second. Let’s hook em up!
Cook’s ROH TV Review 2.4.22
Athleticism, Discipline, Respect, Honor are highlighted in the ROH Hall of Fame.
A video talks about the loyalty of the Briscoe Brothers. We see clips of them jumping off of houses as kids, then in Ring of Honor jumping off the ropes and becoming the foundation of the company. They wrestled all the great tag teams in the company to become 12-time ROH Tag Team Champions. Jay became a 2-time ROH Champion. They still maintain the same characteristics they had in their humble beginnings.
ROH Night of Champions 2003: ROH World Tag Team Championship Match: AJ Styles & Amazing Red (c) (w/Alexis Laree) vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe: We’re at the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia, PA, home to most of ROH’s early events. Laree, of course, became better known as Mickie James. Ray Murrow & Chris Lovey are on commentary. These were the gimmick names for Doug Gentry & Gabe Sapolsky, two of ROH’s founders. I don’t think we’ll be mentioning the other one. This show is mainly remembered for Samoa Joe winning the ROH Championship from Xavier, and featuring the Briscoes’ first tag team match in ROH.
Red & Jay exchange some fast-paced offense early. I’d forgotten just how similar Jay & Mark looked back in 2003, before they started getting different tattoos & having different hairstyles. Big bodyslam by Jay, then a tag to Mark. Red flips out of a German attempt, they exchange rollups for near-falls and the fans clap. AJ Styles tags in to face off with Mark. They exchange go-behinds and hammerlocks, and look like they’re actually trying to have a grappling match. Styles German suplexes Mark on his head, Mark rolls outside and Jay comes in to wrestle. Red comes in to superkick Jay into a German suplex, sending both Briscoes outside so AJ & Red can do stereo flip dives. Fans eat this up. Styles rolls Mark back in for a near-fall, then they exchange shots. Mark with a suplex of his own. Tag to Jay, the Briscoes do some doubleteaming, highlighted with a double boot in the corner as we go to commercial.
Mark gets a two count on Styles with a vertical suplex. Styles responds with a suplex of his own, then tags Red in. Red goes up top, elbowdrop gets two. Spin kick gets another two count. Off the ropes, Jay gets the tag and comes off the top rope with a dropkick on Red for two. Suplex, then a running kneedrop gets two. Northern Lights suplex gets two for Jay. Jay goes for a headscissors on Red, but Red places him down on his head with the “Brain Damage”. Red tags Styles in, Styles hits the delayed brainbuster on Mark for two. Backbreaker & gutbuster, then a double boot gets two for Styles. Mark reverses a rana attempt with a powerbomb for two. AJ tries to go up top, but Mark dropkicks him, keeping him up top. Mark goes for the top rope Ace Crusher, Styles reverses into a back suplex. Referee Paul Turner puts on the 10 count, but Red makes the tag to keep Mark from tagging Jay. Red Star Press only gets two. Red hits several kicks to a seated Mark for the two count. Jay hits Red on the ropes, allowing Mark to hit a clothesline and tag Jay in. Jay with a reverse chinlock to Red. Red fights out, but runs into a big boot. Jay knocks Styles down in the corner, then tags Mark in. Mark hits the brainbuster for two as we go to commercial.
Jay tags in to continue the punishment with a DDT. Sunset flip by Red for two, who then gets his head clotheslined off. Jay with the front facelock, Mark distracts the referee while Red tags Styles, so the tag doesn’t count. Red counteracts a double team with some kicks to both, then a hip toss suplex type thing to Mark. Styles & Jay tag in, and Styles immediately takes the upper hand. Mark gets dumped on his head. Slugfest between Styles & Jay. Red & Mark shining wizard each other. Jay with the Cactus clothesline on Styles, leaving Red & Mark in the ring for a second. Red goes for the Code Red, Jay blocks and they do a double team DDT. Styles blocks the count at two. Styles hits a combo regular and inverted DDT on the Briscoes. Styles hits the suplex neckbreaker for two. Jaydriller blocked, Styles Clash blocked, and Jay hits a Falcon Arrow for two. Red’s hair is flowing now. He follows Jay up top, hits the Code Red from the second rope! Mark blocks the count at two, then kicks Red in the back of the head. Mark goes up top, Red follows him up, hits the rana, Mark flies into Styles, who hits the Styles Clash! That’ll get three.
Winners: AJ Styles & Amazing Red (16:25 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***3/4
I would have rated this higher in 2003, I’m guessing! A little spotty & inconsistent with these 2022 eyes, but the crowd really dug it.
We see the finish to each of the Briscoes’ ROH Tag Team Title victories.
1. Main Event Spectacles over Izzy & Dixie
2. Round Robin Challenge III over Dan Maff & B.J. Whitmer
3. Fifth Year Festival: Chicago over Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
4. All-Star Extravaganza III over Naruki Doi & Shingo
5. Injustice over Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
6. Final Battle 2009 over Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards
7. Final Battle 2011 over Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin
8. Final Battle 2012 over Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino (Cedric Alexander & Caprice Coleman also in the match)
9. ROH 16th Anniversary Show over Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
10. Final Battle 2018 over Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky (Young Bucks also in the match)
11. Manhattan Mayhem 2019 over Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
12. Final Battle 2021 over Mike Bennett & Matt Taven
Then we see the finishes to Jay’s two ROH World Championship victories:
1. Supercard of Honor VII over Kevin Steen
2. All-Star Extravaganza VI over Michael Elgin
ROH Global Wars 2018: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. “Hangman” Adam Page & “The American Nightmare” Cody (w/Brandi Rhodes): Lewiston, Maine was the location for this November 2018 meeting on the first night of the Global Wars tour. Ian Riccaboni & Colt Cabana were on the call. Remember when Cody was just Cody?
Page & Mark start off with some forearms. Big shoulderblocks from Mark. Hangman stays up though, and gets outsmarted when Mark yanks him down by the hair. They exchange big boots & talk some trash to each other, then Mark tags Jay in. Cody then tags in and rips his shirt off. He asks the fans who wants it, and tosses it to a kid in the front row. How nice, though Colt wonders why Cody doesn’t give the kid an un-ripped shirt. Jay with a kick, Cody with the Goldust uppercut. Mark tags in, gets dropkicked by Cody. Page tags in, they both run into strikes from Mark as we go to commercial.
As it turned out, there was a momentary interruption on Honor Club during that portion of the match. Something to do with the lights going out. They should talk to Tony Khan about that, lights go out all the time on Dynamite and they always stay on the air. Jay stomps Page down in the corner, then Mark does some choking. Mark tags back in to stomp & chop Page. Page fights back though with some chops of his own. Jay comes in & the Briscoes maintain the advantage. He even knocks Cody off the apron before landing a kick on Page for two. Mark tags in. Page blocks the double shouldertackle and dumps Jay out of the ring before tagging Cody in. He does a Beautiful Disaster on Jay & a Goldust powerslam on Mark for two. Tope suicida on Jay, then springboard dropkick to Mark. Briscoes fight back though, Mark with a running kick for two. Tag to Jay, who hits a running boot. Cody gets pounded down in the corner. Page inadvertently distracts the referee while Mark beats Cody up on the outside. Luckily, Brandi is there to run over with a chair, and Mark begs off! Imagine the outcry this would get from certain podcast hosts if it happened on national TV in 2022. Mark tags in and hits a little redneck kung fu on Cody. He hits the ol’ neck vice, which Colt says is what Mark does to his chickens. I can’t dispute that. Cody fights out, but Mark hits the DVD. Froggybow is evaded and a double clothesline sends both men down. Mark tags Jay, Cody tags Page, and they fire away on each other. Page wins the battle of fists, and hits Jay with a clothesline as we go to commercial.
Page with the running shooting star off the apron onto Mark! Up top, Jay evades that, but we end up with a Page German suplex for two. Page runs into an elbow in the corner and gets tossed outside. Cody runs in to intervene, but Mark hits the missile dropkick on him. Briscoes roll Page back into the ring, Jay hits the neckbreaker for two. Cody makes the save. Redneck Boogie on Page also gets two thanks to Cody. Jay & Cody fire away on each other. Cody wins the battle with a superkick, but Mark comes over and takes a bite out of Cody’s face. Brandi gets up on the apron to yell at the referee about it, but Cody accidentally Irish whips Mark into her. Cody checks on her briefly, turns into a low blow from Mark. Page vaults over the top rope and hits the Buckshot Lariat. He goes for the Dead Eye, but Mark blocks it by holding the ropes. Jay accidentally knocks Mark off the apron, Page sends Jay outside with Mark, then hits the top rope moonsault to the floor. Mark gets rolled into the ring so Cody can hit him with the CrossRhodes. Page covers, but the count stops at two when Jay drives Cody into the cover. Cody drags Jay outside and tosses him into various barricades, but Jay reverses the final whip. Page is trying to hit a Dead Eye off the middle rope, but Jay breaks that up. Mark hits the Iconoclasm, Jay hits the Jaydriller, Mark hits the Froggybow and that’s the three count.
Winners: Jay & Mark Briscoe (13:25 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/2
This was one of those good time tag team matches that rarely fail to get a crowd going.
We close with a brief Briscoes music video. They tell us to Man Up a dozen or so times.
