The Independent Mid-Card 06.12.07: The Briscoes vs. The Havana Pitbulls (Part II)

Oh, that’s right! It’s Tuesday again, so that means it’s time for another week of The Independent Mid-Card. Last week saw us begin a month-long look at the development of one of the greatest tag teams in the history of the Independent scene: Jay & Mark Briscoe. Our first part was a look at a singles contest between the two brothers, but this week we’re going to look at the duo in the environment for which they’re most well known: a tag team match. Without further ado, let’s get right to Part II of the Summer of Briscoe here in the IMC.

Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Havana Pitbulls
Ring of Honor – Reborn: Stage One – St. Paul, MN – April 23, 2004

The Wrestlers:
Jay & Mark Briscoe – When last we left them, Jay and Mark were embroiled in a feud. They would go on from that first contest to face off again at Ring of Honor’s One Year Anniversary Show in another singles contest. Once older brother Jay emerged victorious, the two brothers resolved to team up, intent on dominating the ROH tag scene. Though the pair would fall short in a trio of attempts to wrest the ROH Tag Team Titles from AJ Styles & The Amazing Red, the Briscoes would eventually fulfill their destiny by defeating Special K of Izzy & Dixie at Main Event Spectacles to win the belts. With successful defenses against the likes of Samoa Joe & AJ Styles and the Backseat Boyz, the Briscoes began to cement their legacy as one of the greatest teams in the company’s history, while simultaneously beginning to feud with then-ROH World Champion Samoa Joe. Jay in particular had a particularly memorable match with Joe, losing a Cage Match to the champ and ending up a bloody mess in the process. Entering this match, the Briscoes had successfully defended their ROH Tag Team Titles six times.

Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes – The Havana Pitbulls of Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes entered Ring of Honor to much fanfare in the Spring of 2004. A highly regarded team who had primarily wrestled on the West Coast before migrating to ROH, Romero & Reyes had already been mainstays in multiple promotions by this point in their careers. Both wrestlers were known for their hard striking abilities, with Reyes being the powerhouse of the team and Romero noted for his speed and ability to apply numerous submission holds from seemingly any angle. Certainly, this match was no Do or Die situation for the established and dangerous Havana Pitbulls.

The Match:
We start with the Havana Pitbulls of Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes entering to Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls On Parade, which is pretty much the perfect entrance music for them. They’re announced from Havana, Cuba at a combined weight of 427 pounds. Both of them seem pretty amped to be in front of the ROH crowd from the moment they come through the curtains. Gimme Back My Bullets hits and we’re joined by the ROH Tag Team Champions the Briscoe Brothers. Jay & Mark are announced as hailing from rural Delaware and weigh in at 415 pounds. In contrast to the match we looked at last week, both brothers wear identical black singlets, so you actually have to know what they look like to tell them apart. The Briscoes lay the belts down in the middle of the ring to taunt the Pitbulls, and the referee checks all four men as they posture mid-ring. Handshakes all around and both teams head to their corners. The referee then instantly irritates me by showing the belts to both teams and holding them up, even though this match is non-title. Ring of Honor referee’s are actually usually excellent at little details like that, which is honestly one of the reasons why I like the company as much as I do. Someone in the crowd actually yells that the match is non-title, but the mistake’s already been made. The bell rings to start us off as Mark begins with Romero.

The two men circle and Rocky throws a wild kick that misses by a decent margin. They tease a lockup and then Romero throws another wild kick that fails to connect. Mark responds in kind and then they both grab a double knucklelock and Romero finally connects with a kick to the thigh. Of note: CM Punk almost immediately berates the referee for raising the belts in a non-title match. See, that’s why I love Punk. Mark shakes out his leg and the two men circle again. We get a lockup and Mark works his way into grabbing a waistlock. Rocky reverses to a wristlock, but Mark somersaults out and grabs one of his own. Mark rides Romero down into a Fujiwara armbar, but Rocky flips out and grabs a front facelock. Mark counters with a double leg takedown and then follows up by dropping an elbow to the knee and grabbing a leglock. Romero kicks him in the face a couple of times to force the break and then snapmares him before hitting a stiff kick to the spine. A cover earns Romero an early two count. Romero stays on Mark with a front facelock and then rides him into a cross armbreaker, though Mark is in the ropes and the hold is almost immediately broken. Romero backs off as Mark shakes his arm out, but he certainly made his point on the last exchange.

Mark and Rocky circle again and grab a double knucklelock for a test of strength. Mark seems to get the best of it, segueing into a waistlock and dropping Romero down to the mat. Mark grabs a front facelock, but Romero quickly reverses to one of his own and then transitions into a combination hammerlock-armbar that though neat once applied, was certainly a little awkward in execution. Mark gets to the ropes to break and talks strategy with Jay for a moment before tagging him in. Romero tags out to Reyes and we start again.

Jay and Ricky circle, both tentative to lockup. They go for a knucklelock and end up riding each other down to the mat with Jay holding a front facelock. Reyes works back to his feet and grabs a waistlock leading to a standing reversal sequence that ends with Reyes getting a headlock takedown. Jay quickly counters that with a headscissors, but Reyes counters with a wishbone split and a stiff forearm to the face. Ricky grabs a front facelock, but Jay reverses to one of his own and then segues into a wristlock. Jay pulls Reyes back to the Briscoes’ corner and Mark tags in.

Mark gets a shot to the ribs and then whips Reyes into a back elbow. Mark reapplies the wristlock, but Ricky quickly reverses to a grapevined heel hook submission. Mark fights his way to the ropes to force the break. Reyes seems to back off, but comes running with a kick to the leg and then pulls Mark back to the Pitbulls’ corner and tags in Romero.

Both Pitbulls lay in the boots to Mark in the corner and then Romero snapmares him and grabs a crucifix cradle for two. Romero grabs a front facelock, but Mark counters to a small package for two. Mark seems to want to run in to follow up, but thinks better of it and the two men circle again. That was a nice, subtle admission on Mark’s part that he may have underestimated his opponents. Romero forces Mark to the ropes on a lockup and does a nice little spot where he grants the clean break, then head-fakes a cheapshot, and then ACTUALLY hits a stiff kick to the leg before dragging Mark back to his corner and tagging Reyes back in.

Reyes comes in and hits a clubbing forearm before grabbing a front facelock, but Mark is still able to power all the way back to his corner so Jay can tag in. Jay stomps away on Reyes and then grabs a side headlock. Reyes is able to counter and wrenches the arm before grabbing a side headlock of his own. Jay whips Reyes off the ropes to break but gets knocked down on a shoulderblock. They go into a leapfrog sequence that ends when Jay just decides to hit a long series of forearms shots to Ricky’s face. Jay whips Reyes into a high flipping dropkick and Reyes rolls to the floor to recover. Rocky drops down from the apron to talk strategy as the crowd starts up some dueling chants (Romero: “Fuckin-A, St. Paul…”). Reyes rolls back in and tries for a knucklelock with Jay, but Jay kicks away to take control. Jay gets a snap suplex and then tags out to Mark.

Mark comes in and both brothers get a series of strikes in the corner. They whip Reyes cross corner and follow with a Mark clothesline and a Jay elbow smash, but get caught going for another move as Rocky drops Jay in the Pitbulls’ corner and Ricky catches Mark with a forearm strike that sends him rolling out to the floor. Romero comes in and gets a double boot choke on Jay in the corner. Both Pitbulls start to work over Jay, with Romero kicking Mark off the apron as he tries to climb back in the ring. The Pitbulls get simultaneous elbows to the head on Jay, but when the come off the ropes Jay hits Rocky with a Yakuza kick and takes down Reyes with a stiff forearm shot. Mark comes in and kicks Reyes out to ringside as Romero rolls out on the opposite side. Romero & Reyes regroup on the outside as the Briscoes stand tall in the ring, but then Mark starts talking trash, prompting Romero to try to rush the ring. The Pitbulls spit on the Briscoes in frustration as things begin to break down. Romero and Jay get into a shoving match while Rocky’s on the apron, but finally we get some semblance of order restored. Mark retreats to his corner as does Romero, and we’re left with Jay and Reyes in the ring.

The two men exchange forearms in the middle of the ring, continuing even while Mark and Rocky run in themselves to get a piece. Romero drops Mark all the way out with a single stiff forearm and then follows him out so the two can exchange chops at ringside. Back in the ring, Reyes is just peppering Jay with punches from a mounted position, but Jay reverses while Romero and Mark continue to trade strikes on the outside. Reyes and Jay end up in the ropes and the referee calls for them to break, but Reyes comes right out of the break with a series of hard kicks. Reyes gets another forearm and then whips Jay into a standing back elbow that just drops him like a ton of bricks. Reyes goes to the corner and tags out to Romero.

Rocky comes in and hits a jumping kneedrop for two. Romero gets in some chops and then whips Jay off the ropes right into a kick from Reyes from the apron. Jay turns and hits Reyes with a forearm, but then turns right back into a pretty jumping knee strike from Romero. Romero goes to forearm Mark off of the apron, but Mark stands tall and follows him in to the ring. Of course, the referee gets distracted trying to get Mark out of the ring and the Pitbulls take the opportunity to lay in the boots to Jay. Reyes gets another forearm and whips Jay off the ropes, but he whips him too close to his corner and Mark gets a blind tag.

Jay somersaults under a clothesline on the rebound and Mark springboards in with a knee strike on Reyes. Reyes stumbles into the corner and the Briscoes go back to their clothesline-forearm combo that they used earlier in the match. This time, they’re able to successfully follow up with a double facewash that really gets the crowd fired up. Romero, who had been knocked to ringside by Mark, pops up to the apron, but Mark just dares him to get in the ring as Jay goes back to the corner. Finally, Mark goes over to Reyes and covers, but at this point is only able to manage a one count. Mark hits Reyes with a headbutt and then follows up with a series of forearms before hitting a Northern Lights Suplex for two. Mark looks over to Jay and then hits another forearm before tagging in his brother.

Mark whips Reyes off the ropes and Jay comes in and hits a kitchen sink knee to the midsection. Mark follows up immediately with a basement dropkick to the side of the head and Jay covers for two with Romero breaking up the pinfall just as Reyes kicked out. Jay gets a couple of forearm shots in on Reyes, but Ricky counters with a series of stiff kicks before just getting dropped by another Jay forearm. Jay tags back out to Mark.

Jay bodyslams Reyes and then Mark goes into a sequence that sees him run off the ropes with a pair of running double stomps and ending with a jumping knee drop. He follows that up with a kick to the chest and an elbowdrop and covers for two when Romero breaks things up. Mark shoves Romero, igniting another momentary brawl until the referee can get Romero back to his corner. Mark stupidly continues to run his mouth at Rocky and gets caught by Reyes. Ricky forces him to the Pitbulls’ corner and Romero & Reyes take over with a series of strikes. Romero officially gets tagged back in along the way.

The Pitbulls whip Mark into double back elbow and then Reyes drops an elbow leading to Rocky getting a running double stomp of his own. Romero taunts the crowd and then kicks Mark in the chest a couple of times before getting a kneeling leg choke that the referee forces him to break. Romero follows up with a slap and kick sequence that knocks Mark absolutely silly and then a thrust kick to the side of the head puts him down hard. Mark looks to be knocked out, so Romero goes for a cocky cover that of course only gets a two count. Mark reaches for his corner, but Romero pulls him back. Mark and Rocky exchange strikes, but Rocky maintains control and goes for a suplex. Mark floats over and grabs a waistlock, looking for a German Suplex. Romero elbows out and tries to turn around, but Mark plants him with a Fisherman’s Buster and slowly fights his way back to his corner to tag in Jay. Romero makes one final attempt to pull Mark back, but Mark counters with an enziguiri from an almost seated position and reaches out to finally tag Jay back in.

Jay comes right in, and though Romero ducks his clothesline attempt, Jay is able to get a series of chops. Romero reverses an Irish whip, but Jay ducks a roundhouse kick and pops up with a superkick that just floors Rocky. Jay then stupidly stands over Romero to talk trash, allowing Reyes to run in on him with clubbing forearms. Reyes whips Jay cross corner, but when he tries to whip Romero into him, Jay runs out of the corner with a Yakuza kick on Rocky and then hits a backdrop driver on Reyes. Reyes rolls out to ringside to recover as Jay catches his breath in the ring.

Jay gets a kick to the midsection on Romero and then whips him into a backbreaker. Jay then holds him in place and Mark comes off the top with a double stomp to the head, allowing Jay to cover for two until Reyes breaks it up. Mark gets a double chop to Reyes and whips him cross corner, but Reyes back body drops him over the corner to the floor on the blind charge. That looked to be a particularly nasty bump on Mark’s part, not that that was anything new for him, even at the time. Reyes ducks a corner clothesline attempt from Jay and takes over with a series of strikes. Jay gets whipped to the corner, but Reyes is able to block a kick attempt on the rebound and reverses Jay into a holding backbreaker (a nice receipt for the Briscoes’ last double-team) and Romero comes off the top for the Cuban Missile Crisis (flying kneedrop while the opponent is draped over Reyes’ knee). Romero covers Jay, but Mark breaks it up at two. Reyes gets a clubbing forearm on Mark and tosses him to ringside, allowing the Pitbulls to double-team Jay again. This time, Romero gets a backdrop suplex with Reyes coming off the second rope with a body press to drive Jay into the mat. Reyes goes for the cover and this time Mark’s too far away and Jay is forced to get a shoulder up at two to save the match for the tag champs. Reyes sets up for a body slam on Jay, but he slips out and pushes Reyes into a forearm strike from Mark and then gets a schoolboy cradle for two. Jay rolls back to his corner on the kickout and tags Mark back in.

Mark waits on the apron for Reyes to recover and then springboards in with a missile dropkick. Romero comes running in, but Mark dropkicks him out to ringside and hits Reyes with his modified Exploder Suplex for two. Mark tells Jay to come in and calls for a Doomsday Device. Mark goes out to the apron as Jay gets Reyes on his shoulders, but Romero pulls Mark down to ringside on the springboard attempt and Reyes punches his way out of the maneuver. Romero comes in and the Pitbulls again hit their simultaneous elbow smashes and come off the ropes with Romero hitting a jumping knee strike and Reyes following up with a lariat that turns Jay inside-out. Reyes covers Jay, but it only gets two. I would have easily bought that as the finish. Romero and Mark end up brawling on the outside, with Reyes striking away at Jay in the ring. Reyes sets up for what looks to be a backdrop driver, but Jay is able to elbow out of it. Jay fights Reyes into position and the Briscoes hit him with the Spike Jay Driller and that’s certainly enough to get the three count at 18:19. Jay & Mark are announced as the winners, with everyone laying around in the ring selling their exhaustion. Then cut to all four men standing in the ring with Gimme Back My Bullets playing again. The handshakes are quick and hardly show the immense respect that one might expect after such a hard-hitting brawl, but still, Romero & Reyes follow the Code of Honor before heading to the back. The Briscoes celebrate with their belts as we cut out.

The Analysis:
Entering the match, it was clear simply through body language that the Briscoes were taking Romero & Reyes far too lightly for their reputations. That cockiness ended up getting thrown right back in Jay & Mark’s faces as the Pitbulls began to take advantage of a number of mistakes early on. Romero’s fake out spot on Mark where he ends up faking and then actually hitting a cheap kick. Also, Mark backing off after being taken to task by Rocky was another subtle but telling moment that showed the Briscoes realizing that they may have not prepared as much as was necessary.

The match itself was an extremely good back-and-forth affair, complete with both teams getting to show their offenses and even one-upping each other with moments of tit-for-tat. For example, you got Romero’s double stomp in response to Mark’s and the Briscoes doing the guillotine double stomp leading into the Pitbulls’ Cuban Missile Crisis.

Another good part of the match was the breakdown midway through. In a business where so many tag matches follow the formula to the letter, the Briscoes and the Pitbulls broke that mold to let things degenerate into a brawl for a few moments, injecting some life into the crowd and changing up the dynamics from begrudging respect to a complete lack of decorum.

One final item of note is how crisply the transitions in this match seemed to be. Strikes all hit solidly and both teams seemed to focus their offenses well without having to do a clichéd ‘focus on a single body part on a single competitor’ story. Rather than focusing on Jay’s arm or Mark’s leg, the Pitbulls simply worked on hitting both of their opponents as hard as possible as often as possible. The Briscoes followed suit, leaving us with a stiff brawl between two teams who could absolutely bring the goods.

The Aftermath:
The Havana Pitbulls would go on to join The Rottweilers faction led by Homicide, becoming enforcers for “The Notorious 187” and eventually winning the ROH Tag Team Titles by defeating the Second City Saints of CM Punk & Colt Cabana. Though Romero’s commitments in Japan and Mexico would take him out of ROH competition for most of the next two years, he would still make occasional appearances, including a losing shot at ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson in December of 2005. Since returning to ROH full time in 2007, Romero has joined up with the No Remorse Corps, teaming with Roderick Strong and Davey Richards in their feud with the Resilience. Ricky Reyes would be a much more consistent presence on ROH shows during 2005 and 2006 than Romero, continuing his role as an enforcer for Homicide during his feud with “Classic” Colt Cabana as well as being involved in his own feud with Austin Aries.

As for our other principals, Jay and Mark Briscoe would lose their ROH Tag Team Titles the very next night in a fantastic main event match with Punk & Cabana. Less than a month later, they would temporarily regain the titles by defeating Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer during ROH’s third Round Robin Challenge. However, later that same evening Punk & Cabana would again best the Southern Delawarians, causing them to lose the belts for a second time. Jay & Mark would lose an eventual 2/3 Falls contest against the Saints in July of 2004. Though they would defeat Homicide and new Rottweiler Low Ki in a tag team match in early August (with Jay earning a very rare pinfall victory over Ki), the Briscoes would soon be forced from ROH competition on the heels of a reported concussion for Jay and motorcycle accident for Mark. At the time, it was unclear how long the Briscoes would be out of ROH competition.

The Final Word:
This is the end of Part II of the Summer of Briscoe, but next week we’ll be back for a look at a great match from Jay & Mark’s second stint in Ring of Honor. I specifically chose this week’s match because I wanted to feature the Havana Pitbulls (who had yet to appear in the IMC), but for those interested, here were a couple of other early-era Briscoes tag matches that I considered:

Briscoes vs. AJ Styles & Amazing Red © (ROH Death Before Dishonor, 7.19.03)
Briscoes vs. Izzy & Dixie © (ROH Main Event Spectacles, 11.1.03)
Briscoes vs. Homicide & Low Ki (ROH Testing the Limit, 8.7.04)

Each of those matches (especially the ones against Styles & Red and the Rottweilers) are well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the Briscoes’ early work.

As for this week’s match, Reborn: Stage One is available at rohwrestling.com and includes not only this match, but a great ROH World Title match between Samoa Joe and Homicide as well as an oft-forgotten match between CM Punk and “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. Both Reborn shows are considered must-owns by many ROH fans, including myself, so consider this one a recommended purchase.

While you’re here at 411, be sure to check out some of our other great columns. Ari’s got Column of Honor, Stu’s got Friendly Competition and Bayani’s got Truth B Told, all of which should be weekly reading at this point. Stu’s also got Part II of his look back at ROH in 2006. There’s Buy or Sell with Ari taking on IWA Mid-South loyalist John Gregory in one of our best editions yet. Oh, and JD’s got a ton of stuff including reviews of ROH’s Dedicated and Battle of the Icons as well as a look back at Final Battle 2003. I think I’ve made my feelings about JD’s writing clear, so be sure to check all of those out, as well as his other reviews. Jake & Brad have a review up of ROH’s Fifth Year Festival: Chicago, at which I sat ringside, so read the review, watch the DVD and watch for my dad almost getting bled on by Colt Cabana. Finally, take a look at the Staff Fantasy Draft that’s almost as fun to read as it was to watch unfold on the staff forums. Almost.

On a personal note, by the time this gets posted, my birthday will be less than a day away, so if you enjoy what you read each week (and have a few extra bucks to spend), feel free to buy me stuff. Or send me an email. Either way.

A couple of other random things for Sammy B. completists:
New DVDs bought this week:
WWE: The Ladder Match
Scrubs – Season 5

New CDs bought this week:
O.A.R. – Live From Madison Square Garden
The Nightwatchman – One Man Revolution
G. Love – Lemonade

New T-Shirts bought from Salvation Army this week:
Northern Illinois Basketball (red)
Nestle Quik Chocolate Milk (yellow)
Eisenhower School – Wauwatosa, WI (blue)
M.L.H.S. 6th Annual ‘Hoopsfest’ – 1996 (black)
Elton John World Tour 1992-93 (grey faded to light purple)
Red Lion Airport – Vincentown, NJ (red)
118th Kentucky Derby – May 2, 1992 (white)

Before I wrap up, I should also note the veritable bevy of birthdays amongst the Up & Under crew (and adjoining folk) over the last ten days. So Roy, Devrey, Lauren, Brad, Zoo and Amber, Happy F’N Birthday!

Until next week, remember to go see Knocked Up and wish me luck on my date tomorrow night. Thank god for third chances, thank god for second chances, but thank god the most for first chances. Spurs in 5. “I’m sure you get a lot of these…” Happy Birthday to me. Sam Fu for life!

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