The Independent Mid-Card 06.19.07: The Briscoes vs. Irish Airborne (Part III)

Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of the Independent Mid-Card. We’re right in the thick of the Summer of Briscoe here in the IMC, as this week is Part III of our month-long look at my pick for the top team in all of Independent wrestling. Last week we took a look at a tag team contest from the Briscoes’ first stint in Ring of Honor, so this week we’re going ahead in time, a little closer to the present day. It’s another week of tag team excellence here in the IMC.

Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Irish Airborne
Ring of Honor – The Chicago Spectacular, Night One – Chicago Ridge, IL – December 8, 2006

The Wrestlers:
Jay & Mark Briscoe – After a nearly two-year hiatus, the Briscoes returned to Ring of Honor at the company’s Fourth Anniversary Show in February of 2006. They immediately made an impact by dispatching with former ROH Tag Team Champions Sal Rinauro & Tony Mamaluke as well as the team of Jason Blade & Kid Mikaze. During the late-Spring and again during the Summer months, Jay & Mark received a quartet of shots at the then-ROH Tag Team Champions Roderick Strong & Austin Aries. In a trio of tag team affairs and also in a four-way Ultimate Endurance matchup, the Briscoes fell short. In fact, as a result of Aries & Strong defeating the Briscoes in Liverpool, UK, their belts became World Titles. After that loss in the UK, the Briscoes were no longer able to challenge for the straps while Aries & Strong were still champions. However, when The Kings of Wrestling unseated the former Generation Next in September of 2006, all bets were off. The Briscoes were at that point embroiled in a bitter feud with “The Notorious 187” Homicide and former on-again-off-again rival Samoa Joe, fighting the newly formed ROH Mega Powers on behalf of hated Ring of Honor Commissioner Jim Cornette. By the time the Briscoes were done with that issue, the ROH World Tag Team Titles had been won by the duo of “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal. The Briscoes began to turn their attention back to regaining tag team gold, starting right away at Ring of Honor’s double-shot in Chicago Ridge, IL.

Jake & Dave Crist – A young duo from Ohio, Irish Airborne consists of brothers Jake & Dave Crist. Originally going by ring names Lotus & Crazy J, the Crist brothers began using their real names in early 2006. Shortly after, they debuted in Ring of Honor, defeating former Tag Team Champions Sal Rinauro & Tony Mamaluke to earn a roster spot. The pair had mixed success throughout 2006, but had one truly shining moment where they had defeated the Briscoe Brothers in the first fall of a four-way Ultimate Endurance match in August. Though the Briscoes had defeated Irish Airborne in a tag team affair earlier in the Summer, some fans believed that the Crists were ready to take the next step up the ladder when the two teams were slated to meet again in Chicago Ridge late in the year.

The Match:
The now-familiar Gimme Back My Bullets hits and Jay & Mark Briscoe make their way to ringside. Mark quickly moves to his corner to pray, as is his custom, while Jay walks around ringside, proudly jawing with fans along the way. We hear a flyby buzz over the speakers and Jake & Dave Crist, collectively Irish Airborne, run down to the ring. They’re announced at a combined 365 pounds, a full 55 pounds lighter than the Briscoes’ 420. The referee checks Jay & Mark and then Jake & Dave as the crowd surprisingly chants equally for both teams. Hands are shaken without incident and the bell is rung.

Mark starts with Jake and the two men circle. Mark is so intense here that Jake is hesitant to lock up with him. The two men finally lockup and Mark quickly moves to a waistlock. Standing switch by Jake and he brings Mark down to the mat for a front facelock. Mark gets a fireman’s carry to counter and holds an armbar. Jake makes his way to his feet, but Mark turns it into a wristlock. Jake reverses and spins out, grabbing a headlock in the process. Mark whips him off the ropes and they go into a leapfrog sequence that ends with Mark blocking a hiptoss, only to have Jake flip over him and then duck a clothesline. Jake springboards off the ropes and gets a sloppy hurricanrana takedown, sending Mark into the Crists’ corner. Jake hits a forearm shot in the corner and tags in Dave.

Irish Airborne whips Mark off the ropes and then Dave hits a kick to the midsection and Jake hits a thrust kick to the side of the head that gets a one count when Dave covers. Mark gets a forearm shot to begin the comeback and then ducks a clothesline and then follows up with a Northern Lights Suplex. Mark then flips over in the maneuver and hooks both of Dave’s legs before flipping back into a cover for two. That was a nice little move by Mark. Mark moves to his corner and tags in Jay.

Mark whips Dave off the ropes and right into a back elbow from Jay that gets two. Dave begins to come back with a series of forearm shots, but Jay reverses an Irish whip. Jay leapfrogs over Dave, but ducks down on the rebound and gets kicked in the chest. That said, when Dave comes off the ropes, Jay ducks a clothesline and catches him on the rebound with a much crisper hurricanrana takedown. Jay then picks up Dave and just slams him back into the Briscoes’ corner. Jay gets in a pair of chops to the chest and then tags out to Mark.

Mark comes in and gets a trio of back elbow smashes before hitting a stiff open hand strike to the chest. Mark then hits a gutwrench suplex and follows up with a running jumping knee drop before covering for two. Mark pushes Dave back to the corner and tags in Jay.

Mark holds Dave in sideslam position and Jay goes up to the second rope, coming down in a guillotine legdrop while Mark slams Crist to the mat. The subsequent cover gets two. Jay gets a hard chop to the chest and then a forearm strike before whipping Dave off the ropes and going for a clothesline. Dave ducks it and is able to hit a spinning leg lariat on the rebound to put Jay down. Dave pulls Jay back to the Irish Airborne corner and tags in Jake.

Irish Airborne send Jay off the ropes and Jake ducks down, forcing Jay to hop over him, right into a springboard dropkick from Dave that sends him rolling out to ringside. The Crists measure Jay on the outside and Mark tries to sneak in, but he ends up getting back body dropped over the top rope and out to the floor. The Crists then hit stereo dives onto the Briscoe Brothers at ringside. Jake & Dave roll Jay back into the ring and then Jake covers him for two. Jake picks up Jay in a fireman’s carry and Dave goes up to the top rope as the duo looks for their finishing maneuver, the Irish Air Raid (Flying knee strike while in a fireman’s carry right into a Death Valley Driver onto the knees of the brother who hit the knee strike). Mark cuts Dave off, however, and Jay wriggles free. Jay gets a forearm strike to Jake as Mark brings Dave down with a springboard top-rope Ace Crusher. Jake is able to counter a Jay clothesline into a spinning facebreaker and then hits a jumping neckbreaker, and then turns around and gets right into a forearm exchange with Mark.

Mark wins that particular battle and whips Jake cross corner. Jake hops up to the second rope on the whip and Mark runs into a boot on the blind charge, but hits a palm strike to retaliate and then tosses Jake right into a Yakuza kick from a charging Jay. Jay covers again, but again it only gets two. Mark gets Jake up for a crucifix powerbomb and then Jay uses some nice economy of motion to knock Dave off of the apron and then come back to hit Jake with a neckbreaker on his way down. Another cover by Jay gets two. Dave tries to make the comeback by hitting Mark with a forearm shot from the apron, but when he tries to springboard in, Mark ducks and Jay just catches him in mid-air. Jay just hoists him up onto his shoulders and then gets a military press right into a Death Valley Driver. Mark then immediately follows up by slingshotting in with a double stomp to the chest. Dave rolls out to the apron as Jay gets Jake up on his shoulders. Mark comes springboarding off the ropes into a Doomsday Device and Jay nonchalantly covers Jake for the academic pin at a brisk 5:22. The crowd applauds the Briscoes as we cut out before their music can even start playing.

The Analysis:
Brief as the match was, Jay & Mark looked phenomenal here, pretty much annihilating one of ROH’s talented young teams. All of their offense hit crisply and though they did a number of fantastic double-teams, were never forced to break more than a light sweat in dismantling the Crists.

The truth is that this match went pretty much as it should have. The Briscoes were able to get a relatively quick win with a double-team maneuver, but didn’t have to pull out their biggest weapons like the Spike Jay Driller, the Cutthroat Driver or the Flying Legdrop-Shooting Star Press combination in order to get the job done. Those moves were the kind that the Briscoes needed against Aries & Strong and would have been overkill in a match with a younger, less experienced team like the Crists. The fact that the Briscoes didn’t use them shows how confident they were entering the match. They knew they didn’t need to bring that level of offense, so why waste it and give other, more dangerous teams another chance to scout their top-level material.

This match also helps identify the quantum leap in the Briscoes’ development since their first stint in Ring of Honor. The Briscoes, who were already ultra-talented during the 2002-2004 period, have since turned into such a finely-tuned in-ring machine that literally everything they do comes off as being of the highest quality. They’ve gotten bigger, they’ve gotten stronger, they’ve gotten crisper and they’re still both doing a hybrid of heavyweight and cruiserweight moves at an exceedingly high level.

To their credit, the Crists didn’t look bad here, just overmatched, which is pretty much the truth when you think about it. Outside of the early hurricanrana that Jake didn’t hit cleanly, the Crists used solid, clean offense to try to gain an advantage. Unfortunately, when you’re in the ring with Jay & Mark Briscoe you need more than solid, clean offense to get the job done. It’s not as if the Crists had a bad game plan or anything, it’s just that they weren’t as good as the Briscoe Brothers. Hardly a crime if you ask me.

The Aftermath:
Irish Airborne would make sporadic appearances for Ring of Honor after this pair of shows in Chicago Ridge. Though they have not officially been dropped from the ROH roster as of this writing, they have certainly stepped back from being the up-and-coming team they were considered for much of 2006.

Jay & Mark Briscoe would trade wins with The Kings of Wrestling during ROH’s final shows of 2006 before starting 2007 with a bang by defeating Aries & Strong in two straight falls to win a 2/3 Falls match. That win would catapult the Briscoes to the top of the tag team ladder, a notion not hurt by subsequent wins over the temporarily reunited Havana Pitbulls of Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes and newcomers Kevin Steen & El Generico. Though the Briscoes lost a match to the team of Nigel McGuinness & Colt Cabana, the message was clear: we’re coming for the titles.

When Jay & Mark finally got their shot at Daniels & Sydal in Chicago in late-February, they were ready to once again assume the mantle of the recognized top tag team in Ring of Honor. By defeating the champions in an epic contest, the Briscoes had finally achieved their destiny and in process had become ROH World Tag Team Titles as a unit for an unprecedented third time. Their first defense was signed for the first night of ROH’s double-shot weekend in Liverpool against the team of Shingo & Naruki Doi from Japan’s Dragon Gate promotion. In a shocking turn of events, Shingo & Doi upset the Briscoes to win the straps, forcing the brothers from Southern Delaware to quickly regroup and reevaluate their toughness as a team. In true Briscoe fashion, the brothers decided that there was only one way to get tough enough to guarantee another run with their belts.

The Final Word:
Next week will be the final part of my month-long Summer of Briscoe feature. By then, I will have attended Ring of Honor’s second Pay-Per-View taping in Chicago Ridge. I hope that everyone within reasonable driving distance (read: 5 hours or less) will make the trip to Chicago this weekend for the show. Already signed are “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA and Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Trust me that those two matches alone will be worth the price of admission.

To see this week’s contest, ROH The Chicago Spectacular, Night One is available at rohwrestling.com. The main event is a Cage Match where Bryan Danielson puts his ROH World Title on the line against Samoa Joe. Also, I’m sitting ringside, so it’s a great chance to spy me sitting there with a bad haircut. Or lack thereof.

Now that you’re almost done reading my column, you’ve certainly got the time to check out some of the other great stuff we have here on 411 this week. Ari’s got Column of Honor, Stu’s got Friendly Competition and Bayani’s got Truth B Told as always. There’s also a great SHIMMER edition of Buy or Sell with Ryan Byers & Brad Garoon. You should be sure to read all of Brad’s new DVD reviews as well, as they’re covering a wide variety of topics this week. JD’s got a bunch of stuff this week, too, as has become normal for him.

I want to put in a specific plug for the 411 Independent Draft Spectacular which actually originally came together because a bunch of us writers were screwing around on the super-secret, ultra-awesome Writers’ Forum. I guarantee for you hard-line ROHbots that my new Ring of Honor will be just as awesome (if not a little bit moreso) than the real one. Part II of that should be up next Monday.

I don’t really have any personal notes to toss in this week, so I’m just going to check out. But be sure to come back next week for Part IV of the Summer of Briscoe. Oh, and if the ROH DVD schedule is on point, I may actually extend this whole thing into the first week in July. I’m crafty like that. Have a good week everyone, and go see Ring of Honor if you can!

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