Glass Hand Dissolving: The Briscoe Brothers

vs AJ Styles & Amazing Red (ROH 3/22/2003)

Red and Styles are ROH Tag Team Champions here, and have the future Mickie James with them. This is the sort of match that in 2026 you have to come to terms with. I guess how you feel about the modern house style kind of informs how you see this match, because it's got a lot of spots, it's got a lot of moves that may not look good, it's just got a lot of stuff going on. The stuff doesn't breathe, really; the stuff doesn't always register, but a lot happens. Here's where I stand on it: I appreciate it for the time period. It stood in stark contrast to really any wrestling that had happened in North America up to that point; it worked for the people in that crowd, to an extent, and it isn't anyone's fault here in 2003 that the majority of matches that take place in the world take more from this style than anything that came before it. Did I enjoy this? Not really. Did I find a few of the spots interesting or cool? Yeah, AJ catching one of the Briscoes out of a hurricanrana into a Styles Clash is pretty great. 

vs Kings of Wrestling (ROH 12/23/2006)

I would say that one of the words I would use to describe the previous match was collaborative; the guys work together to put together a certain type of match. The opening parts of this are less collaborative than they are choreographed. The Briscoes hit a lot of double-team offense, and it happens because it is supposed to happen, not because it has been set up or built to. That doesn't last, but the opening section of this does not feel authentic. Perhaps worse than that is Chris Hero's offense. I'm a Hero guy; I think he's one of the best ever, but this is his worst period, with forearm thrusts, cravat-based offense, and shitty World of Sport-inspired submission. He and Claudio work a heat segment on Jay that is just okay, and Jay doesn't get a tag out of and instead just mounts his own comeback. He fights back for a bit, but the Kings of Wrestling eventually go back on the offensive. This all builds up to a tower-of-doom spot, which is one of those things that will always stand out as convoluted. In fairness to this one, it comes together fairly quickly, but it's never going to be anything I dig. A hurracrana and a diving splash on Claudio only gets a two count. From here we really lean into things. The Briscoes do some tag team offense on Claudio that is fine, but then we start to set up Claudio to do this double spin with both Briscoes, which looks impressive, but getting there just doesn't work. Everyone had to do something stupid for this thing to work. Despite building up to that spot, everyone has to ge up and move on with the match, which means 3 guys hit their finishers and everyone is down on the mat. That gets about ten seconds to breathe before we move onto the next thing. Larry Sweeney gets involved at this point, distracting the ref so Claudio can nail Mark with the Haliburton. Hero gets hit instead. The Briscoes hit a combination moonsault and leg drop and pick up the win. I didn't dig this. I can sort of let 2003 ROH pass, but nothing in that match was as egregious as the bottom 14 things I disliked about this match. 

vs Shingo Takagi & Susumu Yokosuka (ROH 7/17/2007)

I think that my biggest problems with the Briscoes up to this point is that the structure of these matches just doesn't work unless you're into seeing the moves. I think they really struggle making their tag team offense seem natural, and they only occasionally work a good heat segment. They build to a climactic finishing sequence, usually one that involves kickout of finishers, and then one works out. I don't really respond to that kind of thing, and so I'll give them some credit for wrestling to the audience, but not anything I'm ever going to really like. 

vs Eddie Kingston & Homocide (ROH 3/8/2014)

Kingston and Homocide can't be contained in a normal match. They start off in a normal match, but within minutes they are brawling outside of the ring and getting chairs involved. The referee throws out the match, but the Briscoes want it restarted with no rules, and they get their way. From there, a lot happens, and not a lot happens. They brawl around the ring, they get chairs involved, and tables, and there's a lot of plunder. This is seven years after the last match, and I think The Briscoes have really figured something out here, because this isn't an all-time match, but they work it in a way that isn't contrived; they don't just do stuff, they do stuff that looks good. Is there some building and kicking out of big moves, yes, but this is such a better performance than anything we've watched up to this point. 

 vs Violent by Design (TNA 5/7/2022)

Far and away the best match of this bunch. Not an all-timer by any stretch, but this was just solid. Pins being broken up, Joe Doering getting involved and the Briscoes having to overcome that, and a hot finish. One of the downfalls, I suppose, of having a wide sampling of matches is that the team you see in 2003 doesn't have to be the one in 2022, and this isn't a totally different team, but it is a much, much better one.  

Verdict

I hold The Briscoes in some esteem, and I think the 2022 match justifies that, but man I really disliked one of these matches, a few more had parts I dind't dig at all, and there was only one that I think is on the level of a great tag team, but this is a team that I know is good, and five matches just can't capture that all of the time.