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RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES: "The Briscoes: Since Day One" - new "best of" release chroncling the Briscoes during the early years of ROH and their boom period from 2006-2008

Aug 20, 2012 - 3:20:40 PM
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By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
“THE BRISCOES: SINCE DAY ONE”
BY SEAN RADICAN, TORCH COLUMNIST
briscoesdayonedvdfinal.jpg


The latest “best of” series on the Briscoes takes some steps in the right direction in terms of production. The DVD chronicles the Briscoes early days in ROH before skipping ahead to focus on when they established themselves as a dominant tag team in ROH while holding the ROH World Tag Team titles multiple times with the reputation of having big matches with wrestlers from ROH and Japan. Included before and after most of the matches on the disc are mini interviews with Jay and Mark Briscoe.

When it comes to the interviews, they are mostly done in Kayfabe, but Mark and Jay are the kind of guys that can pull that off and make it entertaining, although it is a bit of a letdown not to get any real insight into some of their bigger matches and feuds included on this release.

The first disc covers a selection of Briscoes matches from 2002-2004 and there’s a clear difference between their performances on the first disc and the second disc, which covers 2006-2008. During the early days of ROH the Briscoes were both teenagers and hadn’t gotten themselves into the shape they were in during the second disc included with this release. They often played the underdog role and did it quite well.

There are some really good matches on the first disc, but the real hook on the disc is the selection of matches from the feud the Briscoes had with Samoa Joe. Both Briscoes talk about how feuding with Samoa Joe for the ROH Tag Team titles made them tougher as wrestlers in the ring. Jay credits Joe for helping them get started with their current tough guy act, which has evolved rapidly over the last couple of years.

The matches from their feud with Joe are really good. The story was Joe teamed with multiple partners in an attempt to capture the tag titles after the Briscoes attacked him alongside Jim Cornette, who was serving as a mentor to the Briscoes during this period. The best match of the feud, which holds up really well today, is Samoa Joe defending the ROH World Title in a Steel Cage match from “At Our Best” in 2004. The match features Jay getting busted up and taking an absolute beating from Joe before ultimately falling short.

The Briscoes talk about Mark’s motorcycle accident in 2004, which resulted in the Briscoes being out of the company for a long period of time. Mark talks about becoming addicted to pain pills during that time and how neither of them was sure they were going to go back to wrestling. Jay admits that both of them got into a bad situation when Mark got hurt and they would go to bars and drink. He also discusses how they got into some other bad things as well, which seems to hint at both men having substance abuse issues. Jay talks about how they bounced back from that situation and this discussion is one of the only times on the release where it feels like the Briscoes are giving some real insight into their personal lives on this release.

The second disc features a lot of very good matches from when the Briscoes started to get into shape and carry themselves like a dangerous team in the ring. The Briscoes talk about their time wrestling in Japan with NOAH and how that helped them improve a lot as a unit wrestling every night against elite talent. The Briscoes matches against Kenta & Marufuji from NOAH and Shingo & Doi from Dragon Gate included on the second disc are both excellent matches that highlight a time when ROH brought in talent from all over the world and got people buzzing about the product.

The Briscoes have had some really good matches against each other in ROH and two of them are included on here with one being from the early years and the second from 2007 when ROH did a string of shows in England. Both matches are really good, but the crowd reaction and the story behind the match in England in 2007 are excellent. Mark is really funny talking about these matches and he gets Jay to crack up when he says he was like a slippery hog in the ring in 2007 and Jay couldn’t get his hands on him.

This release features two matches from the excellent Briscoes-Steen & Generico feud. Both matches are very good and hold up well even today. “That was the feud of our career,” says Jay when talking about their feud with Steen & Generico.

At first I questioned why the Briscoes vs. Aries & Strong in a 2/3 Falls match from “Dedicated” was included on this list, but it makes sense given how it ties into the 2/3 Falls match the Briscoes had against Steen & Generico with the ROH World Tag Team Titles on the line at “Manhattan Mayhem II.” The gimmick was going into their match at “Manhattan Mayhem II” against Steen & Generico was that the Briscoes had won six consecutive falls in 2/3 Falls matches in 2007. It’s hard to believe, but the gimmick got over and there was a lot of heat for the Briscoes-Steen & Generico match at “Manhattan Mayhem II” and even though the Briscoes won the match 2-0, the crowd was dying to see Steen & Generico get a fall on the Briscoes after the Briscoes had won seven straight falls in 2/3 Falls matches.

The second disc concludes with a look at the Briscoes feud with the Age of the Fall. It’s disappointing in that these two teams had some really good matches, but they included the Briscoes taking on Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs at “Battle of the Best” in Japan, which wasn’t the best selection for a “best of” release. The Briscoes appear and talked about how different it was having a crazy match in front of a relatively quiet Japanese crowd.

Overall score: (9.0) - This release is really good and well worth picking up. Although a lot of the interviews are mostly kayfabed, the Briscoes pull it off well and Mark is genuinely hilarious talking about some of his memories about the matches included on this disc. It would have been a more interesting release if the Briscoes had given more insight into the matches and feuds.

The production for the interview segments could have been better, as it seems like the raw footage from the interview was spliced into the release between matches instead of produced to look professional, but this is a step in the right direction for ROH and in the future they should continue to add interviews to the “best of” releases to give fans on the fence a reason to invest in these releases. Despite some minor issues with this release, I give it a high recommendation.

You can purchase this release at ROHWrestling.com

***

Please click HERE and click “like” to join the Radican’s Wrestling Community Facebook fan page.

Follow Sean on Twitter at Twitter.com/SeanRadican

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com


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