The Independent Mid-Card 07.03.07: The Briscoes vs. MCMG (Part V)

Jay & Mark Briscoe © vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
ROH World Tag Team Title Match
Ring of Honor – Good Times, Great Memories – Chicago Ridge, IL – April 28, 2007

The Wrestlers:
Jay & Mark Briscoe – After defeating Shingo & Naruki Doi to win back the ROH World Tag Team Titles in late March, the Briscoes were faced with a tough road ahead. During their title win, Mark had seriously injured himself attempting a Shooting Star Press to the outside. With his brother strapped to a stretcher and on his way to the hospital, Jay Briscoe was somehow successful in winning the belts on his own. Immediately after the match, he was approached by the Murder City Machine Guns who claimed that they wanted a title shot. Jay agreed on behalf of himself and his brother, and was promptly beaten down. Though Mark would make his surprising return to action two weeks later in Edison, NJ, he would fall prey to a sequence of moves that targeted his neck and head, leading to El Generico & Kevin Steen scoring an upset, non-title win over the ROH World Tag Team Champions. Though the Briscoes were able to win a four-way Ultimate Endurance match the night before this contest, it was unclear if Mark Briscoe had completely healed from his injuries as this match was set to take place.

Murder City Machine Guns – Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin have long been amongst the most talented junior heavyweights in the entire world. Shelley had spent more time in Ring of Honor over the years, most notably during stints in the Embassy and as the original leader of Generation Next, but had left the company nearly a year before this to pursue his career with Total Nonstop Action. Sabin, who had been with TNA almost since its inception, was at this point that company’s X-Division Champion, marking him as the recognized top high-flyer in the company. Though the duo had a number of successes as individuals over the years, their big claim to fame in recent months was winning the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championships in Japan’s ZERO1-MAX promotion. They were considered more than a legitimate threat to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles heading into this contest, especially with Mark Briscoe’s health still in question.

The Match:
The Murder City Machine Guns are the first to head down to the ring. They pose on the ramp and are announced at a combined weight of 404 pounds. No nickname in the announcement, by the way, just ‘Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin’. The reception is notably loud, with more than a smattering of “Welcome Back!” from the crowd. Gimme Back My Bullets hits as usual and Jay & Mark Briscoe make their way to ringside. They are announced at 421 pounds, and it is notable that Jay looks particularly intimidating here, wearing a Confederate bandana to cover his face and with his belt resting around his neck like a necklace. Mark prays in the corner as is his tradition and the champions get solid streamer treatment from the crowd. Dueling chants for Shelley and the Briscoes as all four men ready for battle. Sabin doesn’t seem bothered in the least by the lack of support and is eventually rewarded with a “Hail Sabin!” chant, an homage to his earlier gimmick in TNA. Sabin has already made his way to the apron, but the referee calls for the Code of Honor to be followed and all four men make their way to center ring. Handshakes are done without incident, but Sabin notably mocks Mark’s neck injury on his way back to the corner. The MCMG do rock-paper-scissors to figure out who will start, though the camera focuses on Mark during the whole thing, so we don’t see the result. Sabin clearly ends up the winner and he starts with Mark. The referee calls for the bell and we’re off.

Sabin and Mark circle and lockup in the middle of the ring. Mark works his way into a wristlock and then goes behind into a hammerlock. Sabin counters and gets a headlock takedown and holds it on the mat. Mark rolls him over so his shoulders are down for a one count, but Sabin quickly shifts his weight and holds onto the headlock. Mark elbows Sabin in the face to maneuver him into a headscissors and then does pushups while in the move just because he can. Sabin rolls Mark into a modified leglock in a nice counter and then taunts him for a bit as Mark keeps trying to reach Sabin for a strike to break the hold. Sabin gets too cocky, however, and Mark ends up getting him with a stiff slap to the face. Sabin begs off as the crowd gets in a “You got bitch slapped!” chant. In a nice touch, Shelley hops off the apron as Sabin approaches, not wanting to tag in against the fired-up Mark Briscoe. Shelley audibly says “ouch” on the apron in a funny moment. Sabin and Mark circle again as Chris shakes off the slap. Another lockup and Sabin grabs the wristlock this time. Mark rolls through and gets a single-leg takedown and then grabs a headlock. Sabin works his way back to his feet and then steps over to reverse into a wristlock again. Mark simply walks over and grabs the top rope to force the release and Sabin grants a clean break on the referee’s count. Mark and Sabin circle again and another lockup leads to Mark getting the wristlock this time. Sabin does a complicated sequence with a kip up and a cartwheel to amazingly counter to… a thumb to the eye. That was a great spot by Sabin. Sabin gets a pair of jabs and then whips Mark into a leapfrog sequence, but Mark is able to hit a spinning let lariat on the rebound. Mark follows up with a hurricanrana takedown and then gets a bodyslam before whipping Sabin off the ropes. Mark ducks down and gets caught with a boot to the chest, but when Sabin comes off the ropes again, Mark hits him with a huge back body drop that sends him scurrying over to Shelley in the corner. Shelley strokes Sabin’s hair in a touching moment and then officially tags in. Jay tags in as well and we start again.

More dueling chants for Shelley and the Briscoes as the two men circle. They lock up and Shelley grabs a modified standing armbar. Shelley turns it into a wristlock, but Jay drops down and gets a nice reversal, taking him down to the mat and grabbing a front facelock. Shelley is able to counter back into a wristlock, but Jay counters to one of his own. Shelley tries to flip both forwards and backwards to counter, but when that doesn’t work, he uses the ropes for leverage and finally is able to flip enough to counter the hold back to one of his own. Shelley turns the wristlock into another modified armbar, so Jay forces him into the corner for a break. Shelley gets a standing switch in the corner and holds Jay there, raking his face with a forearm before finally breaking. That would be the end of both teams being polite, I’d imagine. Shelley backs off and the two men do another circle and lockup, leading to Jay forcing Shelley to the corner. This time Jay rakes Shelley’s face with a forearm and now Shelley’s forced to retreat to his corner to regroup. Sabin helpfully hands him a water bottle as Shelley takes a moment before turning his attention back to Jay. Shelley draws a proverbial line in the sand, but Jay is more than eager to oblige, so Shelley begs off and actually kisses Jay’s foot and offers a handshake… before spitting the water in his face. That was fantastic. Shelley smashes Jay’s head into the turnbuckle and then jaws with the crowd for a moment. Jay just gets fired up and hits Shelley with a hard strike coming out of the corner and just whips him right into the turnbuckle. Jay had lost his gum during the course of the exchange, so he dramatically picks it back up and tosses it back in his mouth before going back to work on Shelley in the corner. Don’t start me on the hygiene issues involved in that decision. Jay gets a couple of forearms in the corner and then pulls Shelley out and grabs a headlock. Shelley grabs a headlock of his own, but gets whipped off the ropes into a shoulderblock that effectively ends in a stalemate. Shelley tries the shoulderblock again, but still can’t put Jay down. On the third try, Shelley rolls under a clothesline and then catches Jay with a flying headscissors. Jay gives him a receipt by immediately ducking a clothesline and taking Shelley down with a hurricanrana. Jay then follows up with a leg lariat that sends Shelley crashing through the ropes and out to the floor. Sabin drops to the floor to check on Shelley. He seems fine, but when he rolls in, Shelley almost immediately tags out to Sabin.

Jay stays in against Sabin and the two of them circle a bit. They grab a knucklelock, but Sabin kicks one hand off and spins into a top wristlock. Jay counters into a wristlock and then grabs a headlock before getting a drop toehold into a leg capture camel clutch. Sabin reaches out and grabs the ropes, so Jay breaks on four after counting along loudly with the referee. Jay momentarily backs off, but then comes running with a boot before smashing Sabin into the Briscoes’ corner and tagging out to Mark.

Mark comes in and gets a series of strikes in the corner. He smashes Sabin into one of the other corners and then gets another hard chop to the chest. A bodyslam and a fistdrop follow, but Shelley pulls Mark off before the referee can even start to count. Mark gets a clubbing blow and a forearm shot before Sabin reverses a cross-corner whip. Sabin follows him in with a clothesline and then whips him off the ropes right into a jumping back elbow. Sabin reaches out and tags Shelley in.

Shelley gets a face stretching stomp to Mark and then stands on his throat for a few moments. Mark tries to come back with a strike, but Shelley gets a boot to the midsection and gets a straight right hand to the jaw. He goes to bull rush Mark, but Mark leans back and pulls Shelley to the Briscoes’ corner, allowing Jay to tag in.

Jay gets a couple of strikes in, but Shelley comes back with chops for both Briscoes. Shelley goes off the ropes but gets caught with a boot to the midsection and the Briscoes go into a fantastic double-team sequence that sees Mark hit a kick, Jay come off the ropes with a leg lariat to the back of the neck, the momentum sending Shelley right into a jawbreaker from Mark, allowing Jay to grab Shelley and plant him with a Flatliner just as Mark comes off the ropes with a kick to the back of the head. That sequence was unbelievably fast and crisp. Jay covers, but it only gets a one count. Jay chops Shelley and then forearms him into the corner for another hard chop. Jay whips Shelley cross-corner into a clothesline and then gets a snapmare takedown before coming off the ropes with a basement dropkick. Again, Shelley kicks out at one. Jay gets a bodyslam and then tags out to Mark.

Mark comes right in with a slingshot doublestomp and then tries to pull Shelley away from the ropes. Shelley holds onto the bottom rope to prevent the cover, so Jay just kicks his hand away and Mark is able to cover for another one count. Sabin runs in and pushes Mark in the back, but quickly retreats to the corner. Mark gets his frustration out by kicking Shelley in the back and then grabs a modified Cobra Clutch before turning it into an arm capture figure-four headscissors. Mark continues to wrench in the hold, but Shelley is able to wriggle his way over to the ropes to force the break. Mark releases without incident and then reaches over to tag in Jay.

Mark whips Shelley off the ropes right into a back elbow from Jay. Jay tries to pick Shelley up off the mat, but Shelley pushes him off. Instead, Jay settles for standing on Shelley’s head and chest while holding the ropes. Jay releases without any protest and then gets a snap suplex before tagging back out to Mark.

Mark immediately covers for two upon entering the ring. Mark then whips Shelley off the ropes, but ducks down on the rebound and gets caught with a Russian Legsweep. Shelley reaches out for his corner, but Mark grabs his leg. Shelley goes for an enziguiri, but Mark ducks. However, Shelley immediately gets a mule kick that Mark is unable to avoid. Shelley lunges forward and is able to tag out to Sabin.

Sabin starts strong with a hard kick to the midsection, but gets caught with a forearm when he goes off the ropes. Mark goes off the ropes himself to follow up, but Sabin runs with him and a surprised Mark falls prey to an Ace Crusher. That was a neat spot that you don’t really see very often. Sabin comes off the ropes again with a hard dropkick to the side of Mark’s head and then covers for two. Sabin poses for a moment before getting a stomp to Mark’s head. Mark tries to come back with a headbutt to the midsection, but Sabin gets a forearm to the back of the neck and then rams Mark’s head into the turnbuckle. Sabin stands over Mark in the corner and spits on his hands, readying for what looks to be a 10 Punch, but then just wipes his spit covered hands on Mark’s face in another nice head-fake spot. Sabin hops off the ropes, more than pleased with himself, only to get slapped in the face by Mark. Sabin slaps him back and then Mark responds again in kind, so now Sabin gets a jawbreaker that sends Mark back into the corner. Sabin gets a boot to Mark and then follows up with an elbow to the back of the head before pulling Mark to the MCMG corner and tagging in Shelley.

Shelley comes in and the MCMG whip Mark into a double team hiptoss and then hit simultaneous fistdrops before kipping up at the same time and hitting simultaneous kicks to Mark with Sabin kicking him in the back and Shelley kicking him in the chest. Great sequence there. Sabin makes his way out of the ring as Shelley covers for two. Shelley kicks Mark into the corner and then gets a boot choke before blowing snot onto him just to be a jerk. Shelley whips Mark off the ropes and gets a light spinebuster before going for a Lionsault (springboard quebrada from the second rope) that gets two. Shelley poses like Chris Jericho to keep the ongoing comparisons of the two alive as the crowd responds favorably. Shelley stands on Mark’s hand while he tries to reach for the tag, which is a remarkably good heel spot. Eventually, he just pulls Mark back and rakes his face. Shelley slams Mark face-first into Sabin’s boot in the corner and then makes the tag.

Sabin comes in and the MCMG get simultaneous wristlocks before hitting a double back elbow to the head and getting a double-team snap suplex. Shelley and Sabin then come off the ropes with a rapid fire pair of running legdrops before posing for the now incredibly hot crowd. Sabin makes a cocky cover for one and then locks in a modified abdominal stretch. Jay comes in and kicks Sabin to break it up, but Shelley keeps Mark in the MCMG corner while Sabin jaws at Jay. Sabin forearms Mark into the corner and then gets a jab before whipping him cross-corner. Mark floats over on the blind charge and then ducks a clothesline before springing out of the corner with a flying forearm strike. Mark rolls over to his brother and makes the tag.

Jay ducks a clothesline and gets a series of chops before whipping Sabin into a leapfrog sequence. Jay puts him down on the rebound with a flipping dropkick and then forearms Shelley off the apron. Jay counters a clothesline into a Stunner-like chinbreaker and then comes off the ropes with a Yakuza Kick that gets two. Shelley tries to make the save, but Jay releases the cover and Shelley ends up dropping an elbow on Sabin instead. Jay strikes Shelley into the corner and then whips him cross-corner. Shelley reverses the whip, but Jay floats over on the blind charge and Shelley slides under him into the turnbuckle. Jay gets a back elbow to Sabin and then a forearm that puts Shelley down in the corner, leading to Jay sidestepping a Sabin charge and Sabin splashing his partner in the corner. Jay get a back body drop on Sabin and then splashes Shelley’s back in the corner. Jay calls for Mark to come in and the Briscoes hit Shelley with a huge double-team military press. Shelley rolls to the outside and Jay & Mark set up for their crucifix powerbomb/neckbreaker combination, but when Jay goes off the ropes, Shelley trips him up and pulls him out to ringside. Shelley rams Jay into the guardrail while Sabin knees Mark in the gut and whips him into the corner for a running boot to the face. It’s notable that the running boot in the corner was the move that spelled the beginning of the end for Mark in the Briscoes’ tag match against El Generico & Kevin Steen two weeks earlier.

Sabin sets Mark on top and then brings him down with an elevated Hangman’s Neckbreaker that leaves Mark in a tree-of-woe. Shelley hits Mark with a baseball slide dropkick and then Sabin follows up with his Hesitation Dropkick. Mark uses the momentum of the move to bounce up and release himself from the tree-of-woe, but is clearly hurt and immediately rolls out of the ring. Jay rolls back in and tries to rush the MCMG, but they sidestep him and toss him over the top rope to the outside. Sabin & Shelley then follow them out with stereo topes to the floor.

Sabin rolls Jay back in and whips him into the corner. Sabin then whips Shelley cross-corner so he can hit a running forearm strike on Jay before following up with a running back elbow of his own. Shelley pops out to the apron and up to the top rope while Sabin gets Jay in a fireman’s carry, and then Shelley comes off the top with a knee strike to Jay’s head. Shelley immediately goes for a slingshot cross body to Mark on the outside, but Mark rolls in under him and strikes Sabin in the midsection, freeing Jay in the process. The Briscoes whip Sabin off the ropes, but duck down and Sabin gets a kick to Mark’s chest before taking Jay down and locking him in a Texas Cloverleaf. Mark tries some overhand chops to Sabin’s head to break it up, but Sabin no-sells the Redneck Fu and Shelley catches Mark in the Border City Stretch (over-the-shoulder arm capture crossface) as the champs look to be in trouble. The crowd pops up, thinking this might be it, especially with Mark already having an injured head and neck. Mark is able to elbow out, however, and gets a forearm to Sabin to break up that hold as well. Shelley and Mark independently roll to the outside to recover.

Sabin is the first one back to his feet and gets a series of jabs to Jay. Sabin comes off the ropes, but Jay gets a drop toehold that puts Sabin on the second rope. Mark comes running with a knee strike from the apron while Jay forearms Shelley out of his corner. Mark goes for another slingshot doublestomp, but this one misses as Sabin rolls out of the way. Unfortunately for him, he turns around right into another Yakuza Kick from Jay and now Mark heads back out to the apron so he can come back in with a springboard twisting splash that earns Jay a two count when Shelley breaks things up. Good focus by the Briscoes to remember who the legal man was. Jay snapmares Sabin and locks in the Stretch Plum. Shelley comes back in and casually walks over before poking Jay in the eye to break it up. Jay rushes Shelley and knocks him to the outside in retaliation before going back to work on Sabin. Jay gets a clubbing blow to Sabin and then tags out to Mark.

The Briscoes whip Sabin into a double-team Japanese armdrag and then Jay comes off the ropes with a running legdrop before following up with an elbowdrop. On both of those moves, Mark had been running back and forth with doublestomps. What a great little sequence. Mark finishes things up by hitting a springboard flipping senton for two. Mark locks in a single-leg crab and pulls Sabin closer to the Briscoes’ corner. Eventually, Sabin is able to reach out and grab the bottom rope to force the break and Mark tags out to Jay.

Jay & Mark whip Sabin off the ropes and just level him with a double-team shoulderblock. Mark goes to knock Shelley off the apron, but this time he sees it coming and hops down to ringside of his own accord. Jay continues the assault on Sabin and gets another clubbing blow. He brings Sabin to his corner and gets a hard chop before tagging back out to his brother.

Jay smashes Sabin into the corner and the Briscoes get a HUGE double hiptoss out of the corner. Mark follows up with a jumping knee drop and then pulls Sabin closer to the Briscoes’ corner before getting a Majistral Cradle for two. Mark reaches out and tags Jay back in.

The Briscoes whip Sabin cross corner, but he floats over on Mark’s blind charge and leapfrogs a charging Jay, sending him flying into his brother with a corner spear. Sabin then grabs a standing front facelock on Jay and springboards off of Mark with an enziguiri before planting Jay with a swinging DDT. That was awesome. Mark rolls out to the apron as Sabin rolls over to make the tag to Shelley.

Shelley climbs right to the top and comes in with a flying cross body attempt on Jay. However, Jay goes with the momentum and rolls through for a two count. Jay gets a trio of forearms, but Shelley catches him coming off the ropes with a mule kick. Shelley then gets a stiff roundhouse kick to the side of the head and boots a charging Mark in the midsection before flipping him off and hitting a spinning heel kick to put him down. Shelley puts Jay in the corner, but Jay is able to reverse a cross-corner whip, only to get caught with a Flatliner that drops him face-first onto the second turnbuckle. Shelley then climbs to the top, but gets cut off by Jay and crotched on the top turnbuckle. Jay goes up and looks for what might have been a Frankensteiner, but Shelley hits an inverted atomic drop off of the top rope and then ducks down, allowing Sabin to use him as a springboard to dropkick Mark off of the apron. Sabin scurries to the outside and Shelley hits Jay with a bridging German Suplex for a two count. Shelley picks Jay up and tags out to Sabin.

Shelley whips Jay into a drop toehold and Sabin comes running off the ropes with a jumping elbowdrop. Shelley then continues by running off the ropes into a flipping chinlock, only to have Sabin come running behind him with a basement dropkick to Jay’s face. Shelley rolls out and Sabin covers for two when Mark makes the save. Sabin hits Jay with a ribbreaker and gets a springboard elbow drop off the second rope for two. Sabin snapmares Jay into a figure-four headscissors, which is a nice juxtaposition from Mark having used the move on Shelley earlier in the match. Mark gets upset with the move being stolen and comes in to break it up, though it takes a series of boots to do so. Sabin shakes off the boots and walks over to his corner to tag Shelley back in.

Sabin pushes Jay to the corner and the MCMG whip him cross-corner. Sabin tries to whip Shelley into him again, but this time Jay sidesteps him and sweeps Sabin’s legs out as he comes charging, sending Sabin into Shelley with what amounts to a front dropkick. That was a really cool little bit there. Shelley ends up sitting in the corner as Sabin wanders around trying to walk it off. When Sabin gets his bearings, he charges back at Jay, so Jay just trips him up with a drop toehold that sends him face-first into Shelley’s crotch. Unlike most of the times where you see that spot, this time it actually didn’t look in the least bit contrived. Jay rolls over to his corner and makes the tag to Mark.

Mark waits a moment before springboarding in with his screaming Redneck Fu sidekick to Shelley. He then avoids a clothesline from Sabin and hits him with a series of throat thrusts and chops to the chest. Mark puts Sabin down with a jumping sidekick to the back of the head and then does some posing. He tries to whip Shelley cross-corner, but Shelley is able to reverse it. Mark pops right up to the top rope, however and catches a charging Shelley with a boot to the face. Mark then hesitates for a moment before hopping up to the top rope and hitting Shelley with a moonsault press for two. If you read that hesitation as Mark being a little worried about doing high risk dives, then it’s a really cool little moment in the story. Mark picks up Shelley and looks for his modified exploder suplex, but Shelley elbows out of it. Shelley gets a headbutt and comes off the ropes, but again Mark grabs him and looks for his suplex. Shelley again counters, this time by shifting his weight and sending Mark over with an armdrag. Shelley runs over to tag Sabin in.

Sabin hops up to the top rope and comes flying in with a double-axehandle attempt, but Mark catches him and plants him with the modified exploder suplex. See, now that’s a nice little story-within-the-story. Jay comes running and forearms Shelley off the apron. The Briscoes set Sabin up for the crucifix powerbomb/neckbreaker combination they couldn’t hit earlier, and this time are successful, having made sure Shelley wasn’t available to break things up. Mark crawls over and covers Sabin for two. Mark goes out to the apron as the Briscoes set up for the springboard Doomsday Device, but Shelley is able to mess Mark up just enough on the springboard that Sabin can clothesline him out of mid-air and plant Jay with a reverse rana. Jay understandably rolls to the outside to recover and Sabin hits Mark with a mule kick. Shelley follows up with a superkick and then hits another one at the same time that Sabin catches Mark from the other side with an enziguiri. Sabin helps Shelley hit an assisted Sliced Bread #2 (springboard flipping reverse DDT) and then Shelley correctly makes Sabin make the cover, as he’s the legal man. Sabin cradles Mark, but only gets a two count. The crowd totally bought that as the finish. Sabin drags Mark’s body towards the MCMG corner and tags Shelley in.

Shelley & Sabin both climb to the top in their corner and come off with Sabin hitting a legdrop and Shelley hitting a splash at the same time. That was really cool. Shelley stays on Mark and hooks both legs, but Jay breaks up the count at two. The crowd is in a near-frenzy at this point. Shelley picks up Mark for the Air Raid Crash (Schwein), but Mark slips out and grabs a waistlock. Shelley charges to the ropes and leans back to force Mark off, but Jay gets the tag along the way.

Shelley charges at Mark but gets flapjacked onto the top rope and Jay comes running with a Cactus Clothesline to put both men on the outside. Sabin pops down to check on Shelley, so Mark comes running with a no-hands swandive plancha to put him down as well. Jay rolls Shelley back in and calls for the Jay Driller (Tiger Driver ’98), but Shelley is able to reverse out of it. Jay is able to duck a clothesline, however, and then blocks a superkick and looks for the Jay Driller again. This time, Shelley blocks it by hitting a jumping reverse kick while in the front facelock, a similar counter to the one Mark used in the Briscoes’ match against each other two months before this. Shelley comes running off the ropes, but gets caught with a military press into a Death Valley Driver. Jay reaches and tags out to Mark.

Mark climbs right to the top and again hesitates before finally coming down with a Shooting Star Press, the same move that nearly killed him a month earlier. Mark motions the referee over and then gets the cover for two when Sabin dives in to break things up. The crowd, including me visible in the background, totally bought that as the finish. Jay comes in and hits Sabin with a series of forearms, but when he tries to whip him cross-corner, Sabin pastes Mark with a forearm shot. Sabin and Jay hit each other with simultaneous running forearms and then do it again. When the go in for a third time, Sabin wisely switches things up and hits Jay with a kick to the side to put him down. Sabin puts Mark in position and calls for something off the top, but takes too long climbing up and Mark cuts him off. Mark follows him up and looks for a Cutthroat Driver (arm capture Burning Hammer) off the second rope, but Shelley mercifully cuts that short and sets Mark up on his shoulders. Sabin comes off the top with a Doomsday Dropkick and then hits a baseball slide dropkick to Jay at ringside as Shelley hits Mark with a superkick. Shelley then picks up Mark and just spikes him into the mat with an Air Raid Crash. Shelley makes the cover, but Mark somehow kicks out at two. The crowd is just white hot at this point. Shelley is astounded, but focuses himself enough to hit Mark with Shellshock (swinging reverse STO) and cover for two when Jay dives in to break up the count. Sabin drags Jay back to the outside, leaving Mark and Shelley alone in the ring. Shelley looks for Sliced Bread #2, but Mark shoves him off and into the corner, catching him on the rebound and planting him with the Cutthroat Driver… for two. Jay even had Sabin wrapped up on the outside. Jay and Sabin exchange strikes on the outside as the crowd chants “R-O-H!”. Finally, Jay whips Sabin into the guardrail and pops up to the top rope as Mark readies Shelley for another Cutthroat Driver. Jay comes off the top with a Guillotine Legdrop just as Mark drops Shelley head-first to the mat and Mark makes the cover for the three count at 35:17 to retain the titles.

The Briscoes are announced as the winners and are handed their belts. All four men lay around for a while after that, legitimately selling the exhaustion of the whole affair. Gimme Back My Bullets starts up again and the Briscoes pose in opposite corners. Sabin checks on Shelley and after a good long while, Shelley is able to be helped to his feet. A loud and well-deserved “Please come back!” chant starts. Hands are shaken, but almost immediately afterwards, Shelley and Sabin grab the belts out of the Briscoes’ hands. Before offense can be taken, however, the MCMG show the champions respect by cinching the belts around their waists. All four men pose together in the ring, complete with Shelley continuing to sell the neck. Sabin and Shelley head to the back, allowing the Briscoes to soak in the final moments of applause on their own.

The Analysis:
I said in my opening that this match is my match of the year. Literally everything that these four men did for 35 minutes hit cleanly, crisply and built to the finish. Beyond the fact that both the Briscoes and MCMG have credible, interesting offense to throw into a match like this, all of the little details were taken care of with a high level of focus. There was at no time a pinfall attempt involving anyone but the legal men. The closest thing to a legal man issue was when the MCMG had the Briscoes in stereo submission holds, but even then, the referee made sure only to focus on Sabin & Jay, the legal men at that juncture. It seems like a small thing, but it’s the details like that that turn incredible matches into classic ones.

The false finishes down the stretch were almost too numerous to list. The best of them were probably Mark’s Shooting Star Press and Shelley’s Air Raid Crash, but the first Cutthroat Driver was also hot as could be. The Shooting Star Press in particular, especially given what it meant in terms of the Briscoes’ overall storyline, was a major moment in this match, and could easily have finished things off and made sense within the story. Other little things such as Mark’s hesitation on a pair of high-risk dives and Shelley & Sabin’s cocky attitudes leading them to head-fake off of some routine maneuvers made this match feel special. For example, Shelley runs in to break up the Stretch Plum that Jay had locked in. Instead of just stomping Jay on the back and expending more energy, Shelley calmly walks over and pokes him in the eye. Simple, easy, efficient, and exactly what a heel would do if they were trying to break up the hold with a minimum of effort. It’s a shame more performers aren’t that attuned to the details of their matches.

As for the crowd, this (and really the entire show) was a return to form for ROH’s Chicago Ridge crowd, who had been uncharacteristically quiet and impolite on recent shows after earning a reputation as one of the company’s best. Perhaps it was the return to the Frontier Fieldhouse after a one-show stay at the Windy City Fieldhouse in Chicago proper in February, or perhaps it was the special atmosphere created by it being Colt Cabana’s final night with Ring of Honor. Whatever the reason, the crowd was as hyped as could be, and was certainly a notable part of what made this contest in particular so fantastic.

The Aftermath:
As a result of the announcement that Ring of Honor would be moving to Pay-Per-View, TNA pulled its talent from ROH competition. As a result, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley have yet to return to the company despite their incredible performance and amazing reception. Though the duo remains a part of the active TNA roster (Sabin recently lost the company’s X-Division Title which he had held for a number of months) and have become a regular tag team in that promotion, it remains unclear whether they will ever be able to return to Ring of Honor for an encore performance.

Jay & Mark Briscoe have continued to run roughshod over the ROH tag division. With a win over the duo of BJ Whitmer and ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima on the next show, the Briscoes continued to show their dominance in defending their titles. They defeated the team of Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli at ROH’s first PPV taping and then went on to defeat that duo in two straight falls in a 2/3 Falls Match a month or so later. With another win in two straight falls over a temporarily reunited Kings of Wrestling team, Jay & Mark have run their record to an impressive 3-0 in 2/3 Falls contests, having yet to lose a fall under those rules in 2007. Kevin Steen & El Generico also remain a thorn in the side of the ROH World Tag Team Champions, though the Briscoes recently defeated that team to retain their belts at Ring of Honor’s second Pay-Per-View taping in Chicago. There are a number of big defenses on the horizon, including one on the company’s upcoming tour of Japan, but it seems as if Jay & Mark Briscoe may have hit their stride as champions.

The Final Word:
I’m sure there are people who disagree with me (in fact, Jacob Ziegler had a particularly well-reasoned and spirited defense of the Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer Cage Match as his Match of the Year), but for my money, this match is leading a crowded field for this year’s top honor. It’s not just about the action and the length and the unique feel of the matchup. It’s also a product of the level of detail and the complication of the story being told by Jay, Mark, Shelley & Sabin. I cannot express enough how much of a must-see this match is for anyone who takes their year-end awards voting seriously.

To see this match, you can purchase Good Times, Great Memories from rohwrestling.com. The show is also Colt Cabana’s swansong with ROH and features a fantastic ROH World Title Match that saw Shingo put on one of his best performances to date in a losing effort against Takeshi Morishima. This one is well worth your viewing dollars.

There are a number of other columns here on 411 that deserve your attention this week. Ari’s got Column of Honor, Stu’s got Friendly Competition and Bayani’s got Truth B Told. There’s also some great stuff from Bayani and Michael Bauer in the most recent Buy or Sell and the final part of Matt Adamson’s three-week feature in Destiny. I always forget to plug the Destiny column, but please make sure to read it. It’s actually one of my favorites on the site.

If you’ve been following the 411 Independent Draft Spectacular, then you owe it to yourself to read the results of our shows. As of this writing, that includes my show, ROH Brand New Day and Bayani’s PWG experience, Shake It 3 Times.

There are also a few reviews you should check out this week, including John Gregory’s look at IWA Mid-South Hurt 2007 and Brad Garoon’s look at Naomichi Marufuji as GHC Heavyweight Champion. Brad’s also got a look back at SHIMMER, Vol.3. Finally, check out J.D. Dunn’s review of Ring of Honor’s PPV debut, Respect is Earned.

I’ve made the decision to NOT plug any specific columns regarding the Chris Benoit tragedy other than my own The Up & Under column. Please don’t mistake this as pride or hubris or anything other than that there are simply too many to list and I would feel incredibly uncomfortable accidentally leaving one of my fellow writers’ views out. Please feel encouraged to look around and continue to read and re-read the many columns on the subject should you choose.

This marks the end of the Summer of Briscoe here in the IMC. I hope you as readers have had as much fun looking at the careers of Jay & Mark Briscoe as I have had writing about it. By way of a crossover, you should know that my selection of Jay & Mark with the first overall pick in the Independent Draft was no mistake. I really do consider them the top tag team, not only on the Independent scene, but anywhere in the world of wrestling.

I hope everyone has a good week and that you’ll join me again next week here in the IMC. It’s going to be interesting to not actually do a Briscoes match next week. Hopefully I can find something else interesting to watch. Until then, have a great Fourth of July everybody!

As a final addendum, I’m going to add to the bottom here the same piece that was included at the bottom of The Up & Under this week. I’m not sure if I’m going to make it a permanent fixture in this column, but it seems prudent to add here in the wake of last weekend’s tragedy. Please also consider this an expression of my thanks to the many of you who wrote in after that column was posted, sharing both your kind words and in many cases your own experiences. The outpouring of support and understanding was deeply moving and reassured me that sharing my story was the right decision.

More information on depression is available from the National Institute for Mental Health. If you are depressed or know someone who is, you can always call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).