Spotlight: The Briscoe Brothers in NOAH
This is a small project that I've been pushing back for awhile. No big plans for June so let's take a look at the Briscoe Brothers in NOAH.
Briscoes vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura (01/07/07): I'm not sure if the fans knew what to make of The Briscoes. This looks like it might be their first appearance in NOAH. They dominated the home team early on with their high energy offense and team work. Eventually the NOAH team has their chance for some payback. The fans are into this and on a spinning ddt, I think some believe the brothers are beaten. But you & I know that it's going to take more than that. We then get a really good final third and great ending. Overall it's a pretty good match. I think if the crowd was into this the entire time, I might put it around ***3/4. It definitely felt like 2 teams who never worked together BUT knew the spots and were technically proficient. I think there were some new Briscoe Brothers fans by the end of the match
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Briscoes vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi Marufuji (07/01/07): Ambitious as hell but it totally nails it. You've got a young Ibushi and a young Mark so there's a lot of places this could fall apart but it doesn't. If anything it puts you on the edge of your seat and really pop when they hit their spots. An absolute upgrade from the first match and although this is on a comp, I've never seen this get the love it deserves. Near classic junior tag match!
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Briscoes & Doug Williams vs. Misawa, Kanemaru & Suzuki (02/15/08): Really good 6 man match. All the interactions were fun. Obviously Misawa was limited but he still brought the goods during the team moves and once things started cooking. The Briscoe Brothers again were there to make a good impression. I got the vibe that fans were digging their athleticism and intensity. Doug Williams is always good to see as is Ogawa who I think would have been good in ROH vs Danielson '06-08. Anyhow, really enjoyed this!
OK no Briscoes in this pic but c'mon its Doug Williams stretching Kotaro with Misawa & Ogawa in the background.
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Briscoes & Chris Hero vs. KENTA, Akitoshi Saito & Taiji Ishimori (02/21/08): What a finish! Holy cow! Anyhow this was a great tag match. Everyone did just a little bit but it really amounted to a really enjoyable fight. This isn't my favorite period of Chris Hero but he really brings the goods here (no shenanigans). Although you think he'd match up with Saito based on his size but he pairs up with Ishimori and is an awesome base for the junior's flashy moves. Mark and Saito pair up and do some karate stuff that's a little comedy but eventually they gets some really good shots in. Then KENTA and Jay pair up but I never felt that they were in there as the legal man too long...KENTA especially. But his presence was definitely felt. Then a really awesome finish!
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Briscoes vs. Marufuji & Suguira (03/02/08): Man, somehow they topped the finish from above. A true 'Holy Shit!' moment. This was more than just a finish for the ages. This was a classic match in the NOAH style. Junior style moves with a little bit slower pace...it reflected that this was NOT for the Jr. tag straps but the main GHC tag titles. That said there were all types of fireworks here. Only one slip as Mark nearly recreates Hayabusa's tragic lionsault. Thankfully he doesn't rotate and ends up doing a reverse flying headbutt instead. The red neck kung-fu master redeems himself and nails a beautiful top rope version that would make TAKA proud. So they were ambitious here but it all works. There's enough substance in between the big moves that this is more than just spots. And I think that is what makes this worthwhile. If you're a fan of the style then I think you ought to watch this. It may not have had the hype around it just like the Ibushi/Marufuji match above but its another feather in the Briscoes' cap.
The Briscoe Brothers vs Katsu Nakajima & Kota Ibushi (09/06/08): Prematch worry: Let's see if Ibushi gets wacky. Match starts and they are pretty evenly matched. The Briscoes look fantastic with their rough house brawling. They do well in taking the Japanese team's offense...I say that considering the range in offense of their opponents. Really, both teams are leaving it all in the ring - I'm really impressed! This is 100% bananas. 16 minutes of insanity. If you're gonna do a Jr. sprint match, this is it! Classic, classic match in this style. As the kids say, OMFG! (this was back from a post in 2018 but its been so long its only right to include it here).
And other than a couple singles matches with Jay and a couple tags I can't locate, that seems to be the entire Briscoe Brothers time in NOAH. Well...I thought that there would be more since NOAH and ROH had a pretty good relationship from 2006-2008. But I wonder what happened? Maybe it was all up to Misawa and once he died so did the relationship? Also you may have noticed I didn't include their bouts against Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin. I'm going to do those as part of a show review later Many of these are online so in honor of Jay, check 'em. Its been about six months since Jay Briscoe died in a car wreck. In some ways it feels like it happened years ago. So much has happened since then. I just want to do a little bit to keep his memory alive and preserve his legacy.
Thank you Jay!
OK everyone, stay safe and thank you for reading!
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