Mid 20th Century
160-590: The Dark City Fight Club are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Jon Davis and Kory Chavis . In March 2008, Jon Davis teamed with up Kory Chavis as The Dark City Fight Club (DCFC) in Full Impact Pro (FIP). They were revealed as a team on March 22, when they defeated Shayne Swift and Myles Long, and were revealed to have been the masked team that had attacked the Black Market tag team. The following month DCFC faced Black Market in
320-485: A Necro Butcher Rules match against Necro Butcher on night two. After failing to show up to the fifth anniversary show, Life During Wartime on July 6, 2008, Excalibur announced that Jay was "fired" from the company (even though PWG has never been contractual ) and wouldn't be allowed to come back. However, nearly two years later on March 20, 2010, it was announced that the Briscoe Brothers would return to
480-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
640-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
800-553: A professional wrestling tag team consisting of American brothers Jay Briscoe (Jamin "Jay" Pugh, 1984–2023) and Mark Briscoe (Mark Pugh, born 1985). They were known for their 20-year tenure with the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where they were record-setting 13-time ROH World Tag Team Champions . The duo were featured on Ring of Honor 's first-ever event on February 23, 2002, and other than an 18-month hiatus from August 2004 to February 2006,
960-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1120-770: A three-way match for the championship on June 26, but were unsuccessful. On July 31, 2010, DCFC won the FIP Tag Team Championship in Crystal River, Florida by defeating The British Lions. On January 16, 2010, DCFC made their debut for the Evolve promotion, by defeating Aeroform ( Flip Kendrick and Louis Lyndon ). They also compete for Pro Wrestling Fusion , where they won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on August 22, 2009 by defeating Dagon and Sinn Bodhi for
1280-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1440-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1600-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1760-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
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#17327834101701920-402: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Briscoe Brothers The Briscoe Brothers , also called The Briscoes , were
2080-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
2240-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
2400-696: A four-way tag match also involving Villain Enterprises and Los Ingobernables de Japon . At ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds in May, The Briscoes lost to Guerillas of Destiny once more, failing to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships. In July, The Briscoes defeated Guerillas of Destiny in a New York City Street Fight , to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships for the eleventh time. At Death Before Dishonor XVII , The Briscoes retained
2560-530: A fullback and a linebacker and Mark as a tight end and a linebacker. At one point, both were signed to play for Wesley College (Delaware) , a fact even used in wrestling storyline at one point, at ROH Beating the Odds , to explain an absence from which they were returning. The brothers first became interested in wrestling in their youth by watching the World Wrestling Federation on one of
2720-489: A hiatus after Final Battle in December, with a return tentatively scheduled for April 2022. All personnel, including The Briscoes, would also be released from their contracts, but still paid till their contracts expired. It was also announced that champions would be able to defend ROH championships in other promotions. Due to this, The Briscoes worked for many independent companies, such as Game Changer Wrestling and for
2880-580: A ladder. The Briscoes then retained over Steen and Generico in a steel cage match at Caged Rage and in ROH's first-ever ladder match at Man Up . After the ladder match, Jimmy Jacobs and the other members of The Age of the Fall attacked the Brothers and hanged Jay upside-down from the apparatus which held up the belts. It was announced that this would not be included in the footage shown on PPV. After Mark
3040-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
3200-799: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
3360-437: A match that ended in a no contest when DCFC poured gasoline onto Black Market member Joey Machete and threatened to set him on fire. In an Anything Goes match in May, DCFC defeated Black Market, which was followed by Black Market's Shawn Murphy defeating Davis via disqualification and Machete defeating Chavis in a No Disqualification match on July 19. The following month at Heatstroke '08 , DCFC defeated Black Market in
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#17327834101703520-600: A memorable and bloody steel cage match. They dropped the tag team title to the CM Punk and Colt Cabana at ROH's Chicago-area debut, ROH Reborn: Stage Two , working in ROH for the first time as outward heels . At the next show, Round Robin Challenge III , the title switched three times among the teams in the round robin challenge, the Second City Saints (Punk and Cabana), the Briscoe Brothers, and
3680-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
3840-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
4000-471: A non-title win over ROH Champion Xavier at Glory By Honor . This earned him a title shot at All-Star Extravaganza , which he did not win. At Scramble Madness , back in Boston, the brothers' storyline involved them picking their own partners for a tag team match. Jay picked past foe Amazing Red, whereas Mark's partner was Christopher Daniels , as he seemingly joined The Prophecy. Daniels pinned Red to win
4160-486: A somewhat checkered history with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). They have, numerous times, been announced for events at which they ultimately did not perform, such as when they were scheduled for a PWG World Tag Team Championship match against Roderick Strong and PAC at Giant-Size Annual #4 , but wound up being replaced by then- PWG World Champion El Generico and Kevin Steen . The Briscoes have been involved with
4320-503: A tables, ladders, and chairs match for the tag team title, this time against the teams of Teddy Hart and Homicide , the Backseat Boyz, and The S.A.T. The match, which took place at JAPW's 8th Year Anniversary Show , was won Hart and Homicide. At the next show, Fall Out , the S.A.T. defeated them and thus became number one contenders to the tag team championship. More recent JAPW appearances came in early 2006, losing along with
4480-741: A third match, which was a Dog Collar match , where The Briscoes finally defeated FTR, winning the ROH World Tag Team Titles for the thirteenth time. Post match, FTR were attacked by Colten and Austin Gunn , who had targeted FTR for weeks on AEW programming, causing The Briscoes to return to the ring to chase off the Gunns. In the ring, The Briscoes and FTR embraced, ending their year-long feud. The Briscoe Brothers began regularly working for ROH's sister promotion, Full Impact Pro (FIP), in September 2006, after two appearances in May. They won
4640-489: A three-on-one handicap match against Trent Acid . At the inaugural Best of the Best event, a show somewhat atypical of CZW in that it is a tournament spotlighting athletic junior heavyweight wrestling as opposed to violent hardcore matches, the two advanced past the first round in a three-way match with Nick Mondo where the stipulation was whoever took the fall would be eliminated. They were then matched against each other in
4800-503: A title match in January. On January 7, 2011, at "From Small Beginnings Come Great Things" Philly's Most Wanted retained the CZW World Tag Team Championships against the Briscoe Brothers in a no contest. The Briscoes then challenged Philly's Most Wanted to a no disqualification rematch. On February 12, 2011, at "Twelve: The Twelfth Anniversary Event" The Briscoe Brothers defeated Philly's Most Wanted to become
4960-656: A tryout at Florida Championship Wrestling , WWE's developmental territory. As revealed by the Briscoes in a YouTube video promo, they were eventually turned down by WWE as they were not "cosmetically pleasing" to suit WWE's programming. Any future tryouts for the WWE for the brothers were nixed after a series of anti-LGBTQ tweets by Jay from 2011 to 2013. The Briscoes made their debuts for New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome , teaming with Toru Yano in
Dark City Fight Club - Misplaced Pages Continue
5120-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
5280-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
5440-540: A victory over Bullet Club members Bad Luck Fale , Tama Tonga , and Yujiro Takahashi to become the first NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions . Through their affiliation with Yano, the Briscoes also became part of the Chaos stable. The three made their first successful title defense the following day against another Bullet Club trio of Fale, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka ,
5600-495: A weapons match to end the feud. Throughout 2009, DCFC competed sporadically for FIP. On March 28, they defeated Bumz R' Us in a street fight. At the first night of the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup on November 20, they competed in a 'tag team rumble', which was won by Bumz R' Us. In 2010 DCFC moved into FIP Tag Team Championship contention. They faced the champions, The British Lions and The Irish Airborne in
5760-536: Is Earned , Steen and Generico showed up and immediately demanded their title shot; the scene followed with a wild brawl all over the building. The feud was followed on both ROH's standard canon, with Steen defeating Mark at A Fight at the Roxbury , and the PPV series, with the Brothers successfully retaining the tag team title against Steen and Generico at Driven , after which Steen repeatedly attacked both brothers with
5920-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
6080-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
6240-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
6400-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
6560-589: The 2006 Battle of Los Angeles , the Briscoes' numerous no-shows were worked into the company's kayfabe when PWG announced days before that they had been pulled from the tournament as punishment. They wound up appearing anyway, attacking Commissioner Dino Winwood on the night one. The next night, they wrestled in a three-way tag team match for the PWG World Tag Team Championship against Homicide and B-Boy and defending champions Arrogance ( Chris Bosh and Scott Lost ), who went on to retain
Dark City Fight Club - Misplaced Pages Continue
6720-511: The 2022 Crockett Cup in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and held numerous titles on the independent circuit . They were also part of three Six-Man Tag Team Championship teams - winning the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship once with Bully Ray and NJPW's NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship twice (with Toru Yano ). On January 31, 2022, they were the inaugural inductees into
6880-632: The CZW Tag Team Championship on July 14, 2001, as they defeated the original H8 Club at H8 Club: Dead? They lost it, however, in their first defense, to Johnny Kashmere and Justice Pain on July 28, 2001, at What About Lobo? Mark wasn't used for several months after that, but Jay continued on as a singles wrestler in that time, even facing Justice Pain for the CZW Heavyweight Championship at September Slam on September 8, which he did not win. At
7040-668: The East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA), while they were still in high school. While their mother, Jana, was in line to purchase tickets to attend a wrestling event, a promoter for the ECWA approached her and asked if her sons had a tape of themselves wrestling. This led to the brothers debuting for ECWA on May 20, 2000, under the ring names "Jay and Mark Briscoe". Jay and Mark Briscoe made their debuts for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) at Delaware Invasion on January 20, 2001, being brought in to job as part of
7200-495: The JAPW Tag Team Championship picture, wrestling in a three-team match against Da Hit Squad and Wasted Youth, the team of Insane Dragon & Deranged, to fill the vacant championship at Unfinished Business on July 13, 2002. It was Jay and Insane Dragon, however, who emerged as champions, after scoring simultaneous pinfalls on the members of Da Hit Squad. The six men went on to meet in a rematch of sorts at
7360-789: The NWA World Tag Team Championship for the first time. With the win, the Dark City Fight Club vacated the NWA Florida tag title. They would lose the title to the Usual Suspects (A.J. Steele and Murder One) on May 1, 2011. They would regain the title two weeks later on May 15. Davis did not participate in the match where the Dark City Fight Club lost the titles, in San Antonio, TX on December 15, 2012. Lance Hoyt filled in for Davis, as
7520-422: The National Wrestling Alliance for the remainder of 2021. At Final Battle in December, The Briscoes wrestled their final match for ROH defeating The Kingdom to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships for the twelfth time. After the match, The Briscoes thanked the ROH fans for their support and challenged any team to face them for the titles, but were interrupted by AEW's FTR who attacked the Briscoes. During
7680-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
7840-632: The ROH Hall of Fame . As singles competitors, Jay Briscoe was a two-time ROH World Champion , while Mark Briscoe won the 2013 Honor Rumble . The Briscoe Brothers teamed together from 2000 until Jay Briscoe's sudden death in a car accident on January 17, 2023. The Pugh brothers, Jamin (Jay) (January 25, 1984 – January 17, 2023) and Mark (born January 18, 1985) grew up in Laurel, Delaware . As high schoolers, both received honorable mention All-State honors their junior and senior years for football, Jay as
8000-489: The ROH Tag Team Championship , losing in title matches at Night of Champions , The Epic Encounter , and Death Before Dishonor , which by stipulation was their last match for the title for as long as Styles and Red held it. Before the last match, a poll was held on ROH's website, asking the fans if they wanted to see a third match between the two teams. Over 80% of respondents voted 'yes'. At Beating
8160-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
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#17327834101708320-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
8480-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
8640-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
8800-509: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
8960-561: The All Night Xpress defeated the Briscoe Brothers in a ladder match to become the number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship. At Final Battle 2011 on December 23, the Briscoes defeated Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team ( Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin ) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the seventh time. On May 12, 2012, at Border Wars , the Briscoe Brothers lost
9120-550: The April 28 episode of Impact, The Briscoe Brothers returned and defeated Heath and Rhino . On May 7, 2022, they defeated Violent By Design (represented by Eric Young and Deaner ) at Under Siege to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time. on the May 19 episode of Impact, The Briscoe Brothers defeated Violent By Design (Deaner and Joe Doering) to retain the titles. On
9280-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
9440-680: The Belts , but Mark fell to Delirious in the first round and Jay to Roderick Strong in the semifinals. Their feud with the Deathmatch Kings continued at International Impact weekend, April 20 and April 21, culminating in the Brothers retaining the tag team title in a bar room brawl on night two. The Briscoes further went on in 2007 to retain the title in matches over the likes of Tyler Black & Marek Brave, Black & Trik Davis, and The Irish Airborne . On November 9, at Unstoppable 2007 , their year-long title reign ended, when they dropped
9600-594: The Briscoe Brothers for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at ROH's Eight Anniversary Show in New York City on February 13, but were unsuccessful. At the March 6, 2010 tapings, they won a squash match, before they lost to the Briscoes. At the tapings themselves, the match was billed as a non-title match, but by the time the match aired on May 10, the Briscoes had lost the Tag Team Championship, and
9760-893: The Briscoe Brothers were entered into DDT4 once more, this time losing to the Nightmare Violence Connection (Akira Tozawa and Kevin Steen) in the first round. The brothers went on an extensive hiatus from professional wrestling, beginning in August 2004. As was announced before ROH's Scramble Cage Melee , Mark was injured in a motorcycle accident between Testing the Limit and that show, and thus both brothers had left Ring of Honor. As Jay didn't wish to return to wrestling without his brother, they stopped taking bookings from any company. After making their returns in mid-2005 to Pro Wrestling Unplugged, followed in late 2005 at ROH,
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#17327834101709920-590: The Briscoe Brothers would return on March 7. That night, the Briscoes challenged for the World Tag Team Championship, but were unable to defeat The Dynasty ( Joey Ryan and Scott Lost), following interference from Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli, members of Human Tornado 's stable . The Briscoes were scheduled for the 2008 DDT4 , but Mark was unable to perform, causing Jay to wrestle in singles matches against Austin Aries on night one and
10080-705: The Briscoes and Yano lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Fale, Tonga and Takahashi in their second defense. The Briscoes and Yano regained the title three days later at The New Beginning in Niigata . On February 20 at Honor Rising: Japan 2016 , the Briscoes and Yano lost the title to The Elite ( Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks). The Briscoes returned to NJPW on June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall , where they defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa ) to win
10240-446: The Briscoes lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black of The Age of the Fall, but won it back on April 12, 2008, at Injustice , defeating Richards and Romero, who had since won the championship from Jacobs and Black. On April 20, ROH's official website reported that Mark had sustained a wrist injury due to Jacobs stabbing him with his trademark rail spike and stood to miss up to six months. The next day,
10400-416: The Brothers finally reached the top of the mountain again, defeating Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal to win the tag team championship. Their reign, however, proved to be brief, as they in turn to dropped the belts to Naruki Doi and Shingo Takagi in their first defense, at Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool . After this match, the storyline was that the brothers felt they needed to "man up" due to losing
10560-571: The Dark City Fight Club had stopped taking bookings together earlier in 2012. On February 6, 2009, Davis and Chavis made their Ring of Honor debut at Proving Ground 2009: Night 1 . They appeared at the Ring of Honor Wrestling television tapings on March 1, where they defeated Grizzly Redwood and Andy Ridge in a squash match . On April 24, Davis dislocated his wrist during a tag team match. He suffered four dislocated bones and "destroyed ligaments and tendons" in his left wrist, and underwent surgery for
10720-412: The FIP Tag Team Championship from The Heartbreak Express in their fourth event with the promotion, Southern Justice , after previously winning a number one contenders match over Davey Richards and Colt Cabana . On November 11, at Evening the Odds , the Briscoes were aligned with newly crowned FIP Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong as members of his team for a five-on-five elimination match, where
10880-460: The Fall in a no disqualification match. On December 19, 2009, at Final Battle 2009 , the Briscoes won the ROH World Tag Team Championship for a sixth time by defeating The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards ). They lost the championship to the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) at The Big Bang! pay-per-view on April 3. The Briscoe Brothers ended their feud with
11040-600: The IWGP Tag Team Championship. They made their first successful title defense on August 14 against the Bullet Club team of Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi. On September 22 at Destruction in Hiroshima , The Briscoe Brothers defeated reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks for their second successful title defense. On October 10 at King of Pro-Wrestling , they lost
11200-411: The Kings of Wrestling on December 18 at Final Battle 2010 , where they teamed with their father Mike "Papa" Briscoe in a six man tag team match, where they defeated Hero, Castagnoli and their manager Shane Hagadorn. On March 19 at Manhattan Mayhem IV , the Briscoe Brothers suffered an upset loss against the All Night Xpress ( Kenny King and Rhett Titus ). On September 17 at Death Before Dishonor IX ,
11360-1109: The Kings of Wrestling won the match to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship and win Tag Wars. On April 3, 2011, at Open the Ultimate Gate , the Dark City Fight Club was presented as Dragon Gate USA 's newest tag team. In their first match in the promotion, Davis and Chavis were defeated by the Dirty Ugly Fucks ( Arik Cannon and Sami Callihan ). Davis won the EVOLVE 2012 Style Battle Round-Robin Tournament by defeating A. R. Fox , Tommy Taylor, and Bobby Fish over 3 nights June 28–30 in Ybor City, St. Petersburg, and Jacksonville, FL. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
11520-476: The May 26 episode of Impact, The Briscoe Brothers and Josh Alexander defeated Violent By Design (Deaner, Eric Young and Joe Doering) in a six man tag team match. On the June 16 episode of Impact, The Briscoe Brothers defeated Bullet Club ( Jay White and Chris Bey ). At Slammiversary , The Briscoe Brothers lost the titles to The Good Brothers ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson ) ending their reign at 43 days. On
11680-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
11840-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
12000-460: The Odds , they returned from a brief absence to score a pair of wins which were depicted in the storyline as being improbable, Mark over ROH veteran B. J. Whitmer and Jay in a Four Corner Survival match with ROH World Champion Samoa Joe , NWA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles, and Chris Sabin , pinning Sabin to earn a future title shot at Joe. At ROH's Maryland debut, Tradition Continues , Joe retained over Jay. The Brothers took part in
12160-631: The Outcast Killers to the S.A.T. once again at Wild Card II in a tag team title match, and then at Brotherly Love to the team of Sabu and Sonjay Dutt , a match they also lost. In October 2008, the Briscoes competed at JAPW's 11th Anniversary Show against LAX (Homicide and Hernandez). During a brawl outside the ring, Mark suffered a large gash on the side of his head. The Briscoe Brothers have wrestled most extensively for Ring of Honor . Jay wrestled on ROH's first-ever show, The Era of Honor Begins , losing to Amazing Red . Mark seconded him to
12320-528: The Prophecy team of Dan Maff and B. J. Whitmer. The Briscoes defeated Maff and Whitmer in the fourth match of the night to win the title for a second time, and then lost it back to Punk and Cabana in the main event. The Brothers both participated in ROH's inaugural Survival of the Fittest tournament , with Mark going over Alex Shelley in his qualifier and Jay falling to Homicide. Mark did not, however, win
12480-537: The ROH Commissioner, fighting battles against his enemies, most notably Homicide and his partner Samoa Joe at Glory By Honor V: Night Two and in anything goes, falls count anywhere, elimination match at Dethroned . During this time, they also feuded with Kenta and his partners Davey Richards and Naomichi Marufuji , facing Kenta and Richards at Time to Man Up and Kenta and Marufuji at Glory By Honor V: Night One . At Fifth Year Festival: Chicago ,
12640-730: The ROH World Champion. Jay made his first successful title defense on May 4 at Border Wars 2013 against Adam Cole . On June 22 at Best in the World 2013 , Jay successfully defended the ROH World Championship against Mark. The following day, Jay made another successful title defense against Matt Hardy . During the weekend ROH shot injury angles with both Briscoes. On June 25, it was reported that both Jay's and Mark's contracts with ROH had expired and would not be renewed. On July 3, Ring of Honor stripped Jay of
12800-400: The ROH World Championship. On July 16, ROH announced Mark as the sixteenth and final entrant in a tournament to determine the new ROH World Champion, while also noting that Jay was slated to be out of action for three to six months. Mark was eliminated from the tournament in his first round match on July 27 by Adam Cole. Jay returned to ROH on September 20 at Death Before Dishonor XI to hand
12960-584: The ROH World Tag Team Championship for the ninth time. They lost the titles on October 14, 2018, against So Cal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky). They won the titles back on December 14, 2018, for the tenth time, but lost them to Villain Enterprises at the ROH 17th Anniversary Show . The Briscoes failed to win the titles and additionally the IWGP Tag Team Championships at G1 Supercard in April, losing to Guerrillas of Destiny in
13120-520: The ROH World Tag Team Championships, losing the titles in a critically acclaimed match, ending their twelfth reign at 111 days. The Briscoes next appeared in July at Death Before Dishonor , facing FTR for the titles in a two out of three falls match. The match ended with FTR defeating The Briscoes 2-1 after 43 minutes and 26 seconds, retaining the titles in another highly praised match. On December 10, at Final Battle , The Briscoes and FTR faced each other in
13280-467: The S.A.T. After further appearances in 2006, which were all matches they lost, the Briscoe Brothers entered PWU's Pitbull/Public Enemy Memorial Cup on October 20. They advanced past the first round match, winning over the Krash Krew, but in the course of this match, Mark was injured when Jay inadvertently struck him in the mouth with the backswing of a chairshot. Mark was taken to the hospital after
13440-530: The World . The Briscoes and Bully Ray challenged for the title again on September 22 at Death Before Dishonor XV , but were defeated by Hangman Page and The Young Bucks, when Jay turned on Ray. On October 20, Mark also turned on Ray, attacking him and Tommy Dreamer with his brother. On December 15, 2017, at Final Battle The Briscoe Brothers won against Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer in a New York Street Fight. On March 9, 2018, at ROH 16th Anniversary Show , The Briscoes defeated The Motor City Machine Guns to win
13600-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
13760-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
13920-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
14080-533: The belts to Kenny King and Jason Blade. The Briscoe Brothers toured with ROH Japanese partner Noah in 2007, winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on January 7, 2007, from the team of Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru . However, they quickly dropped it two weeks later to Ricky Marvin and Kotaro Suzuki , essentially making them transitional champions . They returned for three shows in July,
14240-540: The brothers were focal points of the company throughout its history, feuding with some of its biggest stars. The Briscoes were 15-time world tag team champions overall with a record 13 ROH World Tag Team Championship reigns, one IWGP Tag Team Championship reign in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and one Impact World Tag Team Championship reign. They also held Pro Wrestling Noah 's GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship once, were winners of
14400-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
14560-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
14720-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
14880-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
15040-419: The company announced that Jay and a partner of his choosing would continue to be recognized as the tag team champions. This partner was later revealed to be Austin Aries. After their successful defense against Jacobs & Black on May 10 at A New Level , the championship was declared vacant. Mark returned to active competition at Northern Navigation on July 25, teaming with Jay and Aries to defeat The Age of
15200-494: The company on April 10 to challenge The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) for the World Tag Team Championship. On April 10 at Titannica , the Briscoes made their long-awaited return to the promotion, but were defeated by The Young Bucks. The next month, the brothers competed in the fourth annual DDT4 , defeating Kamikaze ( Akira Tozawa and Yamato ) in the opening round before being eliminated by eventual winners ¡Peligro Abejas! ( Paul London and El Generico). On March 4, 2011,
15360-561: The company they had regularly been working for at the time of Mark's accident, hyped their return at the Fourth Anniversary Show in February 2006. The Brothers worked for Philadelphia-based Pro Wrestling Unplugged (PWU) since at least September 17, 2005, when they defeated The S.A.T. and All Money is Legal to win the then-vacant PWU Tag Team Championship. They held that title until April 22, 2006, when they dropped it to
15520-484: The course of the match Mark was seriously injured attempting a Shooting Star Press to the floor. Mark was kept in the ICU of hospital for two nights, and suffered a seizure there before eventually being released. Two weeks later, at Fighting Spirit , Mark made an unannounced return, entering through the crowd to come to his brother's side during his match with Erick Stevens against Kevin Steen and El Generico . The storyline
15680-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
15840-487: The elimination final. After losing a two out of three falls tag team title match to Punk and Cabana at Death Before Dishonor II Part 1 , ending that feud, they lost in separate singles matches to members of The Rottweilers the next night. Between that and their victory in tag team action at Testing the Limit , it is likely that a feud was planned between the Briscoes and the Rottweilers. The Briscoe Brothers have
16000-422: The end of 2001 and into 2002, CZW's territory (that is, the area at which they held the majority of their events) was shifting from Sewell, New Jersey , to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , in order to hold events regularly at the old ECW arena , beginning with December 15's Cage of Death 3 . At this event, they faced Nick Gage and Nate Hatred, but wore masks and were identified as The Midnight Outlaws. This
16160-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
16320-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
16480-562: The final Ultimate Endurance match . Chavis and Davis faced and defeated The Embassy team of Shawn Daivari and Ernesto Osiris in the first round and defeated the Bravado Brothers in the semi-finals on August 27. The following night, on August 28, DCFC faced the Kings of Wrestling, The All Night Express ( Kenny King and Rhett Titus ) and The Briscoe Brothers in the Ultimate Endurance match, but were unsuccessful as
16640-511: The first a time limit draw against Kenta and Taiji Ishimori , the second a victory alongside Nigel McGuinness over Takuma Sano , Takashi Sugiura, and Tsutomu Hirayanagi , and the third a loss with McGuinness to Mitsuharu Misawa (Noah's owner), Yoshinari Ogawa , and Ricky Marvin. They have since gone back for further tours. On December 11, 2010, at Cage of Death XII The Briscoes Returned to CZW challenging newly crowned CZW World Tag Team Champions Philly's Most Wanted of Blk Jeez and Joker to
16800-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
16960-633: The first round of the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament. At Final Battle , The Briscoes challenged The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the ROH World Tag Team Championship , but were unsuccessful. On March 11, 2017, The Briscoes and Bully Ray defeated The Kingdom to win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship . They lost the title to Dalton Castle and The Boys on June 23 at Best in
17120-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
17280-462: The gauntlet match at Glory By Honor 2 , which was held to fill the tag team championship left vacant by Red suffering a serious knee injury. They defeated and eliminated the Special K team of Hydro and Angeldust as well as The Ring Crew Express, before being eliminated by the other Special K team in the match, Izzy and Dixie, due to outside interference from Angeldust. After Izzy and Dixie later won
17440-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
17600-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
17760-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
17920-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
18080-737: The injury during the first week of May. DCFC returned as a team at the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings in August. At the November 5 television tapings, DCFC fought the Briscoe Brothers to a no contest. At the January 8, 2010, tapings of Ring of Honor Wrestling DCFC squashed the Bravado Brothers (Harlem and Lance), and at the tapings the following night they defeated the former ROH World Tag Team Champions The American Wolves ( Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards ). They challenged
18240-603: The majority of 2020, due to the suspension of all ROH events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Briscoes returned to ROH events in October, with no fans in attendance. In December, The Briscoes competed separately at Final Battle , the only ROH PPV of the year. The following year at Best in the World , The Briscoes defeated Brian Johnson and PJ Black , with events returning to having fans in attendance. On October 27, 2021, Ring of Honor announced that it would go on
18400-431: The match and subsequently lost a number of teeth and sustained damage to his gums as well. In their second-round match of the tournament, against Homicide and Ricky Reyes , Mark was replaced by Joker , who subsequently turned on Jay to cost them the match. They made one further appearance, at an event cross-promoted by PWU and Juggalo Championship Wrestling . This was a four-way singles match involving Jay and Mark and
18560-414: The match was instead billed as a number one contender's match. On the July 5 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling , DCFC defeated The Kings of Wrestling ( Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli ) via disqualification when the Briscoes interfered. In July 2010, ROH announced the teams that would be participating in the Tag Wars tournament, to determine three teams which would challenge the Kings of Wrestling in
18720-491: The match. The Brothers' feud against one another concluded at the First Anniversary Show , when Jay defeated Mark in a match, and the two hugged afterward to signify their reunion. Mark never explicitly left the Prophecy, but in forming a team with his brother, he stopped teaming with them. Newly united as a team in ROH, the Briscoes began, in 2003, to feud with A.J. Styles and Amazing Red, then holders of
18880-495: The members of the S.A.T. to determine the number-one contender to the PWU World Heavyweight Championship, won by Jose Maximo. The Briscoe Brothers returned to ROH at the Fourth Anniversary Show in 2006, forcibly including themselves in a match that was at first between the teams of Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro and Jason Blade and Kid Mikaze. They won in their re-debut. They then feuded for
19040-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
19200-869: The new CZW World Tag Team Champions. They lost the title back to Philly's Most Wanted on May 14, 2011. The Briscoes returned to CZW again on November 10, 2012, facing Dave and Jake Crist in a losing effort. The Briscoes opened a tour of Latin America by participating in the World Wrestling Council 's (WWC) in Puerto Rico, eponymous anniversary series. The main night of Aniversario, The Briscoes lost to Thunder and Lightning . On August 3, 2018, The Briscoes made their debuts for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico, with Rush were defeated LA Park , Penta el Zero M and Rey Fénix . In
19360-417: The next event, Royal Consequences 2 on August 10. Jay and Dragon defended the title against Da Hit Squad and the team of Mark and Deranged in a tables, ladders, and chairs match , which Da Hit Squad won. Two shows later, on September 20 at Family Crisis 2 , Da Hit Squad successfully retained the title over the Briscoes in a regular match. The Brothers did not appear for JAPW again until late 2005, again in
19520-693: The opener. It is unclear how, if at all, JAPW's ownership and management worked around Pennsylvania's child labor law, as both brothers were underage at the time of this and two subsequent appearances in the old ECW arena. They made three other appearances in JAPW in 2001, all against Insane Dragon & Dixie – one a victory, one that ended in a no contest due to outside interference, and the last an unsuccessful challenge for Dragon and Dixie's JAPW Tag Team Championship on June 15 at Here to Stay . They made subsequent appearances for JAPW in 2002, first losing to The S.A.T. on May 3 at May Madness. They then re-entered
19680-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
19840-549: The promotion Pura Raza defeated Volador Jr. and Rey Cometa of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre On September 5, both participated in the International Gran Prix torneo cibernetico and were eliminated the same day; Jay was defeated by Último Guerrero and Mark lost to Carístico . On November 24, 2009, the Briscoe Brothers had a tryout for World Wrestling Entertainment at their SmackDown! and ECW tapings. The following month they were invited for
20000-515: The promotion since its early days, debuting at PWG's fourth-ever show Are You Adequately Prepared to Rock? in October 2003, losing to Super Dragon and B-Boy . Due to the costs of bringing them in from the East coast and the sabbatical from the sport the brothers took , they would not appear again until May 20, 2006, at Enchantment Under the Sea , falling to Cape Fear ( Quicksilver and El Generico). At
20160-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
20320-559: The remainder of 2021 and early 2022, The Briscoes successfully defended the ROH World Tag Team Championships at various independent shows. On March 2, 2022, during All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s live weekly series, AEW Dynamite , owner & executive Tony Khan announced that he had acquired Ring of Honor from the Sinclair Broadcast Group . Following this, ROH returned for the first time since Final Battle at Supercard of Honor XV , where The Briscoes finally faced FTR for
20480-554: The ring but could not wrestle because of Pennsylvania's child labor law (most of ROH's earliest shows took place in Philadelphia). Jay wrestled each of ROH's next four shows, against Spanky , Tony Mamaluke , Doug Williams , and James Maritato , losing to all but Mamaluke. At Honor Invades Boston , when Mark was able to perform, he defeated his brother, in the second-to-last match of the night. The Brothers went on briefly to feud against each other, during which time Jay scored
20640-488: The ring from the Midnight Outlaws, tagging with Ruckus against Mark and someone else. By this time, he had turned 18. Jay and Ruckus were won the match, and this was the last time either Jay or Mark appeared for CZW until April 12, 2003, where Jay and Mark both returned for Best of the Best 3. Jay was a surprise entrant after being taunted by A.J. Styles, and Mark filling in for the injured Ruckus. Jay advanced to
20800-399: The second round, with Jay winning and advancing further. This match was seen by fans as the best of the tournament, and seen in retrospect as having been responsible in large part for helping launch the brothers' careers, as they were new to the independent circuit and very young at the time. After losing in title opportunities at Breakaway Brawl and A New Beginning , the brothers won
20960-664: The second two-time holder of the title. He lost the title to Jay Lethal on June 19, 2015. At Field of Honor , The Briscoes were in a Tag Team Gauntlet match where they were unsuccessful in winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship . The match included The Addiction ( Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian ), War Machine ( Hanson and Ray Rowe ), The All Night Express ( Rhett Titus and Kenny King ), Chaos ( Gedo and Toru Yano ), Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara and Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali. At All Star Extravaganza VIII , The Briscoes teamed with Toru Yano and were defeated by Kushida , A. C. H. and Jay White in
21120-541: The semi-finals, where he lost to B-Boy, and Mark lost his fill-in match to Sonjay Dutt. The two faced off with the Backseat Boyz for the CZW World Tag Team Championship at Truth or Consequences on June 14, but failed to win the belts. The Brothers appeared for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW), in the ECW arena , on March 24, 2001, at March Madness Night 2 , losing to Insane Dragon and Dixie in
21280-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
21440-438: The tag team championship again, but much as they had against Styles and Red three years earlier, they lost in three shots against the champions at the time, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, at Ring of Homicide , Destiny , and Unified . As before, the storyline was that this cost them any chance at the belts for as long as those champs held them. It was around this time that the Brothers became enforcers for Jim Cornette ,
21600-516: The tag team title, the Brothers were granted a shot at it, at Main Event Spectacles . The reason given in the storyline was they were given the shot since they only lost in the gauntlet match because Special K cheated. In the opening segment of that event, they were aligned with Jim Cornette , because, in the storyline, Cornette wanted to create new champions. They attacked his former client, Samoa Joe, who Cornette abandoned since he already
21760-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
21920-593: The three of them were the only survivors. After Necro Butcher beat Mark and Mad Man Pondo fought Jay to a no contest on February 2 at Dangerous Intentions '07 , the two of them, known as a team as The Deathmatch Kings, fell in a tag title match the next night at In Full Force '07 . Both brothers competed in the FIP Florida Heritage Title Tournament held at the next event, the Eddie Graham Memorial Battle of
22080-476: The title back to Haas and Benjamin. On December 16 at Final Battle 2012: Doomsday , the Briscoe Brothers defeated S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino ) and Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander in a three-way match to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the eighth time. They lost the title to Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly on March 2, 2013, at the 11th Anniversary Show . On April 5 at Supercard of Honor VII , Jay defeated Kevin Steen to become
22240-418: The title back to Tonga and Loa. In March 2022, The Briscoes participated in the 2022 Crockett Cup tournament , which they would end up winning after defeating The Commonwealth Connection ( Doug Williams and Harry Smith ) in the finals. On April 1, 2022, at Multiverse of Matches , The Briscoe Brothers made their Impact Wrestling debut, losing to The Good Brothers ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson ). on
22400-466: The title belt to the winner of the tournament, Adam Cole, who proceeded to attack him afterwards. On September 28, Mark won the Honor Rumble to earn a shot at the ROH World Championship, but was later that same event defeated by Cole. On October 26 at Glory By Honor XII , Jay entered a storyline, where he introduced his own ROH World Championship belt titled the "Real World Title", claiming that he
22560-416: The title in their first defense, just as they had the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship earlier in the year. Thus, the two faced off what was described as "one time only" at Fifth Year Festival: Finale . The match ended in a draw, with both of them unable to answer the referee's standing ten-count. At the next event, All Star Extravaganza III , they won the title back from Doi and Shingo, but in
22720-400: The titles against LifeBlood ( Bandido and Mark Haskins ). At Final Battle , the Briscoes lost the titles to Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham , ending their eleventh reign at 146 days. The following year at Gateway to Honor , The Briscoes teamed with Slex, losing to Villain Enterprises. This match would turn out to be the Briscoes and many other ROH talent's last match with the company for
22880-739: The titles. The Briscoes next appeared on May 19 and May 20, 2007, to participate in the inaugural Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament , created to declare new World Tag Team Champions. After defeating the Kings of Wrestling ( Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli ) in the Opening Round and the Havana Pitbulls ( Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero ) in the semifinals, they lost in the Final Round to Roderick Strong and PAC. At ¡Dia de los Dangerous! on February 24, 2008, "Commissioner of Food and Beverage" Excalibur announced that
23040-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
23200-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
23360-517: The two channels their television could receive. Originally, they practiced wrestling moves with one another on a trampoline before the family built a wrestling ring in their backyard. From the beginning, the two of them worked on honing their craft, taping their moves and trying to improve them. Despite the fact that their dad was a coach for their high school's wrestling team, they did not participate in amateur wrestling in their high school years. Their first foray into professional wrestling came with
23520-415: The vacant championship. They held the championship for 225 days, successfully defending it against The Network, Bumz R' Us, and The Poppers, before losing it to The New Heavenly Bodies ( Chris Nelson and Vito DeNucci ) on April 4, 2010. They regained the championship from The New Heavenly Bodies on April 16, 2010. On November 20, 2010, the Dark City Fight Club defeated Rasche Brown and Keith Walker to win
23680-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
23840-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
24000-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
24160-593: Was a champion. They went on to win the belts later in the show. At The Conclusion , The Battle Lines Are Drawn , and The Last Stand , which was by stipulation Joe's last shot at the tag team title for as long as the Briscoe Brothers held it, they retained the belts over Joe and a different partner each time, A.J. Styles, Bryan Danielson , and Jerry Lynn respectively. Since Joe took pinfalls at The Conclusion (to Mark) and The Last Stand (to Jay), both brothers subsequently earned shots at his world title. Both fell; Mark at Final Battle 2003 and Jay at At Our Best in
24320-568: Was again injured in a motorcycle accident, though considerably less serious, Jay was alone in a match held at the taping for ROH's fourth PPV, Undeniable . This was an anything goes match against Necro Butcher of the Age of the Fall, which he did not win. On November 30, the Briscoes had a match which was taped to be included in Undeniable , a tag team title defense against Davey Richards and Rocky Romero , which they won. At Final Battle 2007 ,
24480-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
24640-486: Was likely to get around the fact that Jay was only 17 and Mark only 16 at the time; this meant, as they were under 18 years of age, that they could not legally work in a sport wrestling exhibition in the state of Pennsylvania. As CZW regularly began holding shows in the Philadelphia area, the Midnight Outlaws made appearances at the next four CZW events. At A Higher Level of Pain on April 13, 2002, Jay appeared across
24800-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
24960-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
25120-448: Was that with Mark injured, Jay was tagging with Stevens as a replacement. The No Remorse Corps then ran in and attacked Stevens, and Jay was momentarily left without a partner until Mark entered. Mark eventually suffered the fall in the match after several bumps to the head. They then began to feud with Steen and Generico. After successfully retaining the tag title over Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal at ROH's first pay-per-view Respect
25280-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
25440-443: Was the true champion since he had never been defeated for the title. Jay received his shot at the ROH World Championship on December 14 at Final Battle 2013 , but was defeated by Cole in a three-way match, which also included Michael Elgin . On February 8, 2014, Jay defeated Cole to retain his version of the ROH World Championship. The two world titles were unified in a ladder match on April 4 at Supercard of Honor VIII , where Cole
25600-610: Was victorious, following outside interference from Matt Hardy and Michael Bennett . On May 17, the Briscoe Brothers took part in the ROH/ New Japan Pro-Wrestling co-produced War of the Worlds iPPV, where they unsuccessfully challenged Bullet Club ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson ) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship . On September 6 at All Star Extravaganza 6, Jay recaptured the ROH World Championship from Michael Elgin, becoming only
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