Jay Briscoe
They are the ROH originals, two men who were part of the very first official match in Ring of Honor history at THE ERA OF HONOR BEGINS on 2/23/02, and who have remained fiercely loyal to those letters for over 20 years. That first night in South Philly, Jay may have tasted defeat at the hands of Amazing Red while brother Mark stood at ringside, but that first loss only served as fuel for two ROH careers that earned these brothers entry into the first class of the ROH Hall of Fame.
Together, Dem Boys have amassed 12 reigns as ROH World Tag Team Champions, and in the process provided the ROH faithful with many unforgettable moments. They, along with Kevin Steen & El Generico, innovated the Ladder War, creating a match so potentially dangerous that ROH even banned its usage for several years. Their early ROH Tag Title bouts with Amazing Red and AJ Styles presented a cutting edge style of tag team wrestling that set an incredibly high bar for every team that followed, while their battles against foes like The Second City Saints, Generation Next, The Motor City Machine Guns, and the Kings of Wrestling continued to push the envelope. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to think of a tag team that Jay and Mark have not stepped into the ring with at some point in their two decades with ROH: The Young Bucks, The Age of The Fall, Eddie Kingston & Homicide, The American Wolves, reDRagon, ANX, The Guerrillas of Destiny, even the legendary Rock 'n' Roll Express have stepped into the ring with Dem Boys and experienced why they are considered one of the greatest teams in modern wrestling.
And that's just talking about their experiences as a tag team! Jay Briscoe has twice reigned as ROH World Champion, his second lasting nearly 300 days and included tremendous fights with Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe, Mike Bennett, and an unforgettable Fight Without Honor against Adam Cole. Together with Bully Ray, The Briscoes reigned as ROH World Six Man Champions for over 100 days before Dalton Castle and The Boys ended their title run, and then there's the matter of what happens when Dem Boys go into battle against one another.
Jay and Mark's early singles matches in 2002 and 2003 illustrated their willingness to beat the life out of one another, their 2007 clash at FIFTH YEAR FESTIVAL: FINALE proved one the hardest hitting affairs ROH had experienced to that point, and they even battled over the ROH World Championship at BEST IN THE WORLD 2013. And at the end of each family fight, Dem Boys came out an even stronger unit then they were going in, forcing each other to man up for the tag team battles ahead, and usually winning championships shortly thereafter.
In this new era of honor, with their SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2022 and DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2022 fights with FTR, Jay and Mark were involved in two of the greatest tag matches Ring of Honor has ever experienced, and although they resulted in The Briscoes 12th World Tag Team Championship reign coming to an end, the matches demonstrated that even after 20 years Dem Boys are still the measuring stick in Ring of Honor.
