When Tony Khan decided to kick off Ring of Honor's Death Before Dishonor Pay-Per-View with the ROH World Championship bout between Claudio Castagnoli and Jonathan Gresham, it turned more than a few eyes around the greater wrestling world. Sure, the prospect of running another FTR-Briscoes match was going to be good and surely drew more than a few fans to the show, but could a tag team bout, in 2022, really headline a major event?

Would fans become disinterested after the show opener/co-main event and hit the bars early before the big match, especially after watching Castagnoli secure the win? Or would they sit through a card peppered with ROH OGs and AEW performers to see if FTR-Briscoes II could live up to the first bout?

Though we won't know the exact viewership numbers for some time, if ever, it's clear the decision was the right one, as the match may have even exceeded the original and may now be the favorite to win Match of the Year by a pretty wide margin.

Ring of Honor 2.0 is the house FTR-Briscoes built.

A Two-out-of Three Falls match is incredibly difficult to book. Unless a promoter wants to string together two pins by the same team right in a row, which some would surely decry as lazy booking, the match doesn't really start until the second pin is recorded, as the momentum swing from the first pin is effectively wiped away by pin two.

And yet, in roughly 42 minutes, Tony Khan, Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, and the Briscoes, Mark and Jay, put together one of the best matches you will see, with the first fall setting up spots at the end of the third, and hits by either team holding particular weight once it became apparent that neither unit wanted anything less than to take real, legitimate hits from their counterparts across the ring from them.

The Briscoes started things off in the first frame, using their 20 years of in-ring experience to their advantage by shutting down FTR's side of the ring and delivered concentrated blows to Harwood without having the ability to tag out. Though Wheeler did eventually hit the ring and return fire somewhat, the Briscoes continued their fluid, fast-paced offense in what effectively amounted to a two-on-one match before the momentum almost shifted again with a Harwood tag… at least until he ate the first pin via the Doomsday Device for the one-two-three.

While the Briscoes tried to keep that pace going in fall two, with their quick tags confusing the more old-school FTR grapplers, Dax and Cash opted to take their talents outside of the ring in order to even things up, brawling out into the crowd, hitting moves off of the apron, and in the final sequence of the match, destroying a table that thankfully, at least for Caprice Coleman, didn't belong to the English Announce Team.

Sidebar: Speaking of Coleman and his partner Ian Riccaboni, goodness, did they do a fantastic job calling the show. Keeping them on was a fantastic idea by Tony Khan.

Though the Briscoes tried to tie things up, FTR's Big Ring foiled that attempt and tied things up at one-all with a third and final frame left to wrestle.

This, as they say, is where things got interesting.

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Jack Perry next to 2024 The Young Bucks with the AEW Dynasty logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

The 2024 Young Bucks with a text bubble reading "Nobody does a Ladder match like the Young Bucks" next to FTR with the AEW Dynasty logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Dax Hardoow with a text bubble reading "You once cared about AEW" next to Cash Wheeler and the 2024 Young Bucks with the AEW Dynasty logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

The final fall started off simply enough, with Cash and Mark returning to the center of the ring, bleeding from their chest and head. They chopped the heck out of each other first in the middle of the ring and then just outside of the ropes, with the exchange ending via a blockbuster onto the floor, before the Briscoes got up to their old tricks and attempted to hit a few more of their signature moves, with the exchange ending with Harwood taking out referee Paul Turner in a spot some may call cheap but played a big part into the finish.

Jay went in for a pin and held it on Harwood for some time, but alas, there was no one to count the one-two-three. A way to save the Briscoes; good call. So naturally, when FTR took the match back over and hit their Big Rig finisher, it felt like a good way to cover for the Briscoes, give the “Top Guys” another win, and potentially set up a third match down the line… until right as the ref returned to the ring, Briscoe kicked out – marking the first time anyone has ever kicked out of the Big Rig ever, at least according to the commentary team.

From there, the momentum was firmly in FTR's corner, and after a few back and forths that kept the crowd on their feet, Harwood took Jay up on the ropes and hit him with an Avalanche Piledriver that perfectly settled into a legs-over-shoulder pinfall where both men laid out on the mat as the cheers rained down.

If this wasn't the 2022 Match of the Year, it's only because FTR-Briscoes III tops it, as Ring of Honor 2.0 is truly the house these two teams have built.