Ring of Honor 2.0 is the house The Briscoes and FTR built. Since returning with Supercard of Honor in April of 2022, Ring of Honor has fielded some pretty impressive matches, from Claudio Castagnoli's matches with Chris Jericho to Wheeler Yuta's matches with Daniel Garcia, and even the RUSH versus Dragon Lee match – which has been heavily slept on – but none have captured the hearts and imaginations of professional wrestling fans the world over to the same degree as Briscoes-FTR, as their trio of tag team matches could go toe-to-toe with any series in the promotion's long and storied history.
And the best part? Wrestling's Roger Ebert, Dave Meltzer, has agreed with the general sentiment of wrestling fans, as, according to Cagematch, their most recent match, the Double-Dog Collar match at Final Battle, earned a 5.5. star rating in The Wrestling Observer, marking the first time Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, Jay Briscoe, and/or Mark Briscoe wrestled in a match that earned more than five stars. Assuming the trilogy is over, The Briscoes-FTR now has the rare distinction of having earned at least a five-star rating in each of their matches together, with 15.5 total stars earned over the run 5.0 at Supercard of Honor, 5.0 at Death Before Dishonor, and 5.5 at Final Battle, the highest-rated tag team match, according to Meltzer, since the Young Bucks and Lucha Brothers went for 5.75 at All Out.
Heading over to Cagematch, The Briscoes-FTR III is the highest-rated match by Jay and Mark as voted by the fans at a 95.9 but it is not, curiously enough, the highest-rated match by Wheeler and Harwood, or should I say, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, as it was actually edged out by .01 points to The Revival's Best Two out of Three Falls match at NXT TakeOver: Toronto versus #DIY in 2016. Meltzer, to his credit, wasn't as high on that particular match, giving it a 4.5-star rating, but it was a very good match nonetheless.
Will FTR and The Briscoes go at it again at some point down the line? Will their feud with the baddest dudes from Sandy Fork, Delaware, become a thing of legend on the indies while challenging the likes of Young Bucks-Lucha Brothers for the most runnings of the same bout? Or will Tony Khan limit the two teams' exposure even after FTR hit the indies in quarter two of 2023, as he has The Briscoes signed to an exclusive contract and can thus likely veto potential matches? Either way, whether they wrestle 0, 10, or 100 more times down the line, their first three contest stand among the best trilogies in the sport's history and will stand forever on their own.
Dax Harwood reflects on his “masterpiece” in Ring of Honor.
With his final marquee match of the year on the books – sorry, Austin and Colton Gunn – and one less belt weighing him down, Harwood took to his 246,000 fans on Instagram to detail just how important that final match with The Briscoes meant to him and his legacy.
“Artists have the one piece they’re the most proud of, and that’s their Masterpiece,” Harwood wrote. “This was my Masterpiece. Watching it, honest to God, I’ve laughed, I’ve cringed, and I’ve cried. Over every other match I’ve had, this is the one I’m the most proud of.”
“2022 has been a storybook year for me. Almost unbelievable at times. Through anger, frustration, joy, and pain, it’s been the greatest year of my life. Thank you all for allowing me to be a part of yours. I hope we could make it a little bit better.”
“2023 is going to be unknown territory, and I’m not even sure that we can match up to what we’ve done this year, but you all have my word, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re just as entertained as ever.”
Now, as fans of independent wrestling already surely know, FTR have been pretty open about their plans for the future when their contracts with AEW expire in 2023. While they may re-sign with TK, they also haven't closed the door on taking their talents back to WWE, where they initially became a duo and had classics with #DIY and the now-defunct American Alpha, or even just go on a tour of the indies where the duo could take on all of their dream opponents, from The North to Violence Is Forever and even legacy tag team that want to dust off the rust and work a match a la their bout with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat earlier this year. Fortunately, no matter what the future holds for the tag team, they at least have their “masterpiece” already on the books.
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