Though The Briscoes never actually wrestled in any capacity for WWE, not even as local job guys when the promotion rolled through Delaware, that didn't stop multiple wrestlers – and Michael Cole – from paying their respects to Jay, who passed away in a car accident earlier in the week. The Viking Raiders wore “Dem Boys” armbands to celebrate their former Ring of Honor co-worker, Kevin Owens did the same, with his simply saying “Jay”, and KO followed it up by sharing tributes to his fallen friend, including one of his own on his Twitter account.

But just because the show went off the air doesn't mean the positive thoughts sent Briscoe's way had to come to an end. No, when SmackDown went off the air and backstage interviewers like Cathy Kelley tied to scrounge up some scoops, none other than Top Dolla, a homegrown WWE star who played professional football before joining the performance center, decided to subtly complement Briscoe by shouting him out during his comments about defeating Los Lotharios in the SmackDown Tag Team Tournament.

“(Michael Cole) always got them lame jokes,” Top Dolla said. “Look, I ain’t no Luchador, but I promise you, I’m from where Dem Boys mask up and tell you reach for the sky. And that’s where I learned to get it by any means necessary.”

Reach for the sky? Mask up? Dem Boys? Dolla, you son of a gun, you did good; three subtle but appreciated references to The Briscoe brothers from their 20-plus year tag team career.  While Dolla didn’t get a chance to wrestle Dem Boys at any point in his professional wrestling career, as he only worked a handful of matches outside of WWE, and probably never would have, assuming Round 2 proves to be money back in The Fed, it’s nice to see game representing game, even if there isn’t an obvious connection between the two. With a chance at hand to become the next number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, titles currently held by The Usos, Hit Row would be wise to go back, watch some Briscoes tape, and make their next opponents, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus “reach for the sky, boy.”

WWE's Hit Row aren't concerned with facing Drew McIntyre and Sheamus.

Turning their attention to the matchup that lies ahead in the SmackDown Tag Team Tournament, Hit Row was asked how they will prepare for their forthcoming match against Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, the duo who are currently favored by many to win the SmackDown Tag Team Tournament outright, Ashante “Thee” Adonis weighed in on what lies ahead for Swerve Strickland’s former faction.

“Imma need you to pause and rewind,” Adonis added. “Ain’t nobody worried about Drew and Sheamus.”

B-Fab cut in next, pocking fun at Sheamus' “banger after banger after banger” mantra when Hit Row are the team that really brings the bangers to SmackDown week-in and week-out. Hit Row produces bangers in the studio and banger music videos that routinely go viral for the right and wrong reasons; why not produce a banger in the ring against the Banger Bros., as they've come to be known?

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Paul Heyman next to the blacked-out silhouette of Top Dolla with the SmackDown logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

The blacked-out silhouette of Swerve Strickland with a text bubble reading “Nope” with a crossed out WWE logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Top Dolla with a text bubble reading “WWE didn’t get Hit Row” with the SmackDown logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

“Hey, we know that dem boys have bangers, Hit Row knows all about having bangers,” B-Fab added. “Hit Row makes bangers, Hit Row is a banger, so if they’re talking about banger after banger after banger and Hit Row’s involved, I think that next week is going to be a banger.”

“Let it be known,” Dolla concluded. “And if you didn’t know, now you know.”

You know, you really have to give it to Hit Row, despite having somewhat lackluster booking since returning to WWE in the fall of 2022, the trio really aren't lacking in confidence, especially after the group's de facto leader, Top Dolla, secured the unfortunate nickname “Flop Dolla” for his inability to cleanly execute a topé suicida on national television. While the duo of McIntyre and Sheamus have more championship reigns in WWE than Hit Row have matches on RAW or SmackDown – yes, seriously, look it up – in the great sport of professional wrestling, all it takes is one mistake and three seconds to lose a match and see your team's fortunes change considerably. Even if the team of Sheamus and McIntyre have played nicely as of late, all it takes is a few moments of miscommunication to rekindle one of WWE's longest-running feuds and send a potential contending tag team into a pair of singles performers once again, heck-bent on pursuing singles gold at the expense of the other.