There’s more great pro wrestling in 2023 than we know what to do with. So The Ringer brings you a regular cheat sheet with the three best matches of the past week—one from WWE, one from AEW, and one from the rest of the immense wrestling world.
Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal
AEW Dynamite, January 25
It is really beautiful that something as inherently silly as pro wrestling can be used as catharsis. Jay and Mark Briscoe grew up, like many fans did, wrestling with each other—jumping on their beds and brawling in the backyard. Unlike most fans, however, they grew up to be one of the all-time great tag teams in wrestling history. Mark and Jay traveled the world, touching down at ECW Arena, the Tokyo Dome, Arena México, Madison Square Garden, and other venues, always together, just like when they were back on the chicken farm, jumping on trampolines. Wrestling fans got to watch the Briscoes grow up; they were teenagers when I watched them steal the show against each other at CZW’s Best of the Best in 2001. It is fitting that a pro wrestling match was the way Mark eulogized his brother.
I have been watching Jay Lethal since he was a teenager, as well—I saw his second-ever match live in Jersey All Pro Wrestling in 2001. Lethal grew up in the wrestling business with the Briscoes; they were all Ring of Honor lifers and Lethal was Jay Briscoe’s close friend. It was clear that Lethal was emotionally devastated by the loss; he was sobbing while walking to the ring. Mark came out with real intensity like he was taking all of the pain and grief of the previous week and using it as fuel. They started with a handshake and hug, and opened the match with some headlock takeovers and head scissors reversals. Basic stuff, but executed with snap and precision; the Briscoes looked like dangerous drifters, but the mastery of their craft is unmatched.
Lethal backed Mark into the corner, and rather than break clean, snuck in a chop; there was a quick verbal exchange between the two before Mark said “Let’s do this,” and ripped a layer of epidermis off of Lethal’s chest with a chop of his own. As Lethal fired back, you could see a smile pass his lips (probably the first smile he’d had in a week). Nobody appreciated a scrap more than Jay Briscoe, and these guys were going to beat the brakes off of each other—not out of hate, but out of love.
They moved into a hard-hitting, violent match, a tribute to the hard-hitting, violent way that Jay Briscoe plied his trade—biting down with every elbow and chop, slamming each other into the guardrails, dropping each other on their necks. Lethal hit his Lethal Injection springboard cutter, but Mark was able to keep rolling after the impact and ended up on the floor. Mark soon got the advantage on the floor and hit a running blockbuster off of the ring apron. Then, always the daredevil, Mark leaped into heaven to fist-bump Jay before smashing Lethal through the ringside table with a Froggy Bow elbow. They returned to the ring, and Lethal did everything he could to avoid the finish, but Mark laid him flat with two huge lariats, and ended the match the only way it could end, with a concussive elegy, hitting the Jay Driller for a three-count.
The post-match saw the locker room empty, tears in their eyes as Mark told his brother Jamin that he loved him, holding up both ROH World Tag Team titles to the sky. Mark came off like a huge star, someone who absolutely belonged in a national television main event, and it feels like there are no limits to where he could go in either AEW or ROH. A Mark Briscoe vs. Claudio Castagnoli main event for Supercard of Honor seems like a no-brainer booking decision, and I could even see Mark and a partner taking the AEW World Tag Team titles. It was great that Tony Khan and AEW fought to have this moment on television, and I am sure it meant a lot to Jay Briscoe’s family and the people who loved him to see him celebrated like this. Hug your kids if you have them, and tell your family and your friends you love them. Tomorrow is promised to no one, but if we can be remembered by our people the way Jamin Pugh’s people remembered him, then we will have lived a good life.
Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Royal Rumble, January 28
An incredible crescendo to arguably the greatest pro-wrestling angle of all time. The Bloodline and Sami Zayn segments have been the high points of WWE TV for months. The first real test of the angle had to be the breakup. Sami as the “Honorary Uce” has been so endearing, and so fun to watch, but clearly it was ultimately doomed. The partnership was so beloved that the breakup was perilous, and all of the parties involved—Roman Reigns, Zayn, Kevin Owens, the Usos, and Solo Sikoa—bsolutely smashed it out of the park.
The match itself, while obviously overshadowed, was a nice piece of WWE big match heavyweight wrestling. Owens is really great at making his offense land with oomph, which makes him look credible against a force of nature like Reigns. He had an early flurry with a sharp back elbow, senton, and cannonball in the corner, all of which really thudded. He really smushed Reigns with a frog splash on the floor as well; you could see all of the air rush out of Reigns’s lungs on the impact. Owens is great at using his girth as a weapon—he makes sure when he lands on you that you feel every plate of poutine he has ever eaten. I also appreciated how the brawling was mostly good-looking pro wrestling punches, as opposed to worn-out “you hit me, I hit you” forearm exchanges.
We got some pretty great near-falls during the in-ring portion. Reigns countered a cannonball by short-circuiting Owens with a Superman punch, and Owens hit a great-looking swanton to nearly steal the match. There was an expected ref bump (which is really a big-match trope that WWE goes to way too much) that led to Owens getting a long visual pinfall after a pop-up powerbomb. This of course allowed Reigns to take over after a low blow. Sami hesitated a bit to get Reigns a chair, leading to an out-of-nowhere stunner by Owens and a very close two-count. Owens went for another pop-up powerbomb but got drilled with a Superman punch and a spear for two. Then Roman just took over, spearing Owens through the barricade and crushing his ribs. Reigns threw Owens back into the ring, but Owens just rolled to the floor. Reigns then took Owens and chucked him backward hard into the steel steps, with the back of Owens’s head and neck slamming into the sharp edges of the stairs. Really sick stuff, and about as violent as it can get in a promotion without blood. Reigns then threw a wrecked Owens into the ring, bisected him with a spear, and pinned him for three.
After the match was over, the real main event started. The Usos and Solo came down to the ring to celebrate, and their celebration consisted of a further beating of Owens. The Usos pummeled Owens while Reigns had his arm around a pale and worried-looking Zayn. They then handcuffed Owens to the ropes and the Usos strafed him with a dozen superkicks. Reigns then teed up to land a Tommy Dreamer on Raven–style chair shot (a.k.a. Paul Heyman playing some of ECW’s greatest hits) while telling Owens, “Sami is my family. You disrespect him, you disrespect me.” Zayn looked at his longtime best friend about to have his brain scrambled, and then stood in front of him to try to save him. Roman then gave him a final test, handing Sami the chair to take the shot, cleave away his past, and join the family. “You’ve gone too far, you’re ours, I love you, I give you everything,” Roman told him. “This ring is yours when you are with the Bloodline, otherwise go do Jackass shit.” Just a tremendous job by Roman as the cult leader breaking down an emotionally vulnerable recruit.
Zayn hesitated, and Reigns started piefacing and yelling at him. Zayn agreed to lay out Owens, but when Roman turned his back, Zayn instead blasted Reigns in the back with a chair, in an almost frame-for-frame homage to the chair shot by Seth Rollins on Reigns which broke up the Shield. Zayn apologized to the Usos, but a betrayed and hurt Jimmy jumped him. Jimmy and Solo mobbed Zayn, but Jey—the doubting Thomas, the man who initially questioned Sami but finally embraced him—couldn’t do it. Jey had been emotionally manipulated and physically brutalized by Reigns previously, and he couldn’t do it to someone he loved, so instead of joining in the beatdown, Jey walked away, head in his hand. Reigns went off, beating Zayn with a chair, screaming “You broke my family,” and the crowd chanted “Fuck you, Roman!” as he stood over a decimated Sami Zayn, crumbling orchids over his prone body.
I loved how this wasn’t really a betrayal by anyone. Reigns didn’t turn on Zayn as part of a master plan, nor did Zayn. The emotional reactions by everyone made perfect sense. Reigns demands loyalty; he couldn’t get it from the Shield, so he surrounded himself with blood. When he let in an outsider, he pushed him away by constantly testing that loyalty. Zayn wanted to be part of a family and was willing to put up with a lot, but wasn’t willing to lose his humanity. Jimmy loved Zayn, and treated his rejection of Reigns like a rejection of him and reacted with rage. Jey couldn’t break away, but couldn’t perpetuate the brutal cycle he’d experienced first-hand. It was a Greek tragedy, where everyone’s actions, scars, and emotional damage lead to a disaster.
A lot is going to depend on how this angle eventually is wrapped up. Many pro-wrestling angles are notorious for having bad endings. The nWo started by shaking up the wrestling world and ended with Jeff Jarrett and Pamela Paulshock hitting people with guitars. CM Punk’s pipebomb ended with Triple H fighting Kevin Nash in a ladder match, while the Invasion ended with a WCW team featuring Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, and Shane McMahon. Endings are hard, and the ending of this Bloodline story is yet to come. Cody Rhodes has done everything right, and his performance to win the Rumble was excellent, but I can’t see how this can lead to Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. It feels like Zayn has to be the one to end Roman’s reign of terror—the pop he got when he hit the chair shot was one of the biggest reactions anyone has gotten in a wrestling ring for a long time. Not sure how the promotion is going to get there, but the final shot of this film should end with Sami Zayn holding up the title.
Bryan Keith vs. Dante Leon
New Texas Pro Texas Contenders Series #11, January 26
This was a bout between two of the breakout stars from the Texas independent scene. “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith is frequently touted as part of the next batch of wrestlers who are going to be independent headliners in 2023. Last year he became a regular for Freelance Wrestling in Chicago, worked GCW, ICW No Holds Barred, and got to the semifinals of PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles. He wrestles a cold-blooded, hard-hitting style full of kicks and suplexes and was coming into this match as the New Texas Pro Heavyweight Champion, a title he’s held since June 2021.
Dante Leon had become a regular in GCW at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022, and then signed a contract to wrestle in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH, capturing the GHC Junior Heavyweight title (a title held by wrestlers like Kenta, Jushin Liger, and Bryan Danielson) in November, before losing it in December. Leon is a creative high flyer who is well known for snatching his opponents out of the air in eccentric ways (the viral Sol Ruca cutter going around the internet a ways back was a Dante Leon move first). Leon was returning to his home area after his tour of Japan to try to capture a title Keith had held for almost two years.
Leon landed the first big move of the match with a running boot, but Keith was able to respond with a boot of his own, sending Leon to the outside. They brawled on the floor, and Leon was able to hit some kicks on Keith, who was sitting on the front-row chair. Keith however grabbed a kick and lifted Leon into a crazy DDT while standing on a front-row chair, sending Leon head-first into a second-row chair. Keith then hit Leon with a hard whip kick to the chest, but when he tried to throw Leon into the pole, Leon slid on the apron, blocking the impact, and cracked him with a superkick. A pair of cool, unique moves from a pair of inventive wrestlers.
In the ring they hit each other with some hard shots, Leon trying to match the striker Keith at his game, including a rolling elbow in the spirit of NOAH’s founder, Mitsuharu Misawa, and a nasty inside leg kick; meanwhile, Keith was throwing whipping kicks to the chest and sharp elbows. Leon hit a couple of wild tightrope tricks, including a move in which Keith was sitting on the top rope turnbuckle, and Leon leaped from one rope to the next into a Spanish fly, and another in which he bounced off the second rope while straddling it into a spinning cutter. He also was able to hit a leaping, double-foot curb stomp on Keith’s head, driving it right into the ring apron. Leon comes at his opponent from angles that wrestlers don’t normally come from.
Keith, however, cut off a top-rope attack by leaping up and battering his head into Leon’s chin like a ram before dropping him with a top-rope T-bone suplex. Two big knees to the head got him near-falls, but Leon was able to reverse his Tiger Driver into a rana. Leon then hit a knee of his own and went for another flipping cutter off the top rope. Keith countered, knocking him out of midair with a kick to the spine and hit a great-looking Tiger Driver for the win.
Very fun match between two guys with deep bags to pull from. Leon has kind of a weird look with Kool-Aid-colored hair and a tie-dye shirt, but he can pull off some breathtaking moves. It should not be a surprise that Leon has become a hit in Japan (with his longtime dance partner Ninja Mack). I could see ROH bringing them in as a pair, almost like Rey Mysterio and Psicosis or Super Crazy and Tajiri.
Keith has an intensity that you can’t learn in wrestling school, and I am excited to see him get bigger opportunities as the year goes on. Getting all the way to the semifinals of the Battle of Los Angeles in his PWG debut is pretty impressive, and I imagine he will get some real moments to shine.
Phil Schneider is a cofounder of the Death Valley Driver Video Review, a writer on the Segunda Caida blog, host of The Way of the Blade podcast, and the author of Way of the Blade: 100 of the Greatest Bloody Matches in Wrestling History, which is available on Amazon. He is on Twitter at @philaschneider.