2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

8. Hardy Boys v. Briscoe Brothers OMEGA 4/26

PAS: Man I remember loving going down to North Carolina back in the day with Dean and Rippa and various other buddies, watching this match made me really nostalgic. Hardy's offense looks pretty dated in 2014, but they still have great timing and know how to build a tag match to a crescendo. Briscoes looked totally awesome here, I guess I need to go back and watch some ROH. I haven't seen Mark with hair before and it was really disconcerting, he looked great as a crazy hillbilly flyer, loved his Smothers Dojo karate stuff, and his wild dropkick through the ropes was awesome. Jay looked like a total backwoods psychopath, like he should be on a bridge in Nevada defending Cliven Bundy's sovereign property rights. Super hot OMEGA crowd bought into everything and the near fall section was legitimately thrilling. Such a treat, and it makes me want to search out all four guys.

ER: Really good tag made even better by a hot crowd, bringing a distinct OMEGA feel. And it made me regret not actively seeking out more Briscoes stuff over the last couple years as both guys seemed just as good - if not better - than ever (Shoot, it made me look around for Frank Parker and Roger Anderson stuff, too). Jay always came off really sinister to me, and the beard only adds to that militia vibe. Mark know looks like a hillbilly Dr. Zaius, or Bubba the Cave Duck from DuckTales. I love his use of total goofball antics to disarm an opponent, making it all the more unexpected when he boots you in the mouth. Somebody in the crowd gets it right when I hear him say to his friend "Man the Briscoes are really beating the shit out of the Hardys." It's weird getting excited about cutting off the ring and long heat segments and comebacks timed at just the perfect intervals for things not to drag, but for a classic tag formula it's something I haven't seen much of since the Hardys/MNM Royal Rumble match some 7 years ago. The first part of the match was really good, but then got great on the "reboot", with Matt going through another FIP segment and the Briscoes being total asskickers. I bought all the nearfalls (even the one just 10 minutes in or so), but the ones down the stretch really got me. Briscoes are really smart about saving vs. kicking out so things never get to overkill and neither team looks worse for it. The finish really worked for me as the timing of it was great. Matt gets the victory roll which felt like a) the smartest thing for him to do there, and b) a total Hail Mary desperation shot. You can easily see that not working, and just leading to an extended beat down before he eventually loses. But it works perfectly with the timing, as the big crash and burn off the Doomsday Device gives Matt barely enough time to eek out the three before it gets broken up. The only awkwardness with the match was the guys noticeably starting to fill time waiting for Jeff to get done with his mid-match costume change, but overall this was a classic tag formula that doesn't get done enough, with two teams that felt like a big deal. Awesome stuff.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST