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FTR Vs. The Briscoes At ROH Final Battle Becomes Third Highest-Rated Match Of 2022

By John Canton • Published 16th December 2022
ftr briscoes roh final battle

The Double Dog Collar match between The Briscoes and FTR for the ROH Tag Team Titles earned some heavy praise from pro wrestling’s most prominent observer.

At ROH Final Battle on December 10th, the FTR team of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler defended their ROH Tag Team Titles against The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark Briscoe), who went into the match as former 12-time Ring Of Honor Tag Team Champions.

Since it was a Double Dog Collar match, it was a bloodfest with everybody in the match bleeding and even the referee Mike Posey was busted at one point.

The match earned a lot of praise from everybody that watched it as a bloody brawl that lasted 22:22 with The Briscoes getting the win to become 13-time ROH Tag Team Champions. The finish saw Jay superplex Harwood on a bunch of chairs and Jay used a crossface with the chain around Harwood, who passed out, so the ref stopped the match to give The Briscoes the win.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer praised the match heavily:

“If you are into a bloodbath type of match, this was a must-see match. If you’re not, then you probably shouldn’t see it. But for what they were attempting to do, it was incredible, easily among the best matches of the year, the best chain style match ever and among the top tier tag team matches ever.”

As for his match rating, Meltzer rated it *****1/2 making it the fourth match he rated above five stars this year. Some people use a rating scale that stops at five stars, but it’s all a personal thing as far as how high you want to go with a rating.

Here are the five matches that Meltzer rated above five stars in 2022:

– 5.75* Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay at NJPW G1 Climax Day 20 – August 18, 2022

– 5.75* Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay at NJPW at Wrestle Kingdom 16 – Day 2 – January 5, 2022

– 5.5* The Briscoes defeated FTR at ROH Final Battle in a Double Dog Collar Match at ROH Final Battle – December 10, 2022

– 5.5* Shingo Takagi defeated Will Ospreay at NJPW G1 Climax Day 12 – August 6, 2022.

Meltzer has rated 20 matches at five stars and above in 2022.

After the match, The Gunns (Colten & Austin Gunn) attacked FTR. That will set up a match between those teams next Wednesday on Dynamite.