10 Essential Jay Briscoe Matches
5. Jay Briscoe Vs. Kevin Steen (ROH Supercard Of Honor VII)
Impactful is the only word that describes Jay Briscoe's ROH World Title victory over Kevin Steen. The match was everything it could and should have been that. More than an anticipated WrestleMania weekend showdown, this was a battle for supremacy in Ring Of Honor. The Steen-helmed S.C.U.M. faction had loomed over the brand for the better part of a year, going through a sudden expansion at the prior month's 11th Anniversary Show.
The story demanded a Jay Briscoe victory.
Though the match wasn't fought with the ferocity it perhaps should have had, Briscoe and Steen still delivered a hateful masterpiece. Briscoe's Lariats were thick, barbaric, teetering on Stan Hansen-level, full of contempt. You'd never know he was working through a weakened shoulder, which ostensibly became a pinpoint for the future Kevin Owens in the match.
This hardship led to the match's end. Jay Briscoe was unable to lift Kevin Steen off the mat for a Jay Driller. He'd given all he could with Lariats and an initial Jay Driller that he simply had nothing more in the tank for a second go - but the capped Hammerstein Ballroom crowd knew he could. When he finally got Steen's feet up in the air for the Piledriver variant, the end was in sight.
It's a crucial moment written into the history of Ring Of Honor that won't ever be forgotten.