This is a fun exercise, simply because I can say a whole lot because I haven’t said much yet.

Part of that is with only a handful of match reviews and the 2024 Yearly 100 being currently available, my opinions on both the Briscoes and the only bearable age of the European indies aren’t out there, unless of course, you know and discuss wrestling with me personally. That is to say my opinions don’t bend outside the norm. For my money’s worth the Briscoes seem to be, at the very least, one of the best tag teams ever, while the pre-NXT UK European Indies is something I totally get having a bit of reverence for, even if most of the credit for those peaks is owed to sources outside the hotbeds on the continent itself. Any commentary of mine one might deem interesting isn’t coming from either of those generalizations though, but another.

The Dream/one time only match structure, type, and concept itself, is insulting. Intentional or not. But, insulting ≠ bad.

As I’ve thought about why that is, and the reasons that, spoiler, this isn’t exactly everything it could be, there is part of me that sympathises with wrestlers. There is a certain level of effort you can expect from teams like the Briscoes, who rarely leave the United States, to leave some stuff on the table in a tag tournament they aren’t booked to win. Alongside the expectation to sprinkle in as much signature stuff for a new audience too, I’d dare to say it’s fair to push aside any expectation for something that’s well thought out. What does bother me adjacent to those fictitious boundaries I just established is the loss of personality. In this case, the dynamics that can make these teams interesting against anyone fades away. There’s no attempt from Thatcher or WALTER to play the suffocating bullies, while the wild bursts of energy from either Briscoe only comes out in spurts. Sure, both teams do the big moves, look cool, and hit hard, but my opinions on that shallow criteria of what makes wrestlers good should be obvious. I’m just going to need more than that; though they do get there.

What works is obvious. There’s certain crispness and speed to the whole thing that only comes from pitting two of the best tag teams in the world against one another, and it is given the time to grow past the natural levels of caution. Even past the more expected happenings from four greats, there is a exercise in efficiency here in bringing a physicality to a typically structured match. You won’t find me applauding the dueling control segments—not because they’re bad in this case, but because the Thatcher one is a tad dull even without considering the sure thing that is the WALTER hot tag—or the (typically undermining) cliché indie sprint finish that manages to get beyond a cheap adrenaline pump. It all happens because it feels like that’s what the time demands, and there are more offensive blueprints to follow. Hell, the time spent doing the formula isn’t soulless either. The flashes of arm work early agasint Mark from WALTER is great, and does find away to fade away naturally, while Tim’s selling while getting worked over is solid enough. There’s still good to be found in the slower moments too, is my point.

Under the surface level, there’s one more thing worth applauding. I do hate to harp on results, but it’s hard no to admire the correctness of both Jay and Mark getting choked out so decisively. Even with the hindsight of the final Briscoes peak in 2022, you have a team who at the time, hadn’t had much material to chew on, traveling across the globe to put a super team over in a way none of their contemporaries could’ve can only be described as such. Sure, it’s a couple minutes too long, is only about twenty percent as mean or gritty as it could’ve been. But if I’m being reasonable, not punishing anyone here for being a little too typical—for something we’ll never get more than once, this is damn good.

So exclaim that the ring is sacred and all that, throw any other catchphrase from Dem Boyz in there too, and that’s all in good fun. No real shame is loving this as it is. Lost to most I’d imagine is that for a moment in time, as painfully short as is was, there was no team like Tim and WALTER. None. And stuck in Euro hell, they got to prove it in more than one way against an equal. Just further proof that one shouldn’t necessarily dream about certain matchups and instead should dream about getting more of what’s good no matter who it’s against.

(But also, mess off with the dream match pageantry things like this have, this is a decade list contender without it.)

Rating: ****

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