The fourth match for the afternoon card for “National Pro Wrestling Day” has been announced. Ring of Honor will present S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino) vs. The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe). 

Kevin Steen’s Cibernetico team reads like a who’s who of indepedent wrestling, covering the spectrum from top stars to rising prospects. Here’s the breakdown of who is on Team Steen (from left to right). Kevin Steen (1st Cibernetico): The team captain, and the current Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and 2CW Champion, has taken independent wrestling by storm. He’s known for being brutally honest and quite hilarious in his promos while also being able to brawl and wrestle the cream of the crop. This year, he did something he had not done in six years: stepped into a CHIKARA ring. After an altercation with Eddie Kingston at ROH’s 10th Anniversary Show, Steen met Kingston in Chicago Ridge to challenge for the CHIKARA Grand Championship. Steen giving Kingston a low blow cost him the match, but that didn’t bother him. He had upstaged King in his home promotion. Kingston was then recruited by Jim Cornette to face Steen at ROH’s “Boiling Point” iPPV in August to try and take the ROH title off of him. Kingston would ultimately fail. Steen returns to face Kingston again in his home turf in the Cibernetico, a match Kingston won in 2010. The Bravado Bros. (Harlem & Lancelot Bravado) (1st Cibernetico): Believe it or not, the 2012 Cibernetico will celebrate the one year anniversary of The Bravados in CHIKARA. They debuted last year in a losing effort against 3.0, who would become their rivals in 2012. The Bravados returned from a three month tour in Pro Wrestling NOAH as a much more confident and well developed team. They even came close to earning a Campeones de Parejas title matches but never did grab the proverbial brass ring. They’re tired of being pigeon holed as “ROH Students”, and there’s no better way for them to break out of that mold than to win the Cibernetico. Harlem even took Eddie Kingston to task at “The Ring of Wax” so it will be interesting to see how he fares in this bout. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) (3rd Cibernetico): It’s not too much of a stretch to call these guys the best tag team going today. The Bucks also have no issue telling you that themselves. Best known for their exploits in PWG, the Bucks have expanded their reach to CHIKARA since debuting at the 2009 King of Trios tournament. Because they only made occasional stops, it wasn’t until June of this year that they were able to capture Los Campeonatos de Parejas from F.I.S.T. They still hold the titles to this day. The Bucks competed on opposite sides of the ring in the 2009 “Increible” style Cibernetico and with each other at last years iteration. Neither Buck lasted very long in either scenario, and they actually were pinned back-to-back in both years. Now that they stand atop the CHIKARA ladder, the results could be very different. The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) (1st Cibernetico): Although they have traveled around the world, The Briscoes are most associated with Ring of Honor. Not only have they been in the company since day one, but they have held the ROH tag titles a record 7 times. If you combine their reigns together, they have held those belts for two years. The Briscoes actually made their first and only foray into CHIKARA in August of 2007 where they challenged then Campeones de Parejas F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma) in a non-title bout. The Briscoes ended up on the short end of the stick and have not been back to CHIKARA since. Their battles with team captain Kevin Steen (and his then partner now rival El Generico) are the stuff of legend, though they have teamed with Steen at various points as well. Even though The Briscoes are at odds with Steen in ROH they seemingly are willing to put their differences aside for this bout...or are they? Jimmy Jacobs (1st Cibernetico): It’s been awhile since Jacobs has stepped foot in a CHIKARA ring as well. He was a part of both the 2003 and 2005 Tag World Grand Prix well before he made a name for himself. Since then, Jacobs has fallen in love (and subsequently had his heart broken), nearly died in the ring, started a revolution, publicly battled a drug addiction, cleaned up, and is now a Zombie Princess. Look, I don’t know what that means either, but he has taken solace with Kevin Steen and Steve Corino as part of the S.C.U.M faction in ROH. Jacobs is currently one-half of the ROH Tag champions with Corino. Jacobs has no real beef against Kingston or CHIKARA, but when Steen asked his partner to join him in battle, he was quick to say yes. It will be interesting to see what role he plays in this epic battle.

Video: Kevin Steen reveals his totally amazing and awesome Cibernetico team of doom and terror.

The Briscoes have some words for @JigsawCHIKARA, Hallowicked and the rest of CHIKARA.

Jigsaw & Hallowicked have answered The Briscoes Proving Ground challenge!

The Proving Ground concept was introduced in the last few months of 2011 as a method in which to determine challengers for the ROH championships and thus far has provided numerous men opportunities to pursue the World, TV, and Tag Titles.  Only one man has successfully passed the test thus far when Roderick Strong earned himself a future TV Title shot at “Glory by Honor X” by going the distance with Jay Lethal.

Now, in 2012, the door has been opened to the rest of the wrestling world to step onto The Proving Ground as see if they have what it takes to earn a championship match in Ring of Honor.  The first match of the year has been set, a shot at the World Tag Team Championships will be at stake as representatives from CHIKARA have stepped up to the challenge, and the pair selected are no strangers to ROH competition. 

Hallowicked & Jigsaw have answered the call for “The Homecoming 2012” and will attempt to earn a shot at the ROH World Tag Titles as they face 7-Time champions, Jay & Mark Briscoe in the "The Proving Ground".

For those unfamiliar, and as a reminder to those who are aware, the Proving Ground is a chance for any wrestlers from ROH, or outside ROH, to challenge a ROH Champion for the opportunity at a title match. If a challenger beats the champion or lasts the time limit he will get a future shot at the championship

“Bring ‘em all on.” said Jay Briscoe, “Chikara, Japan, Italy, Canada, Timbuktu…we don’t give a damn man.  We’re fighters boy, night and day, hell when we ain’t got no one to fight…me and Mark fight each other. And it doesn’t matter if it’s each other or somebody trying to get a shot at our belts, we fight hard and we’ll fight dirty.  We’ve been fighting for way too damn long to get our belts back just to let ‘em slip away, and we aim to treat this proving ground thing like we would a title match. Proving ground, proving ground…man that’s as appropriate a label as it gets when you’re stepping up to me and Mark boys. We are Ring of Honor, since day one we’ve been Ring of Honor, and ain’t no one in this place you should worry about proving yourselves to except us! Hallowicked, Jig, welcome back to ROH, hope ya’ll boys don’t regret it in the morning.”

Jigsaw & Hallowicked are not regularly a team when in CHIKARA competition, but they have been selected to represent CHIKARA PRO as they are two of their top wrestlers. The pair carrying a strong reputation, almost a decade of experience in this great sport, and Jigsaw is recently coming off his own extended tour of Japan.  In their own way, they are the “day one” of CHIKARA, having come up through their system, and fought their way into the top tier of athletes competing there.

For more on Jigsaw & Hallowicked visit www.Chikarapro.com and for tickets to “The Homecoming 2012” featuring ROH World Tag Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe fighting Team CHIKARA in The Proving Ground, click here!  It all goes down on January 20 at The National Guard Armory…Ring of Honor finally comes back to Philly and it is shaping up to be on heck of a kick-off for 2012!

And as a special bonus to our fans, in addition to Chris Hero being available for autographs prior to the show, the men who have been here since day one back in 2002, the 7-Time ROH World Tag Team Champion Briscoe Brothers will also be available for a special Meet & Greet session before the start of the live event!

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Both Hallowicked and Jigsaw have been in ROH before. Both of them debuted in a Tag Team Scramble at "The Battle of St. Paul" back in April of 2007 where Jigsaw teamed with Mike Quackenbush and Hallowicked with Gran Akuma. Jigsaw went on to become a prominent member of Jack Evans' Vulture Squad stable where he often teamed up with Ruckus. Jigsaw' final ROH match was back at "Glory By Honor VII" in Philadelphia in September of 2008. Hallowicked's final match, ironically enough, was to fill in for Jigsaw in a Six Man match at "Ring of Homicide 2" in Edison, NJ in October of 2008. Can they make a successful return to ROH over three years later?

ROH Homecoming 2012: Briscoes vs. CHIKARA Update

If you don't recall the photo posted yesterday of the Briscoes with a CHIKARA logo that ROH placed on their Facebook page, here it is again:

The presumption when seeing the photo was that The Briscoes (current ROH Tag Team Champions) would face a team from CHIKARA when ROH runs Philadelphia on January 20th. Today's Newswire confirms this:

"“The Homecoming 2012” on January 20, 2012 in Philadelphia will see 2 men selected to represent CHIKARA enter the Proving Ground against Mark and Jay Briscoe. Expect more details soon. Get your tickets now and celebrate our return to Philly!"

So that begs the question, dear followers: which CHIKARA team would you like to see face DEM BOYS?