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Carrying The Spirit Of The Briscoe Brothers, Mark Briscoe Returns To AEW

“I’m excited to get back in that ring. I’ve been waiting to scratch this itch”

Justin Barrasso

Carrying The Spirit Of The Briscoe Brothers, Mark Briscoe Returns To AEW
Carrying The Spirit Of The Briscoe Brothers, Mark Briscoe Returns To AEW /

SI.com’s Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro wrestling.

Following Knee Surgery, Mark Briscoe Returns To AEW

The wrestling world has been grieving the loss of Jay Briscoe since his unexpected death this past January.

An accomplished singles wrestler and even two-time Ring of Honor world champion, he was best known as one-half of the Briscoe Brothers.

Jay and younger brother Mark teamed together in various rings around the globe for 22 years, winning tag team gold in practically every territory they wrestled. They were synonymous with Ring of Honor, where they were 13-time tag champs. That number would have been far higher if not for a car crash this year that took Jay’s life.

The brothers were close inside and out of the ring. Losing Jay has been difficult for Mark, especially considering so much of their personal and professional lives were connected.

“There are reminders of him everywhere, but it’s the random ones that hit me hardest,” said Briscoe. “You know what’s been the toughest? The drive to the airport.”

Contents

  1. The (Online) Week in Wrestling
  2. Ronda Rousey Coming To The Indies
  3. Tweet of the Week

For more than two decades, Mark and Jay Briscoe would make the two-hour trek to the airport together. The ride was full of conversation, as they confided in each other how much they would miss their wives and children. They would talk about their upcoming matches, and older brother Jay would offer advice to younger brother Mark (“I should have listened more,” said Mark). The two brothers who wrestled each other in a sleepy little town in Delaware had grown up, and they embarked on a journey around the world.

But now it is different. The trips to the airport are quiet.

Mark Briscoe rides alone.

“At first I didn’t think about it,” said Briscoe. “Then 45 minutes into the drive, I’d be balling.

“I’m getting used to it. It’s like our new normal. But when something catches me off guard, that’s when it hits me.”

Courtesy Impact Wrestling
Courtesy Impact Wrestling

Jay Briscoe was recently honored in his community, where the “Jamin Pugh Locker Room” was named in his honor at the town’s middle school. His memory fills the air, providing strength for those who loved him dearly.

“It feels like he’s still with us in spirit and in our hearts,” said Briscoe. “We’ve all bonded together. In a strange way, tragedy comes with beauty. I pick up his kids for school every morning. When we’re all together, it makes my heart feel so good.”

Later tonight, Briscoe will wrestle his first singles match in AEW since June, taking on “Switchblade” Jay White on Dynamite.

The decorated tag team champion missed nearly five months of action, including the chance for a world title matchup on pay-per-view, after his right knee simply refused to function properly.

“I was changing one of our baby’s diapers, and that knee went out on me,” said Briscoe. “The pain was so sharp, it dropped me.”

Courtesy AEW
Courtesy AEW

Briscoe had just defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Concession Stand Brawl in June, and he was building momentum in AEW. He also had a world title bout scheduled against then-Ring of Honor champion Claudio Castagnoli at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view in July, but all of that was put on the shelf due to a five-year-old knee injury that refused to be ignored.

“This has been ongoing since 2018,” said Briscoe. “Me and my brother were going over for the CMLL Grand Prix. We’d gone over the previous year, and this was the second year in a row we were going. Before we left, I remember a match against Jay Lethal, it may have been a six-man, and I tweaked it.”

An MRI showed that the “tweak” was, in fact, a torn MCL, torn PCL, and torn meniscus.

“I didn’t make it to the CMLL Grand Prix, but I was back within about a month–I got a cortisone and a knee brace, and I kept rolling,” said Briscoe. “This June, I had the Concession Stand Match with Jarrett, and it was about the time they announced it was me vs. Claudio at the summer pay-per-view.

“I get home, had the sharp pain when I was changing the diaper, and then that started happening multiple times a day and my knee kept locking up.”

Courtesy AEW
Courtesy AEW

Briscoe knew there were plans for him in Ring of Honor, so he was extremely hesitant to take himself off the card and out of the mix. But the injury required immediate attention, so he went to AEW owner Tony Khan, who is also part of the Jacksonville Jaguars ownership team.

“I apologized to Tony Khan, but he wasn’t mad,” said Briscoe. “Tony hooked me up with the Jaguars’ team doctor. I had arthroscopic knee surgery to clean it up, and that’s when they found a floating piece of cartilage that was causing the problem. Now I’m feeling great.

“I’m excited to get back in that ring. I’ve been waiting to scratch this itch ever since I went out with the knee. I’ve been waiting, and I don’t particularly handle all that free time too well. Next thing you know, my wife is pregnant.”

During his time away from the ring, Briscoe and his wife announced that they are expecting a new addition to their family next spring. This will be their eighth–yes, eighth–child.

“That’s right, we have baby number eight on the way,” said Briscoe. “It’s almost a whole baseball team.”

Briscoe did not reveal whether his wife is expecting a boy or a girl. He did share that learning the baby’s gender in past pregnancies has been particularly exciting.

“For the first seven, it was like a World Series that went down to Game 7,” said Briscoe. “It went girl, girl, girl, and I thought it was going to be a four-game sweep. Then we had boy, boy, boy. So it came down to a Game 7, and it was a boy. The boys took it. My wife is amazing. We have a gaggle of kids.”

Courtesy AEW
Courtesy AEW

The first match back for Briscoe was a six-man tag this past Saturday on Collision. Now he returns to singles action tonight on Dynamite, where he will share the ring with Jay White.

“I’m excited to get in there and do some pro wrasslin’,” said Briscoe. “Jay White is a hell of a competitor. A singles program that really elevated him was with my brother. They had a hell of a series of matches right after he was a New Japan ‘Young Lion’ that springboarded him into his excellent singles wrestling career. He’s even been IWGP champion. I’m excited to lock horns with Switchblade, it’s been a few years.”

White is wrestling MJF for the AEW title later this month at the Full Gear pay-per-view, so Briscoe has his work cut out for him tonight. After the match, Briscoe will hear his brother’s voice in his head, repeating a similar message he has heard too often over the years–and would cherish the chance to hear again.

“I know exactly, after every match, what he’d say to me,” said Briscoe. “Jay wanted me to be the best. The way he’d critique me, I still hear that voice in my head. Sometimes, my rebellious nature would show in our sibling rivalry–if he said I should do something one way, then I’d say no, I’m going to do it this way. So my mindset has changed there. He was pretty much always right.”

Courtesy AEW
Courtesy AEW

With the way he speaks, wrestles, and even stomps around the ring, Briscoe embeds a throwback charm into his work. He could fit in seamlessly in any decade or era, and now he begins anew.

With two healthy knees, he is eager to get started. It will be a difficult change to do this without his brother, but he is comforted knowing that he will forever carry Jay close in his heart.

“It’s been 22 years straight of wrestling,” said Briscoe. “Me and him. Always me and him. I like to think he’s still watching every single match and every single promo. It’s a crazy journey, man.

“I can’t call the future, but I’m damn sure planning on wrestling at the highest level for the foreseeable future. The wind is going to do what the wind is going to do. We’ll see where the wind takes me.”

The (Online) Week in Wrestling

  • After an entertaining main event on Raw where Seth Rollins defended the world heavyweight championship against Sami Zayn, we were treated to an announcement that the WarGames match will be returning at Survivor Series.
  • On the subject of world title matches, MJF defends the AEW title tonight on Dynamite against Daniel Garcia.
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  • The “Nature Boy” Ric Flair is All Elite. Instead of the news about ticket sales for next summer’s All In, why wasn’t Flair’s signing the big announcement revealed on last week’s Dynamite?
  • NXT will soon have a new home on the CW Network.
  • The Doja Cat/AEW video is superb.
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  • Alpha Academy is making the most of the latest TikTok trend.

Ronda Rousey Coming To The Indies

Ronda Rousey had her run in WWE.

At best, it was uneven.

The highlight of Rousey’s time in WWE was her appearance at WrestleMania 31 beside The Rock. At that moment, there was endless potential for what she could do if she ever wrestled in WWE.

Three years later, she made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34, teaming with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. A year after that, she was beaten by Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania 35. Somewhat surprisingly, Rousey and Lynch would never wrestle again–perhaps because the crowd would have been predominantly in Lynch’s favor.

Even if her time in WWE was not perfect, it clearly has not impacted Rousey’s affinity for the craft. She wrestles for Wrestling Revolver next week in LA, teaming with Four Horsewomen teammate Marina Shafir against Athena and Billie Starkz.

Rousey remaining involved in pro wrestling is a positive. A women’s sport pioneer, her run in the UFC was remarkable. There is still a lot left for her to accomplish in pro wrestling, especially now that she can do so in her own manner.

A star wherever she goes, it is a benefit to the industry as a whole that Rousey is staying connected–especially at its grassroots level.

Tweet of the Week

It’s not too often you see The Demon stand beside Finn Balor.

Published
Justin Barrasso
JUSTIN BARRASSO

Justin Barrasso has been writing for Sports Illustrated since 2014. While his primary focus is pro wrestling and MMA, he has also covered MLB, NBA, and the NFL. He can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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