Mark Briscoe reflects on his AEW debut and comments on his mission to carry on for his brother, Jay Briscoe.
The Briscoes (Mark and Jay Briscoe) were the reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions when Jay (Jamin Pugh) lost his life in a car accident on January 17. Mark subsequently competed on the January 25 episode of AEW Dynamite; he faced Jay Lethal in a match that was a tribute to his brother. Mark then signed with AEW, and he has been with the company ever since.
During an appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Mark looked back on his emotional debut and described how he felt like it was a gift from his brother.
“It was cool. Jay passed on January 17,” Mark said. “January 18 was my birthday. One week later, January 25, was Jay’s birthday. To me, that’s one of those things where, Jay had such guilt that we never made it to TV. He thought it was his fault. It’s so weird that, the first night, it was his birthday. It was like his gift to me. His gift to us. He wanted us to know how strong he was in his faith and his perspective, and his thoughts on God and eternity. I know that he was not afraid to die. He didn’t want to leave any of us, especially his kids and family, he would never want to leave them without him, but I know that he did not fear death. I, even more so than my mom or a lot of other people that were so close to him, me and him spent more time riding the road and had that connection where we had that same mindset, the same brain. Here we are, on his birthday, a week after he passed, [Speaking as Jay], ‘Here you go. Go head, baby. Do we what we do.”
Mark continued by describing how a lot of people asked him how he could wrestle soon after his brother passed away, and he emphasized his mission to carry on for Jamin.
“I told everybody, ‘If I went and balled up in a corner and cried and was sad and couldn’t function, Jaymin would do whatever he could do in his afterlife to hawk my ass in the ring,” Mark said. “[Speaking as Jay,] ‘What the hell are you doing? Come on, dawg.’ For that to happen and the timing that it happened, ‘Well, this is the next step. I’m carrying on. I’m carrying on for me and him. Let’s roll with it.’ Until there is an obvious sign of obvious indication that this isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing, let’s keep rocking and rolling.” (Transcription credit of Jeremy Lambert of Fightful)
In recent months, Mark has been featured on AEW and ROH television. He defeated Preston Vance on the May 5 episode of AEW Dynamite. Mark will also be in action on the May 11 episode of ROH TV.
