Mark Briscoe opens up about the death of his brother.
The ROH Hall of Famer spoke on this topic during a recent interview on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, where he looked back on the tribute match he had with Jay Lethal in his brother’s honor and how he is still processing his death. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Recalls the moment he found out about Jay’s death, which was right around his birthday:
It was the day before my birthday. It was January 17th, and my birthday is the 18th. That was the day that my brother passed, and I saw him earlier that day, and he was just being a goofball. He’s like, “You ready for your big day tomorrow?” And then, a couple hours later, I’m getting a phone call. I’m like, “What’s happening?” You know what I mean?
On the conversation he had with Tony Khan about doing a tribute match:
I talked to Tony [Khan]. Tony texted me, he said, “Hey man, can I give you a call?” And I was like, “Hey,” and he called me. And then between, I can’t remember exactly how it was brought up ’cause like I said, everything was such a whirlwind at the time. But of course, I’m talking to Lethal ’cause he’s one of my best friends; I talk to him all the time anyway. But then the idea of that match had come up, and Tony was all for it. He was 100% like, “If you want to do it, then let’s do it.” And I was like, “Shit, yeah. Damn right.
Says he considered retiring but knew Jay would be mad at him if he did:
You know, when it first happened, I was almost like, “Well, I don’t know if I ever want to wrestle again.” And then as the hours go, it’s almost like, “Shit, Jamin will be pissed if I…” You know what I mean? If I hung up the boots now, he’d be mad as hell.
Recalls the match with Lethal happening right around Jay’s birthday:
The way that the next week’s Dynamite was on Jamin’s birthday, to me, it’s like, OK, that’s a little more than a coincidence. It’s just like God’s time. And then for me and Jay Lethal to be able to get that main event match, it was just — it was strangely comforting. It brought me a lot of comfort, as in everything’s gonna be all right.
How he is still processing Jay’s death:
Keep on keeping on and carry him. Jay’s with you, like, your brother’s with you. Y’all been on this journey all these years. And that’s not changing. You ain’t by yourself now. It’s just now I’m representing him in the physical and he’s still with us in the spiritual. You know what I mean? I just got that overwhelming peace and the comfort and, “Hey, carry on, keep on keeping on. Don’t let this be something that brings you down. Use this almost as a springboard to even take the journey higher, take the journey further. Keep grinding. Do what Jay wants you to do and keep on keeping on.
Briscoe has been out of action due to suffering a serious knee injury, one which lost him out on the opportunity to challenge for the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor. You can read about that here.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)