Tony Khan Reveals That Mark Briscoe Requested AEW Dynamite Match, Talks Jay Briscoe’s Passing
Jay Briscoe died in a car accident in Laurel, Delaware on January 17th, eight days before his 39th birthday and one day before his brother’s 38th birthday. His daughters, who were in the car with him, suffered serious injuries.
Mark Briscoe will honor his late brother Jay with his AEW debut against Jay Lethal on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
On the Battleground Podcast, AEW President Tony Khan discussed Mark’s AEW debut, Jay’s passing, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below.
On Mark Briscoe competing on AEW Dynamite: “It’s going to be a great match to honor a great man. These two men requested this match. Wednesday would be the 39th birthday of the late, great Jay Briscoe. His longtime friend and rival, Jay Lethal, and his brother, Mark Briscoe, wanted to have this match to honor the legacy of Jay Briscoe and I fought hard to make it happen and I’m really excited about the match. I believe it’s going to be a great one and it’s great that they’re going to be able to honor the legacy of somebody that everybody in pro wrestling has so much respect for, the great Jay Briscoe, on his 39th birthday. With everything happening, this is going to be something really great for everybody in the locker room who is rallying around the Briscoe family.”
On the atmosphere at last week’s Dynamite: “Last week, to be honest, a lot of us were still in shock. We were not 24 hours off finding out that Jamin had passed away. Jay Briscoe is somebody that is beloved in the wrestling business and everybody here really liked him and we’ve gotten to know him, many of us at AEW, a lot better in the last year since I acquired Ring of Honor with the Briscoes being the top tag team in the history of Ring of Honor and now the Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions. The whole thing was a shock to everybody and I think everybody in the locker room immediately tried to rally around Jay’s family, around Mark, and everybody trying to bring good energy together to try and support Jay’s two daughters in their recovery from what was a tragic accident. Thankfully, there has been some positive news about the recovery that Jay’s two daughters are making from the accident. The whole thing has been a shock. Going into this show, we’ll see how everyone has been coping this past week, but I know it’s not going to be easy.”
On his own reaction to the news of Jay’s passing: “I’ll never forget where I was and it’s one of those things, you’ll never forget where you were when you hear some of these terrible things. Absolutely, I think we were all in shock. It’s at least beautiful that everybody can come together on Wednesday Night Dynamite and honor the life and legacy of Jay Briscoe this week because it’s not only been a week since he was tragically taken away, but it’s also his 39th birthday. It’s a beautiful thing that his brother Mark and his long time friend and rival Jay Lethal can go out there and go one-on-one to celebrate Jay Briscoe on AEW Dynamite.”
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