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Mark Briscoe is expecting the ‘next generation of Briscoes’ to carry the torch for the iconic tag team.
The 40-year-old AEW star, whose brother and tag team partner Jay Briscoe died in a car crash in January 2023 aged just 38, smiled as he pondered the idea of his or his late sibling’s children stepping into the family business.
Speaking days before AEW All In, he exclusively told Metro: ‘I’d be pretty surprised if you didn’t see at least a few of the next generation of Briscoes carry on the torch of what daddy and Uncle Jay [did].’
The proud father-of-eight – with ‘number nine on the way’ – revealed that a few of his kids are already showing a lot of promise as wrestlers.
‘Four of the eight currently, I could see them being wrestlers. Two of them, I would put my money on them being wrestlers,’ he said.
‘Now Jay’s kids, his three kids, they’re not – they don’t necessarily strike me as they want to get into wrestling, but all three of them have amazing potential.’
Mark explained that fans should hope any of the soon-to-be 11 Briscoe kids get into the family business if they ever want to see him in another traditional tag team match.
”Unless it’s one of my kids or one of Jay’s kids, [that] would be the only way that I do another two on two tag match,’ he said, as he reflected on his current ‘second career’ as a singles star.
Since Jay’s death, his brother hasn’t had a regular tag match, instead wrestling either as a singles star, or in six-man battles. But he nearly hung up his boots for good.
‘When the accident first happened, one of my first thoughts was, “Man, I don’t want to ever wrestle again” type thing,’ he said.
‘But it wasn’t long at all, and it was like… I’m not going to make it if I don’t wrestle. Like, this is my therapy.’
For Mark, continuing wrestling means he still has a bond with his brother by doing something they’ve shared since childhood.
‘There’s no time when in a wrestling ring that I don’t feel like he’s right there with me,’ he smiled. ‘We’ve always done it together.’
As part of a now-legendary Ring of Honor roster featuring the likes of Sami Zayn, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, CM Punk and Kevin Owens, Mark is proud of the impact they had on the business.
‘All of us, collectively, we changed wrestling,’ he said. ‘What wrestling is now is because of what we were doing 15, 20 years ago. It’s cool feeling.’
That legacy continued after AEW boss Tony Khan bought ROH, with the Briscoe Brothers battling FTR in an already iconic trilogy culminating in a Dog Collar match in Texas just weeks before Jay died.
Mark described the match as a ‘moment in time that was perfect in its own way, yet so incredibly brutal’.
‘It didn’t even feel real,’ he recalled of the match. ‘Of course, a month later, with the accident, looking back, it’s like a storybook or something.’
As a single’s star, Mark is striving to represent his brother – but he insisted there’s no way he can match what they did on his own.
‘I don’t think on my best day times 10 I could even touch what me and Jay did together,’ he candidly said.
He added: ‘I want to do good enough where people are like, “Man, I really enjoy watching Mark Briscoe, I heard about he had a brother, Jay, who passed away back in ’23.
‘”I heard that they were a really good tag team. Let me go look up some old Briscoe brother tag team matches”, and then it’d be like, “Whoa. I thought I liked Mark Briscoe, but man…’
Meanwhile, Mark pointed out how his own faith in God and the afterlife is the only way he’s able to keep going himself.
‘If I even for a second, even even half a percent of me, thought that Jay was dead and gone and never to exist again, then I wouldn’t be able to carry on with day to day life,’ he pondered.
‘I can still feel him. I know that he’s more alive than I am… He’s doing better than me. He don’t gotta worry about bills, taxes, none of the bullcrap that we gotta worry about on a day to day basis!’
Heading into this weekend’s Casino Gauntlet, and looking ahead to the second stage of his career, Mark has two key goals.
‘Two years into my second career without my brother, it’s definitely different, but I like it. If I can’t have my boy to tag with, then let me go show him what I got on my own,’ he shrugged.
‘[And] this is almost my duty, I gotta carry on the legacy of the Briscoe Brothers.’
Tune into AEW All In 2025 on Sunday, July 12 at 8pm. UK viewers can tune in via Amazon Prime Video.
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