Wrestling

Tony Khan ‘fought hard’ to book Mark Briscoe, honor Jay Briscoe on Dynamite

on

All Elite Wrestling

The AEW & ROH owner also talked about not being able to build FTR/Briscoes on TV last year, and revealed details of the tribute show they filmed last week for streaming.

It took a horrible tragedy to make it happen, but we’ll finally see a Briscoe brother on AEW television tonight (Jan. 25).

Since Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor last spring, there have been questions about if one of the acts synonymous with that promotion would ever appear on Dynamite or Rampage. It was reported that AEW’s TV partners at Warner Bros Discovery objected to Khan booking Dem Boys due to controversies in their past — news TK seemed to confirm when he announced he’d re-signed Dem Boys to long-term, ROH-only contracts.

But with Jamin “Jay Briscoe” Pugh’s death last week and the outpouring of love from wrestlers & fans alike for Jay & his brother Mark, the nameless executive(s) finally reversed course. Now we’ll see Mark Briscoe wrestle on TBS, during a show which will pay tribute to his sibling & tag partner.

Khan spoke generally about the change in policy on the Battleground podcast shortly after Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal was announced for this week’s show in Lexington, Kentucky, on what would have been Pugh’s 39th birthday:

“It’s going to be a great match honoring a great man. These men requested this match. Wednesday will be the 39th birthday of the late, great Jay Briscoe and his longtime friend and rival Jay Lethal and his brother Mark Briscoe wanted to honor the legacy of Jay Briscoe and I fought hard to make it happen and I’m really excited about the match.

“I think it’s great that they’re gonna be able to honor the legacy of somebody that everybody in pro wrestling has so much respect for. This is going to be something really great for everybody in the locker room who is rallying around the Briscoe family.”

Then today, during one of his semi-regular visits to Sirius XM’s Busted Open, Kahn talked about the great trilogy The Briscoes had with FTR on ROH PPV in 2022. In the process, he spoke about wanting to have given the teams more time on AEW television:

“I wanted to be able to do more to build these matches up on television, I really did. Within the best of my abilities, I tried to build the matches up and at least give them the platform to be able to have these matches even if we couldn’t do all the promos and stories on television that we wanted to.”

TK also gave some more information about the “Celebration of Life” special coming to ROH’s subscription streaming service and its YouTube channel (a show that prior to yesterday’s news was thought to be the only tribute to Jay Briscoe that TK would be able to do):

  • The show will be three hours long.
  • In addition to the matches taped after Dynamite and Rampage last Wednesday in Fresno, California, the special will feature some of Jay Briscoe’s best matches, and interviews with the people who knew Jamin Pugh best.
  • More information about when the special will be uploaded will be provided following tonight’s Dynamite.

Join us tonight in our live blog for what should be a powerful Dynamite. You can find out more about how to support the Pughs here and here.

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