Mark Briscoe recently appeared as a guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the All Elite Wrestling star reflected on when he first found out about Jay Briscoe’s passing, talking with Tony Khan about doing a tribute match and why he decided not to retire.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On the moment he learned of Jay Briscoe’s passing: “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 talking with Tony Khan about 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, “Sh*t, yeah. Damn right.”
On how he considered retiring but decided against it because he felt Jay would be mad at him if he did for that reason: “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, “Sh*t, Jamin will be pissed if I…” You know what I mean? If I hung up the boots now, he’d be mad as hell.”
On how he is still processing Jay’s passing to this day: “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.”
Check out the complete interview at Spotify.com. H/T to POSTWrestling.com for transcribing the above quotes.
