WE HAVIN FUN NOW, BABAY – GODSPEED JAY BRISCOE

Really just kind of sick to my stomach to be writing this but unfortunately the demon of tragedy has struck again as we lost Jay Briscoe to a car accident. Hopefully the surgery was a success and both his daughters that were in the truck with him will recover 100%. It seems from the police report that the other driver crossed into the lane Jay was driving in and he had no chance to react which makes it even worse that he was doing everything right but someone else’s mistake cost his family so much. That was always the biggest thing that stood out to me about Jay Briscoe, his love for his family. They were the first thing I thought of when I heard the news, knowing how close they all were and to lose Jay like this man devastating doesn’t even cut it. As great of a wrestler he was, he was even greater as a Father. He was driving his daughters to Cheerleading practice when the accident happened, that’s the kind of Dad Jay was. Having a brother that I am very close with, I can’t even imagine the pain that Mark Briscoe is feeling. More than a broken heart this news hurts my soul, man.

After the news broke, I immediately realized that I had been taking Jay and the Briscoe Brothers team for granted. I have been a big fan for years but I did not watch every promo or match that I could. I took for granted that there would always be another promo I could hear or another match I could see. I took for granted that one day AEW or WWE would finally wise up and give them a shot at the big time so I could watch all those matches and promos. Now that Jay is gone, I realize just how much I missed out on and am really kicking myself for not going out of my way to watch their matches/promos. Bc I loved em, I don’t think I ever heard a bad promo or saw a bad match. They weren’t all home runs but they were all entertaining, most were great and some of them were legendary. No more so than their trilogy with FTR, maybe the greatest Tag Team trilogy of all time considering these were the only 3 matches they had against each other. Other teams could put 3 matches in the conversation but all of them had 10’s or 100’s of matches together, The Briscoes and FTR went 3 for 3. I watched the first match and was fcking blown away by how great it was, my first thought after was how can anyone in WWE/AEW watch this match and not immediately get these guys signed. I was waiting to watch the other 2 bc I felt bad for not paying for them but now feel I like a real dumbass for both waiting and not buying the damn PPV.

Now I know when you talk about why the Briscoes never got signed by AEW or WWE, there is a legitimate reason bc of anti-gay tweets that Jay sent out in 2012 or 2013 and I remember when he made them thinking there goes the shot at WWE. It was sad that Jay felt like that but he did not continue thinking like that. He allowed himself to be educated on the subject and changed his line of thinking to supporting gay rights rather than being against them. Jay made heartfelt public apologies and personal apologies to fans that approached him saying they were hurt by his comments. He made things right with gay wrestlers and many have talked about how supportive he has been of them. He accepted the consequences for his actions and didn’t trash AEW/WWE for not signing them or publicly complain and cry about cancel culture like so many others do. He just put his head down and tried to be the best wrestler/family man he could and one day it would all pay off. They even stopped wearing their confederate flag gear after they were educated on what that flag really means and represents. Just not right that now he won’t ever get that big opportunity that he had earned. I guess it wasn’t Tony Khan’s call, Warner Brothers Discovery was the reason they weren’t in AEW or why there wasn’t anything more than a graphic to start the show for Jay bc they were a hard no on the Briscoes on their stations. Sucks bc if they had actually met them, they would have realized they were great guys and that people can legitimately change and should be given the opportunity to prove it.

The Briscoe Brothers are the only true outlaws we have seen in professional wrestling since Bruiser Brody. They both had but esp Jay had that badass, legit ass kicker charisma and it made it so easy to root for them. You could feel that they were real. God could you imagine the carnage that a trio of Bruiser Brody and the Briscoe Brothers would have unleashed on the wrestling world lol They became 1 of the greatest tag teams of all time without ever wrestling for a mainstream wrestling company. Kept out bc of how rough around the edges they were, bc of how real they were. If Jay Briscoe believed something then he was absolutely not afraid to own it which could def rub some people the wrong way but it was also the quality people most loved about him. I didn’t agree with all of his opinions but more often than not I did and even when I didn’t I still respected his right to have em. If I had to go to the gates of hell to fight the devil himself, The Briscoes are the kind of guys I’d want with me. Jay was a Godly man and paid his respects to God daily, just made me an even bigger fan of him and he was a great example that a Christian doesn’t have to fit some stereotype. He owned his flaws and made real efforts to make them right. This is such a fn shame, man.

I think the Briscoes almost suffered from their own greatness bc they had so many great matches that they became normal and didn’t stand out as much as they should. Trying to come up with matches and promos to suggest, the only suitable answer is all of em lol that’s how you will get the true Briscoe Brothers experience, by watching them have banger after banger with a variety of different teams. The trilogy vs FTR should be watched first bc it just doesn’t get better than that. I’m gonna post 2 links to youtube playlists, 1 for promos and 1 for matches. Not sure how long they will stay up but for now it has 25 matches and all their promos, so much fn gold. Just so hard to accept that there will be no more matches or promos, we will never see another team like the Briscoes ever again.

Matches – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYMvmLvcAA-BCUUmMIDMkIVLzBgAfipLe

Promos – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn37JNP2wSXm4RnsCXk-YXAZpwhIoCfIp

I did not watch Ring of Honor until 2011 so I had not really seen any of their matches before that. I remember hearing about the ‘Briscoe Brothers’in the 2000’s so I looked them up thinking they would be 2 clean cut Bob Backlund types but what a shock seeing 2 badass dirty ol country boys lol First match I watched was vs the All Night Express and right from then, I was a fan. Then I saw them cut a promo and I was all in. They delivered another great match vs The World’s Greatest Tag Team and like I said earlier, I never saw them have a bad match. Loved the stuff they did with their Dad, Papa Briscoe. Really was a family affair with the Briscoes. During the glory days of UFC I was on an MMA forum and signatures became a thing so you could choose a gif or pic that would show up every post. As a pro wrestling guy i always got shit for it so I wanted to use a wrestling gif but didnt want to use any of the usual big moments. Then I found one of the Briscoes all bloodied up doing an interview after a match n Jay looks into the camera and says “We havin fun now, babay” and I was like thats it. Not only did i never get shit for it, I got lots of ‘ok thats awesome who are they’ and they never disappointed. To this day I use that quote when doing hard or dirty work or when winning at anything but esp poker lol

In so many ways Jay Briscoe was the perfect pro wrestler. He had the look, he had the in-ring skill, he had the promo skill, he had the charisma, he had the toughness, he had the authenticity, he had the credibility, Jay really had it all man and I never appreciated it until he was gone. I feel bad talking about the loss to wrestling considering his daughters were seriously hurt but are showing that Briscoe toughness and recovering in the hospital. I will keep praying for a full recovery, they have already lost their Dad they don’t need to deal with anything else. Also keeping Jay’s son Gannon in my prayers, can’t even comprehend his pain. My heart goes out to Jay’s wife, her pain is unimaginable losing her husband and not even being able to grieve needing to be strong for her daughters as they recover. Praying hard for Mark, honestly makes me sick to think of what he is going through. I mean they wrestled together, farmed together, worked together, raised their families together, I can’t fathom what he is going through. Need to pray for the family of the other driver as well. Just awful how it just takes a second to completely change the lives of so many and create so much pain and suffering. I hate so much that this happened.

This is a huge loss to the independent wrestling scene as well bc with their outlaw status, the Briscoes wrestled all over the world and were a big draw for independent promoters for the last 15 years but esp these days. If you saw a card with the Briscoes on it, you knew you were getting at least 1 great match. in 2013 I tweeted this, “DB/Punk vs the Wyatts at #SurvivorSeries should be great. My dream match would be- DB/Punk/Briscoe Brothers vs Wyatts/Kevin Steen” Oh man would that match have torn the house down. They should’ve been in a major company man they would have put themselves on the map immediately, in WWE they get Usos/New Day/Street Profits/Alpha Academy/Imperium/Viking Raiders/Hit Row and in AEW they get FTR/Young Bucks/The Acclaimed/Top Flight/Butcher & Blade/Best Friends/Lucha Bros/2.0. All they needed was a chance and they would have knocked it out of the park. I think Vince McMahon especially would have loved them and given them a big push once he got to be around them and see who they really are. Pretty sure The Briscoes were going to be one of the faces of the relaunched ROH considering Jay was Tag Team Champion when he died. Time to retire that design of the ROH Tag Titles bc they forever belong to the Briscoes.

Been a fan for a long time man my soul hurts for his family and his brother and I just pray his daughters will make a full recovery. Thanks to Jesus we will see Jay again guaranteed but dammit man he had more to do down here this is so awful. I’ll try to take a positive out of this and make sure to not take things I like/love for granted bc you never know what the next moment will bring. I recently said that FTR could walk into a locker room in the 80’s and be accepted and respected. Well you can have the Briscoes walk in right beside em bc I guarantee both teams would be able to hang with any of the 80’s teams. Takes special talent to be able to put yourself in the GOAT convo without ever wrestling in a major mainstream company and the Briscoes were absolutely special. Don’t think anyone realized just how special they were until it was over which is a damn shame. If Mark continues wrestling he will have the crowd behind him 100% so hopefully he gets the shot their team should have got. It is just so fucked that there will never be another Briscoe Brothers match man I still can’t believe it.

Hopefully Tony Khan puts out a Briscoe Brothers anthology DVD so we can support the family and have the matches to watch as long as we want. The Briscoe Brothers checked every box as a team; in-ring, promo and draw. They were great in the ring and on the mic, and I personally saw them convert non-fans to become fans plus they have been a big draw on the independent scene. Add all that up and it equals 1 of the greatest tag teams of all time. A flawed man that fought to right the wrongs in his life and live closer to the best version of himself. A fiercely devoted family man. A great friend. A loyal brother. A legendary wrestler. Lived a champion and died a champion. Jay Briscoe will be remembered as a lot of things but none more important than Father, Husband, Brother, Son, Uncle. I’ll think of his love for his family first and wrestling second when I think of Jay Briscoe. Their hometown closed the school bc of how devastating this has been to the community. Shows you what kind of a man Jay Briscoe was.

I guess it is time to end this man still hard to believe that Jay Briscoe is gone. Over the years when I take pics with my Dad n brother we would always hashtag it #DemBoys and I will def keep that goin in his memory. I’m gonna sit down with my Dad to watch the Briscoes/FTR trilogy bc that’s the kind of wrestling my Dad loves and he already loves FTR so I know he would love the Briscoes. Should’ve done that a long time ago, truly sorry for takin you guys for granted. Now it’s up to the fans to help keep Jay’s memory alive so I’m gonna show the Briscoe Brothers matches to everyone that is interested. I’ll keep supporting Mark and the family in whatever way that I can. Jay, his girls and entire family, friends and fans will stay in my prayers. Man this really sucks to be doing this it still hasn’t really sunk in yet that it’s actually over, no more great matches or promos. Turning 39 he was just starting his prime as a man this so fcking gross. Ok I gotta wrap this up, as much as this sucks the legacy of Jay Briscoe will live on forever through the great matches and promos that wrestling fans will keep in their hearts and minds. No wrestling fan will ever let people forget that the Briscoe Brothers are always in the conversation for Greatest Tag Team of All Time. It would not surprise me if Jesus has already fitted Jay with angel wings and there is some bitch boy demon with chills going down the yellow stripe on its back hearing ‘Reach for the sky, boy!’

Seeing all the love pour out from the wrestling community and from people that knew Jay is confirmation he is exactly who we thought he was. One of the last pictures he took was posing with Mark and Josh Alexander’s son and Josh tweeted more context to the picture and again just shows what a fcking great guy Jay was. This is a terrible loss all around but all the communities will rally together in his memory to get through this. All the love, God’s Blessings and prayers up for Jay Briscoe, Mark, his wife, his girls, his boy, his entire family and their community, his friends and fans. So many people loved Jay Briscoe and he will be sorely missed but never forgotten.

Godspeed, brother.