Jay Briscoe’s tragic passing created a void in the world of professional wrestling. The late tag team specialist passed away in a car accident last Tuesday. His untimely demise led to an outpouring of support and condolence. The Briscoes were previously banned from AEW television by Warner Bros. Discovery due to Jay Briscoe’s 2013 homophobic tweet. They were also banned because of the rebel flags they used.
Despite having a long-term deal with Tony Khan’s ROH, The Briscoes were nonetheless banned from appearing on AEW TV to advertise ROH pay-per-view events. This was brought on by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TBS and TNT.
In an interview, Tony Khan reaffirmed this, saying he intended to broadcast them to promote matches against the Briscoes. Before this week’s AEW Dynamite episode, the team’s ban almost prevented any form of tribute to Jay Briscoe. Mark Briscoe was placed on Dynamite for the tribute match with Jay Lethal after a long battle, according to Khan.
According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there were numerous reasons why the Briscoes were denied access to AEW television. One of them was undoubtedly Jay Briscoe’s homophobic remark from 2013 for which he later issued an apology.
The other was alleged because the team’s uniform had a Confederate flag. Because of this, WBD initially refused to let Mark’s appearance until this past week or any type of noteworthy tribute to Jay the week before. It was mentioned that WBD had the power to ban anyone from TV thanks to AEW’s agreement with WBD.
The main issue was Jay’s tweets from nearly a decade ago. However, there was a second issue regarding the Briscoes wearing Confederate Flag ring jackets and on gear in the past. Because of that, the original decision even after Jay’s death was to still not allow Mark to appear on TBS or TNT as well as to not allow a significant tribute show for Jay.
Tony Khan wanted to put the Briscoes on All Out last year in Chicago but was unable to get it cleared so he substituted the Motor City Machine Guns. The ban even appeared to apply to pay-per-view (PPV).
Mark finally received permission to go on the program, and on Wednesday, he paid tribute to his brother. As mentioned, he is now permitted to make future appearances on WBD stations, not just one-time ones. Keep an eye on Ringside News for the latest updates.
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