The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) are one of the most decorated tag teams in independent wrestling, but have never signed with a major company.
Many fans thought they might be AEW bound following Ring of Honor releasing talent from contracts at the end of 2021, but Fightful Select reported on March 11, "The Briscoes weren't planned to be signed by All Elite Wrestling. It should be stated that we're not even sure of the interest on All Elite Wrestling's part, but if was confirmed to us by WarnerMedia sources that a person of influence in the company did not want the duo signed to AEW, specifically due to Jay Briscoe's homophobic tweets from 2013."
Speaking on the Battleground podcast, Jay Briscoe commented on the report and his past tweets.
"I want to say, thank you to the people who really know...we get labeled as homophobes. I put out a stupid tweet nine years ago, the most dumbest, immature, obnoxious shit I've ever done. I don't want anybody, from any walk of life, to feel like they can't care for the Briscoes because I promise we love everybody. We love everybody and we just want to go out there and be pro wrestlers and give the best match that we can. I said some dumb shit a long time ago, I apologized for it and I'll apologize for it again. It was stupid. I feel like now there are people who look at us like, 'we can't cheer for them because they hate a certain group of people.' We don't hate nobody. We love everybody. We're just some country boys. I thought I was taking a stand for the Lord back in the day," he said.
Mark picked up the conversation and said, "You realized, from that immaturity, that's not what you were doing because anything, God and the Lord, he has love above anything. That card trumps anything else. What you thought you were doing, taking a stand for the Lord, was counterproductive to the kingdom of God, not only to being a human being and relating with other humans that we live with and love."
Jay closed by saying, "I feel like people label us a certain way. Trust me, we're not like that."
Jay has apologized multiple times since his tweets, including the week after they were sent.
The Briscoes are the reigning ROH Tag Team Champions and are slated to compete at ROH Supercard of Honor. ROH is now owned by AEW President Tony Khan.
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