AEW: Mark Briscoe on WWE Telling The Briscoes They Were Too Ugly for Contracts, Matt Hardy, More News

May 12, 2023

Mark Briscoe Comments on WWE Once Told The Briscoes They Were “Not Cosmetically Pleasing Enough” to Get WWE Contracts

A recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast featured Mark Briscoe as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Briscoe’s thoughts on his and his late brother Jay’s tryout for WWE during WWE’s FCW days.

“When we went down for the WWE tryout at FCW, that’s when one of the trainers or coaches was like, ‘This is what I’m seeing. [Jay], you’re super real cool. [Mark], you’re real crazy. That’s the dynamic you got going here.’ Then, we just naturally, as we progressed, and we were physically not who we were at 18, 19, 20, 21, but mentally and in the mindset aspect, we were well advanced of who we used to be. I used to be so timid. You watch old Briscoe Brothers, I’m so timid and so afraid to cut loose. As soon as I figured it out, ‘Wow, this is way easier than I thought it was.’ You don’t have to do quadruple springboard 450s. Just go out there, make a face, do a little head-wagging. Make some sound effects.”

Briscoe also gave his thoughts on the reason why they did not get a contract with WWE was due to WWE officials feeling that they were not “cosmetically pleasing enough” to be hired to the company.

“Before we left, everybody said, ‘They really like you, we think they’re going to bring you guys on.’ I guess it was a week or two after we got home, we were waiting to hear back. John Laurinaitis called and said, ‘We really liked your stuff, but I think we’re going to pass for right now. Let us know if you guys want another try.’ That kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I guess, when he talked to Jay, he said, ‘You know what he told me? He said we’re not cosmetically pleasing enough.’ ‘What? That’s cold man. I’m too ugly. Dagone.’
That was our conversation. Like, what the hell. If that’s really how they feel, that’s not what we want to do anyway. If we have to be prim, pretty, and proper and maybe we get a job with WWE, that’s not what we’re looking for.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Matt Hardy Comments on AEW Dark Elevation & Dark Series Ending Being “Bittersweet”

A recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast featured co-host Matt Hardy’s thoughts on AEW ending their Dark Elevation and Dark series being a “bittersweet” decision.

“One of the most hilarious things ever was just, some of the nights, whenever we would do a live TV, and then we would have tapings afterwards, whether it was Elevation, Dark, or whatever, and we would tape a few weeks worth, I mean there were mornings where everybody, every top star in the company was there until 2 or 2:30 a.m. in the morning taping. There was one time I was going out for a main event on of the shows, and the Young Bucks said, ‘Can you believe this? They’ve got the legend, Matt Hardy, here til 2:30 a.m. in the morning going out to wrestle, when he’s already been on Dynamite, and he’s cooled down for five hours. This is insane [laughs].’ But it was wild. Every time we’d go back to the hotel, Tony would have full-course meals for everyone. It’d all be set up, and the brotherhood of the locker room was so great during that time. Everyone hung out, did their things, and it was really a tight, tight clique …
Yeah, I think so. I think, once again, Dark and especially Elevation, which is what we typically did at TVs, Dark was mainly done in Orlando. But I feel like both Dark and Elevation, I think it was a great testing ground, especially if someone wanted to try something new, if you had someone that wanted to experiment with some sort of angle, or if you had someone who had started an angle and for them to be able to supplement it on their shows. For example, in the case of myself and Ethan Page, there were a lot of amazing things that we did on those shows. It is a little bittersweet because I think it’s good too to have guys that might not get big wins in matches on TV, to be able to give them wins and spotlight them on those programs. I think it’s a good spot for those guys. So yeah, it is moving on, but apparently, there’s a new deal that’s been signed, and everything going to be exclusive to Warner Brothers Discovery now, all of their programming.”

Hardy also gave his thoughts about AEW Dark being the company’s developmental system and how it helped to give jobs to a lot of people.

“Tony Khan said from day one, he said that Dark is his developmental territory. That’s how he develops talent. He said he has guys come in, he said he looks at them, as opposed to sending someone to an NXT and pay them and have them work there for a month and try to teach them your style while doing that. They come in, he basically sees what they are. He would give them feedback, maybe try to work on this or work on that, whatever, or the people underneath him would. Then they would go out on the indies and they would do their thing, and they would come back and do another Dark. There are a lot of people that got hired through that process. So yeah, I feel like it was a pretty wise form of developmental.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

AEW News & Notes

As noted before, Miro and Thunder Rosa made their surprise returns at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Detroit, Michigan. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Miro and Rosa’s surprise appearances were directly tied to the upcoming debut of AEW’s new Collision series. It was also reported that other upcoming returns will also be tied directly to this new show.

This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show also featured a promo segment by AEW CEO Tony Khan who stated that he will be making a big announcement on next week’s Dynamite show. Fightful Select reported that their sources confirmed that Khan’s upcoming announcement is tied to the upcoming official reveal of AEW Collision.

Fightful Select also reported that their sources stated that the Chris Jericho and Roderick Strong backstage segment during this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show was not live and instead was filmed last week.

Thunder Rosa recently released her debut music video for her song “Mi Mejor Escuela.”

In a recent interview with Dark Puroresu Flowsion, Kota Ibushi stated that one of his current plans for his career is to eventually wrestle in AEW one day. Ibushi stated “From talking with Kota Ibushi. His main goals & focuses are to wrestle in AEW & continue to coach/open school & build future stars from all over the world! As well as work with MMA promotion Rizin if a deal can be reached.”

In a recent Q&A panel for Monopoly Events’ For the Love of Wrestling convention, Ruby Soho stated that her current dream match for her career would be a Women’s Trios match between AEW’s The Outcasts (Soho, Toni Storm, & Saraya) and WWE’s Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, IYO SKY, & Bayley).

In a recent interview with the Wilde On with Taylor Wilde podcast, Saraya revealed that she has been dealing with a medical condition called Endo Belly that has prevented her from being able to wrestle at times whenever she suffers an inflammation. Saraya stated “The things that used to bother me the most, out of everything, is the way they would look at my weight. Everyone has an opinion about it. Lately, as well, they’re telling me I look a lot bigger than usual. I want to tell them, listen, I’m getting older, I have really bad endometriosis. My belly swells up, I get endo belly. It swells up for a couple of weeks and it’s really painful. I try and hide it, but I can’t wrestle when my belly is like that. I can’t wear wrestling gear, I’m too swollen. It’s a really painful experience for me, and people just think that I’m fat. You have no idea, but everyone has an opinion.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)