2023 has been a hard year for Mark Briscoe. In January, Mark’s brother and multi-time ROH Tag Team Championship partner, Jay, tragically passed away a week before his 39th birthday. It is a loss that continues to be felt around the pro wrestling world. In the wake of Jay’s passing, Mark continued on the family’s legacy, choosing to continue performing in the ring instead of taking time away. Mark was met with an outpouring of love from fans and was finally rewarded with an official AEW contract.
Along with his new contract came new opportunities as a singles competitor, including an announced title match against then-ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli. Unfortunately for Briscoe, this is when he hit yet another setback, suffering a serious knee injury days before the match that required surgery. Little has been known about how much time he would miss from the ring.
At last night’s AEW Rampage taping, the wait for Mark’s return to the AEW fold ended. As reported by PWInsider and noted by several fans on social media, the younger of the Briscoe Brothers made his return. Following a promo from Kip Sabian where he ripped on Philadelphia, the host city of the taping, Mark made his way to the ring and cleaned house. No other details about the segment have been reported, but this photo of Mark in the ring has been shared on social media.
The Briscoe Brothers and FTR competed in an epic trilogy throughout 2022 for the ROH World Tag Team Championships, and I was privileged to attend all three bouts. Their final battle, ironically, took place at ROH Final Battle 2022, when they competed in a brutal Tag Team Dog Collar Match, which The Briscoes won. When Jay passed, the brothers still held the ROH Tag Team Championships, and a Reach For The Sky Ladder Match was held at ROH Supercard of Honor 2022 to crown new champions. The Lucha Brothers were victorious in the bout and shared a moment with Mark and FTR at the top of the entrance ramp after their win.