Former Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff recently opened up about the late Jay Briscoe and how he believes that he could’ve been one of WWE’s biggest stars if he ever made it there.
During a recent appearance on Busted Open, Koff reflected on a time where he had Briscoe go into the ring to address insensitive and homophobic tweets that the latter had made in 2011-12. Koff noted that the tweets “haunted” Briscoe. He called him a “good soldier” and a “genuine” guy in the way that he was quick to address the comments. (H/t Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling)
“I must say about Jay Briscoe, because he really was Ring of Honor, and of course, sad of his passing, and kind of glad that Mark’s getting a little bit of flowers, you know, with it,” Koff said. “But I wanna tell you a story about Jay Briscoe because he was such a good soldier and when I needed him to go into a ring in Pittsburgh and you talk about social media. I’m talking about 2011 or 2012. That thing haunted him forever. But I wanna tell you something, he went into the ring, he apologized to that crowd.
“He was so genuine and real and I just felt that he could have been one of the biggest stars in the WWE. No question about it. He had size, he could carry on, and I’m just glad we gave him a place where he could live that legacy, create that legacy and now has that legacy. So it’s really special.”
Jay Briscoe passed away due to a car accident in January 2023. His brother, Mark Briscoe, continues to wrestle for AEW and ROH, and he holds the ROH World Championship.
