The Briscoes Turn Down WWE And Re-Sign With Ring Of Honor

When you think of professional wrestling and loyalty, one of the most overlooked examples is in Ring of Honor, where The Briscoe Brothers have made their career since day one of the company. The Briscoes continue to be a name commodity in the company and Jay is currently the World Champion for ROH, successfully defending his title over WrestleMania weekend against Samoa Joe. Today it came out via a YouTube video that Ring of Honor posted, along with a press release, that stated The Briscoes have re-signed with ROH on a two-year contract.

The reason this signing is significant is because of this info courtesy of PWInsider:

“WWE sources indicate that the company made a ‘top flight NXT level offer’ in their attempt to sign the brothers but a number of factors led the pair to instead sign new deals with Ring of Honor.”

Exactly what a “top flight NXT level offer” means, is unknown. It’s easy to assume, however, that they would’ve been one of, if not the two highest paid wrestlers in Orlando. Mike Johnson, who wrote the article, goes on to state that, “My gut feeling is that if WWE had offered The Briscoes something that would have sent them right onto TV on the main roster for main roster money, we’d have seen The Briscoes leave.” That’s easy to say, and probably true, but with the way WWE is doing business now, there is no way someone will get signed and bypass NXT anymore.

The Briscoes are great workers and would’ve been a real coup for WWE/NXT, but their loss is ROH’s gain. ROH also accomplished something that TNA couldn’t do, and that’s re-sign their founding fathers of the company, and show loyalty to them as they’ve shown to the company. The irony isn’t lost that both AJ Styles and Samoa Joe both left TNA and immediately went to ROH.

Will The Briscoes ever go to WWE? It’s possible, as even after this contract expires Jay and Mark will only be 33 and 32 respectively. They had a tryout in 2009, but according to The Briscoes themselves, WWE passed due to not liking their look.

Here’s the press release and video followed by more of my thoughts:

Briscoes Stay Home in ROH – Jay & Mark Sign new 2 Year Contracts!

The Briscoe Brothers have been with Ring of Honor “since day one,” and now, ROH can confirm that the Briscoes are here to stay!

Jay and Mark have nearly thirty years of combined experience between the ropes , have traveled the world, and have earned many championships along the way. Jay Briscoe is in the midst of an incredible second run as World Champion, a feat accomplished by only two men in the entire history of ROH, and together, the Briscoes hold the record for ROH Tag Team Championships with eight amazing reigns.

The Briscoes built their legacies in Ring of Honor and for Dem Boys from Sandy Fork, there’s no place like home…and no place like Ring of Honor.

K-Tank’s Take: This is a very interesting note from PWInsider about the NXT offer, simply for the fact that during a time when it seems every “name” in the indies is deciding now is the time to take the leap to WWE/NXT, The Briscoes decide to stay where they’re comfortable and where they’ve always known. I don’t fault them for that.

ROH has always made sure that The Briscoes are a marquee attraction and WWE isn’t a guarantee they’ll do the same. The Briscoes in real life run a chicken farm in Delaware, so could you imagine Vince getting a hold of that information and making their gimmick be chicken farmers? It’s possible. That work on the farm also would be tough to maintain on a WWE schedule too, for what it’s worth.

I hope they do eventually take a chance on WWE and maybe go there after this contract is up, because they are that good, but if they don’t, they’ll be just fine in Ring of Honor for as long as they want to be there.