Tony Khan addressed the long-standing ban of the Briscoe Brothers from Warner Bros. Discovery networks following Mark Briscoe’s TNT Championship win on Saturday.
Speaking at the AEW Full Gear press conference, the AEW President confirmed that the executive responsible for keeping the duo off air is no longer with the company.
The comments followed Mark Briscoe’s victory earlier in the night, where he captured the TNT Championship, his first singles title in AEW. Briscoe was later presented with a new custom version of the title belt featuring a camouflage design on the strap.
When asked about the journey from being barred from the network to becoming the face of TNT’s signature title, Khan was blunt about the obstacle that had previously stood in their way.
Someone who’s long gone, long departed. Somebody who is long gone and, you know, we’ll leave it at that.
Speaking about the present-day management team, Khan added:
This place is the best. This is the absolute greatest. It’s a great place. And again, that is not somebody that is part of the family of the network or part of this family now.
Mark Briscoe reflected on the “full circle” nature of the moment. He acknowledged the specific reason for their exclusion, referencing the controversy surrounding his late brother, Jay Briscoe.
In 2013, Jay Briscoe posted homophobic comments on Twitter that drew widespread condemnation. Despite apologies and testimony from peers regarding his personal growth, the remarks caused a high-ranking Warner official to block the team from appearing on AEW programming.
Addressing the media on Saturday, Mark Briscoe spoke about the process of learning from those past errors.
It’s just crazy because, so many years ago, it was, you know, we didn’t know there was a point where the trajectory of the Briscoe brothers, it was just all up, up, up. And then, you know, some unfortunate comments were made by my big head brother.
But, you know, it’s one of the things where you live and you learn. And we’re just so grateful that people have seen and acknowledged that we did learn from our mistakes.
Before his untimely passing in January 2023, Jay Briscoe had reportedly made significant efforts to educate himself. Ring of Honor commentator Ian Riccaboni was among those who publicly championed Jay’s character development.
Khan expressed his regret over the situation, stating he tried “every day” to overturn the decision while Jay was alive, but the executive in question “would not budge.” Khan finished by praising current WBD CEO David Zaslav for the change in regime that allowed Mark to be featured.
