Mark Briscoe

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Dylan Waco]

Lacks the big time feel that Jay has on his own, but at least over the last few years I feel he's been the slightly better worker at least in tags. Completely crazed bumper, with a unique charisma, who had a hot tag formula that was so dynamic Daniel Bryan lifted it and used it to become the biggest star in wrestling. I can't see rating one Briscoe without rating the other, so I'll either strike them both, or place them both.

[WingedEagle]

Also interested in any singles recs for Mark as I can't imagine there'd be different recs for tags.

[InYourCase]

Mark might have the weakest singles resume of anyone on my ballot. He's got a 2004 Low Ki match that I remember liking when I watched it a few years ago, but Mark has been putting in ***1/4-***3/4 singles matches for over a decade now.

 

I've been fortunate enough to see some great wrestlers live at ROH shows over the past few years. AJ Styles, the Young Bucks, Samoa Joe, Kevin Steen, etc. - no one has impressed me more live than Mark Briscoe. Watching him from 15 feet away gave me a whole new perspective on the guy. He does everything well. His strikes, even his goofy looking kung-fu strikes, look great in person. As Dylan said, he bumps like a mad man. Generico might be the only guy that I've seen take stupider bumps in ROH. This guy is so great. Jay was pushed to the moon by ROH as this unstoppable ace and yet Mark stayed relevant and over by doing what he does on the undercard. Tremendous professional wrestler.

[El McKell]

The Briscoes have a whole pile of incredible tag matches and for me it’s a toss up between them and KENTAFuji for best tag team of the 00s. He doesn’t have the resumé of singles matches that his brother has but he wasn’t granted the same chances to do that. If we’re comparing them when they’re in tags Mark tends to do the more memorable crazy shit that sticks in your head after the match is over

What I watched for this so far and my match ratings
Mark Briscoe vs Jay Briscoe (03/05/07) ****
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Kevin Steen & El Generico (11/08/07) ***¾
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Kevin Steen & El Generico (26/08/07) ****
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura (02/03/08) ****½
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Motor City Machine Guns (19/04/08) ***½
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Matt & Jeff Hardy (26/04/14) ***½
Mark Briscoe vs Roderick Strong (24/06/16) **½ 
Mark & Jay Briscoe vs FTR (24/07/22) ****½

[EnviousStupid]

I think there's a strong case for him being one of the best AEW wrestlers ever since he's signed there in 2023. I know I'm in the minority, but I found him easily the MVP of 2023's Continental Classic and would've at least been in my top 3 from last year's tournament. Has racked up plenty of fun performances both across singles and trios matches. Is always a likeable character on TV that still has such recklessness to how he moves and bumps for others, which gets more impressive when you realise he is now 40. He's in that same category as a Claudio Castagnoli or Roderick Strong now, where they might not be doing the most eye-catching spots every night (Darby Allin) or getting marquee matchups time and again (Bryan Danielson), but their consistency for what they're being given and reliably making something great out of it shouldn't go understated. And to top it off, this is only covering the last few years of his near 25-year long career. 

We should be talking about him more.

[Tetsujin]

I didn't have the Briscoes on my top 100 for a long time, but the FTR trilogy really made me watch them with different eyes and reconsider them entirely. Both were some of the best guys at the style of wrestling they worked, and now with Jay's passing, Mark is having this acclaimed singles run that his brother also had and that was somehow needed to me in order to finally lock him in my top 100. The way he still moves for his age and the career he has had is incredible, but even better is his pyschology and how he manages to make you FEEL the match he's having thanks to his selling, his rather-die-than-bend attitude and his underrated facial expressions. This past week's Kyle Fletcher match on a random Collision is a perfect example of all of the above. An ambitious, yet humble, veteran pro wrestler that always gives his best in AEW and ROH now, someone you can enjoy in basically any role on a card. He still lacks the amount of top tier output compared to other top 100 guys, so he'll be on the lower side of the list alongside his brother, but I'm so happy I found the light with him because he's such a treat.