On Tuesday, Jay Briscoe, whose real name was Jamin Pugh, tragically died in a car accident in Delaware at the age of 38.
The wrestling community has been responding with an outpouring of tributes. Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite started with a graphic honoring Briscoe, and many wrestlers wore “Jay” armbands during their matches.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Warner Bros. Discovery prevented AEW from airing a full tribute show for Briscoe due to past homophobic tweets he made over a decade ago.
This isn’t the first instance of WBD restricting Briscoe’s presence on AEW programming. The network had previously objected to featuring Jay and his brother Mark on AEW’s shows, despite Jay’s repeated apologies for the offensive tweets.
In response to these restrictions, Tony Khan organized a “Jay Briscoe: Celebration of Life” event under the Ring of Honor banner, which aired after AEW Dynamite. This tribute event was made available for free on HonorClub and ROH’s YouTube channel.