The Briscoe Brothers Released from Ring of Honor

The Briscoe Brothers Released from Ring of Honor

DISCLAIMER - I have no scoops. I'm just going off what has been said and I have added some insight of my own.

The Briscoe Brothers were released from their ROH contracts today. This is where it gets tricky.

ROH's Kayfabe Reason:
From: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/major-briscoe-news
ROH did not state that they were released but said that both brothers would be out indefinitely due to the physicality of their match at the Best in the World iPPV. They said both men suffered multiple injuries.

F4WOnline's Shoot Reason:
From: http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/104-ring-of-honor/31938-update-on-briscoe-brothers
F4WOnline said that the Briscoes had been set to be written out of storyline after the iPPV, months in advance.

Other Factors:
- Jay Briscoe is currently the Ring of Honor Champion and the last iPPV featured both brothers in the main event. Promotions usually don't release their champions or top stars unless something big went down behind the scenes. The releases means both men are off the roster and leaves ROH short of two of its top stars. ROH planned this in advance which makes it even odder.

- For those not aware, Jay Briscoe sent out a tweet months ago that was anti-gay and offended many people. He was punished for it and I personally think it is time to let it go, but whether this does or doesn't have anything to do with the releases, is something we don't fully know yet.

- WWE has been interested in the Briscoe Brothers and F4WOnline mentioned that they might have been scheduled to leave after their match against each other at the iPPV in order to get ready for a WWE run. One thing to keep in mind is that Jay Briscoe's tweet could have affected any possible WWE deal they had lined up since WWE works with a lot of gay support groups and wants to look good in corporate America. Jay's tweet wouldn't be something that would look good for the WWE.

- While not the leading reason, TNA has been rumored to have some interest in them and TNA could be their next destination.

- If neither WWE or TNA happens, Dave Meltzer made a post on the F4WOnline message board where he said "they'll be back in August" if they don't go to either of those promotions. Why is August important? Well, from what we know,  ROH will be running the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on 8/17/2013 for presumably an iPPV called "Manhattan Mayhem V". ROH would obviously love to have them back for that and would probably bring them back then.

- Notice that both wrestlers were released, even though Mark Briscoe hasn't presumably done anything to cause trouble. This either means that he a)did something too, b) was a part of whatever possible deal they have in another company or c) left with his brother to support him.

My thoughts on The Briscoes
This is a pretty wild story and definitely an interesting topic. After looking at the different factors, to me, it seems that The Briscoes are headed to the WWE. They are names, they can talk and they can work so the WWE would be interested in them. WWE is also hiring a ton of independent wrestlers and The Briscoes would be a logical choice. It seems like it would be a great fit for everyone involved.

My thoughts on ROH releasing The Briscoes
This was a weird release no matter how you put it and ROH loses no matter how you put it. They lost their champion, two of their stars and now they don't have much going forward. Their champion didn't put someone over on their way out, so it will be a little bit of an akward transition. ROH has announced that Michael Elgin will be involved in whatever they do next with the ROH title. He had a shot lined up for 8/3/2013 and ROHwrestling.com mentioned that "he may be awarded the World Title due to forfeit".  This isn't the best idea and even he was awarded the title, I'm sure he would ask for a decision match for it anyway.

I think ROH could have handled this situation better though. They shouldn't have made Jay Briscoe the champion in the first place. It was mostly out of nowhere and wasn't that great of a reign. It didn't have a great story or a great build around it either. People like Michael Elgin would have been more interesting choices.

ROH shouldn't have also booked Jay to lose his title by being released. No one benefits from that and it makes ROH look bad. They should have had Jay just lose on his way out like most companies do.

ROH should have also mentioned that The Briscoes were leaving and should have a done a "goodbye" match for them. It would have gotten some extra buys and they still could have done Briscoe vs Briscoe. They could have even done a "goodbye" weekend and featured a final Briscoe Brothers tag match and a Briscoe vs Briscoe match. Turn that into a boxset with their tv special and they could have gotten a few more dollars.

Thanks for reading. Let's see where this goes from here.

Stay tuned for a live review of WWE Main Event 6/26/2013 with pics and gifs coming up later!