John Laurinaitis refused to sign 15-time champions to WWE as they were not "cosmetically pleasing enough"

A current AEW star has admitted that former Vice President of Talent Relations in WWE, John Laurinaitis, passed on signing him and his tag team partner because they didn't have the right look for national TV.

The star in question is Mark Briscoe, who became one of the most decorated tag team wrestlers of the 21st century as one half of The Briscoe Brothers with his late brother Jay Briscoe.

In the 20-plus years that Mark and Jay teamed together before Jay passed away in January 2023, The Briscoes held tag gold for companies like NJPW, IMPACT Wrestling, GCW, and NOAH, as well as holding the ROH Tag Team Championships a staggering 13 times.

But with all of the success they had around the world, why did they never wrestle for WWE? Speaking to Chris Jericho on his podcast "Talk is Jericho," Mark Briscoe admitted that John Laurinaitis initially turned them down following a WWE tryout.

“Well, before we left everybody was saying ‘man they really like you, they really really think they’re going to bring you guys on.’ I guess it was a week or two after we got home we were just waiting to hear back, that’s what they say ‘we’ll give you a holler, we’ll let you know.’ John Laurinaitis called, and he told Jay—he told me ‘yeah we really liked your stuff but I think we’re going to pass for right now, let us know if you want another try’ and that kind of rubbed me the wrong way like ‘try? Come on man.” [32:45 to 33:24]

However, Mark only got part of the story, as Jay later told his brother that the real reason they never got signed is because they weren't "cosmetically pleasing enough."

“Jay, he said ‘man you know what he told me? He said we not cosmetically pleasing enough!’ I was like ‘WHAT!? FOR REAL!? Damn that’s cold man.’—That was our conversation like ‘what the hell?’ If that’s really how they feel then that’s not what we want to do anyway. If we’re going to have to be all prim, pretty and proper and then maybe we get a job with WWE, that’s not what we’re looking for, let’s keep on keeping on you know.” [33:25 to 34:33]

The Briscoe Brothers have influenced a number of top WWE Superstars

As previously stated, The Briscoe Brothers wrestled for practically every company in the world except WWE. In fact, it was only until Jay's untimely passing that Mark was allowed to appear on AEW TV due to a dispute with Warner Bros. Discovery.

However, just because they never wrestled for World Wrestling Entertainment doesn't mean their influence isn't felt within the company. That was evident when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn gave them a tribute following their big win at WrestleMania 39.

Owens stated at the post-show press conference that not only did the likes of PWG help them get to where they are, but both Mark and Jay played a big part in getting them to become one of the best tag teams in the world.

The Briscoes feuded with Kevin and Sami, then known as Kevin Steen and El Generico, over the ROH Tag Team Championships during the late 2000s in what is often regarded as one of the best tag team feuds in Ring of Honor history.

Do you think The Briscoes would have done well in WWE? Let us know in the comments section down below!

Please credit "Talk is Jericho" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.