Mark Briscoe Reflects On Being In ROH In 2002, How It Felt ‘Special’

Mark Briscoe looked back at Ring of Honor’s early days in 2002 and how it felt like the “All Star game” of the independent scene. Briscoe was part of the promotion during its rise, and he looked back on that era in an interview with Fightful where he talked about how it felt “special.”

“At the time, there was really one horse in the race, it was WWE,” Briscoe said. “Everything else was the indies. Ring of Honor felt special when it started because it was just an indie show, but it ended up being the All Star Game of the indies. They are flying in people from across the country like Mike Modest, Chris Daniels is coming in from California for an indie show in Philly. Ring of Honor is one of the first things that felt special in that time period.”

He continued, “CZW, my mindset was, when ECW was absorbed by WWE, the spirit of ECW in the northeast there was Ring of Honor, the work rate like (ECW having) Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and those guys, all the way up to RVD, Jerry Lynn, Tajiri, and Super Crazy. That branch of the (ECW) spirit went to Ring of Honor. The hardcore extreme branch went to CZW. That’s how I viewed that transition in wrestling history.”

Briscoe is the current ROH World Champion and retained the title against Chris Jericho at AEW WrestleDream.