Josh Briggs and AR Fox wrestled an amazing, insane match at Evolve 124. As they took crazy bumps, including repeated flights into me, my friend Shelton and the metal barrier in the front row, I thought I could see the injury report coming. Fox took said barrier to the ribcage on a bad landing, and it looked nasty, but immediately after Briggs scored a pin-fall victory, I saw him forcefully try to snap his knee back into place.
Then, as Briggs yelled, the ref crossed his arms in the air in that X gesture that promotions such as WWE and others have added to their storytelling, for the sake of realism. This was no such planned narrative, though, as a group of refs and a couple of medics swarm the stage.
Briggs, lying on the mat, on the far end of the ring, with his head looking up, and body pointed to the back of the venue, did not move, except to grab at his hair and head. Like many if not all wrestlers, Briggs had wrestled hurt before, but now that the match was over, he couldn’t even move.
Briggs screamed in short outbursts, in frustration, and pled with the doctors, though I couldn’t hear the specifics. It took a short while, or at least it felt like it did, for the air cast and flat orange medical stretcher to come out. After the crowd chanted “BRIGGS! BRIGGS! BRIGGS!” and other signs of our thanks, Briggs — who loudly, frequently declares that he doesn’t like anyone — flipped both middle fingers to the audience, which cracked us all up.
By then, most of the roster came out, with Anthony Greene [1] leading the pack, with Curt Stallion and Mike Orlando not far behind. In that moment, I’m reminded of Progress New York, when Keith Lee and Donovan Dijak, among the rest of the locker room, helped carry TK Cooper, who’d crash-landed terribly, right in front of me.
Briggs was carried out of the room, and the show — as it always does — went on. After the following match, Evolve head booker Gabe Sapolsky came out with WWN brand ambassador Trevin Adams to clear space for Briggs to be carried out.
Josh Briggs is doing ok. Not sure how long he’ll be out for. #EVOLVE124 pic.twitter.com/067IJ8MhcY
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) March 17, 2019
Approximately 2 hours later, Briggs tweeted out the news: “Dislocated hip. Pretty lame.” Shortly later, Briggs would tweet again, and ever the pro wrestler, he redirected the focus, saying, “Before I dislocated my hip I had one of my favorite matches. @WWNEVOLVE #EVOLVE124 was one of the best shows I’ve been apart of.” He also prepared us to not expect a GoFundMe: “Don’t give me money or anything like that, just watch the show and support EVOLVE and my best buds!”
After midnight, Briggs quote-tweeted my claim that he “just tried to snap his knee back in or something after the pinfall,” adding the caption, “Hahahahahahaha! I did. Didn’t work.” Since all of Briggs’ tweets have focused on his hip, I’d believe that both his left knee and his hip, or just the latter, had been broken or popped out of place.
If you’ve never seen an injury bring a show to a grinding halt, you’re extremely fortunate. I hope none of us witness another moment like these, but this is pro wrestling, not ballet, as the line goes.
It’s this evening, and every injury a wrestler goes through, though, that brings a lot of clarity to how insignificant other minor issues — say, wrestlers using fan-shot photos without accreditation, or wrestlers landing on fans in the audience — are. These men and women are going through hell and back with risks to their bodies, and rarely for a fee that matches the potential risk. Don’t believe me? Just listen to this episode of the Bitter Boys Podcast where Ethan Page and Brent Brookhouse talk about how pay for independent wrestlers, even those who do well, can pale in comparison to medical bills.
Hahahahahahaha! I did. Didn’t work. https://t.co/oC0kM1Elmr
— Josh Briggs (@TheJoshBriggs) March 17, 2019
I write this whole story out because while I know there are many great fans out there (whom Sapolsky and Briggs tweeted about), there’s a non-zero amount that have become complacent, entitled and downright shitty. Fans who make me want to quote Josh Briggs and say “I don’t like you!”
From the fans that nonsensically heckle, repeatedly, and try to make the show about themselves to those who stalk wrestlers at airports, there are some folks out there who make this job even harder on the performers, who have it tough enough as it is.
If you don’t respect wrestlers, or what they go through, but still want to attend shows, then pay the money and shut up. Nobody needs to hear your nonsense. People will say a ticket entitles fans to say what they want, but I want to hold us all to a slightly higher standard.
At 3:28am Sunday morning, about 8 hours after the injury, Briggs tweeted a video of himself in the hospital, walking on crutches. The tweet told us he’d have “2-3 months recovery time,” and that he’s got a “Long, miserable, painful road ahead,” which is sobering to say the least.
Dislocated Hip.
— Josh Briggs (@TheJoshBriggs) March 17, 2019
2-3 months recovery time.
Long, miserable, painful road ahead of me.
You can’t begin to understand how strong I’m coming back.#90Days pic.twitter.com/JjTrkxUOoK
Briggs also wrote “You can’t begin to understand how strong I’m coming back,” and I believe him. As I’ve watched him work the independent scene over the last year-plus, I’ve been constantly impressed and entertained. This bearded badass is already a nimble big man with an intimidating presence. If injury and rehabilitation led Tommaso Ciampa to become the king of NXT, Josh Briggs is going to come back as the most must-see man on the independent scene.
When Briggs began an undefeated streak in Beyond Wrestling, after defeating Brody King at Americanrana 2018, he asked for the mic and declared “I’ll either die or get signed before I fucking lose here again.”
And to be honest, I gotta say I believe him. No, not that he’s going to die (he’s not that risky) but Josh Briggs is going to be signed before you know it. He could even wind up headed to Full Sail (or elsewhere) before his 90 day injury timeline is up.
Briggs is a blue-chipper of the top magnitude, and once he comes back, I wouldn’t waste any opportunities to see him live, because he won’t be wrestling small venues like La Boom for a very long time. And watch Briggs, and all wrestlers, with respect. They don’t just earn that respect with their performance, but they’re human beings damnit, and should be treated as such.
[1] An unintentionally hilarious tweet from Briggs notes that Greene and fellow north-east scene mainstay Wheeler Yuta were there at the hospital when he woke up with anesthesia.