Former pro wrestler Jay Briscoe killed in crash on Delaware highway while taking daughters to cheerleading practice

The pro wrestler known as Jay Briscoe — best known as one half of the foul-mouthed “Briscoe Brothers” tag team — was killed in head-on highway crash in Delaware while taking his daughters to cheerleading practice, officials and his family said.

The performer, whose real name was Jamin Pugh, was driving east on Laurel Road in a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 at 5:09 p.m. ET Tuesday when a westbound Chevrolet Silverado 1500 “crossed the center lane” and came “directly into the path” of eastbound traffic, state police said.

The Silverado 1500 was driven by Lillyanne Ternahan, a 27-year-old Frankford resident. She and Pugh, a 38-year-old Laurel resident, were both pronounced dead at the scene in Laurel.

Ternahan was wearing a seat belt and Pugh was not, police said.

Pugh was traveling with two daughters, ages 9 and 12, who were both wearing seat belts, police said. The girls were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were both listed in critical condition.

Pugh’s mother, Jana Pugh, told NBC Philadelphia that he was taking the girls to cheerleading practice.

She said she believes her son was alive when she and her husband arrived at the scene of the crash.

“My husband did the yell to him,” Pugh told the station. “Calls him Chum. He said, ‘Chum, we’re here.’ So if he was conscious at all at that time he would’ve heard that. And I like to think he did.”

The pickup trucks were the only vehicles involved in Tuesday evening’s fatal crash and it wasn’t immediately clear if either driver was impaired, police said.

Pugh and brother Mark Pugh were the “Briscoe Brothers” who performed for the Florida-based Ring of Honor wrestling circuit.

“It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the tragic passing of Jamin Pugh, known to wrestling fans around the world as Jay Briscoe,” Ring of Honor said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and his fans.”

The brothers’ in-ring personas, as tough guy chicken farmers, were among the Ring of Honor’s most popular acts of the early 2000s.