Brodie Lee remembered by Jon Moxley

Jon Huber caught people’s attention. Whether acting as Brodie Lee or Luke Harper, he accomplished wrestling’s most difficult feat.

Huber made fans believe.

Wrestling’s most skilled performers find a way to stop disbelief and make people believe in the magic of their work. That’s the beauty of pro wrestling. Even more meaningful than raw athletic performance, making someone believe makes a lasting bond.

Huber spent his life applying and honing his craft, inexorably in search of the right look, style and character. The end result was the forging of a timeless piece in professional wrestling, although one that, heartbreakingly, will not contain a next chapter.

Late Saturday night when it was announced that Huber – the indestructible, fat-bearded, unstoppable force in wrestling – had passed away from lung disease. At the age of just 41, just as he reached his prime as both an artist and parent, Huber’s life was cruelly snatched from him.

“It doesn’t feel real,” said Jon Good, best known as AEW star Jon Moxley, Sunday night. ‘It feels like I am in a very vivid dream and I am waiting to come out. My brain hasn’t accepted it yet. At the moment I am completely sedated. “

Credit to WWE

As news of the death spread on Saturday night, memories of Huber’s work as Brodie Lee in AEW and Luke Harper in WWE immediately came to the minds of those who enjoyed watching him perform. Amid the grief, people also reflected on the resilience and persistence that shaped Huber’s body of work in pro wrestling, an industry that is somehow as murderous as it is sublime.

Had Huber emerged into professional wrestling in the early 1980s, the mind wouldn’t have to wander too far before envisioning a dominant, awe-inspiring run through the territories like a colossal monster before ending up in the World Wrestling Federation to find Hulk Hogan. But the style of professional wrestling has evolved over the decades, presenting an even more difficult landscape for a larger-than-life big man. Still, Huber found a way to forge his own identity and develop a frightening personality, complete with a set of eyes that had the ability to peek into your soul. He built his reputation all over the Indies, with a credible violent style. His work with Moxley in CZW and EVOLVE, as well as with Eddie Kingston in Chikara, especially resonated. It became clear to those who watched that this great man was a force, someone who was willing to hit hard and make sure the contact was nothing short of snug.

“The first night we wrestled each other, we shared a hotel room together later that night,” says Moxley. “That was more than ten years ago. He was an incredible person. While so many of us would be totally excited about some wrestling angle, he would find a way to turn negatives into a positive or an inside joke. He was just the person you wanted in the locker room. I was so happy to be with him in AEW again.

And we wrestled so many times. Whether it was in the Indies, in The Shield-Wyatt war, six-man on house shows and European tours, it felt like we were always together. When Tony Khan asked me about Brodie in AEW, I said, “Hell yeah, I want that match.” We could wrestle each other in our sleep. He was so damn good. “

Moxley also wrestled with Huber in his WWE trial match.

“We used to joke that he would be a substitute teacher in Rochester if I hadn’t made him look so good, but the truth is he was an undeniable talent not to be missed,” says Moxley. “He was an athletic great man who could work around anyone.”

Huber needed few words to capture a rare mix of mystery and suspense as part of The Wyatt Family. Alongside Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan, the trio created magic rarely seen in professional wrestling. While Wyatt was the star, it was the ensemble that completed the act. Their confrontations with John Cena, The Shield, Daniel Bryan, and The New Day still stand out as memorable scenes that captured realism, credibility, and fear, which is extremely difficult to do in pro wrestling.

There were also glimpses of Huber’s brilliance in the ring as a singles artist in WWE. Despite his tag team conquests with Rowan, Huber always craved a chance to become a solo act. His only title run in singles took place six years ago, when he got just under a month with the Intercontinental Championship. He dropped the belt back to Dolph Ziggler in an extremely underrated ladder competition at TLC in 2014, punched and sold and made Ziggler look like a bona fide star by overcoming this 6’5 ”power.

A few months later, Huber took part in a multi-man ladder competition WrestleMania 31, his very first match at a WrestleMania. He showed again how much effort he was willing to put in to be seen as someone the company could build around.

“We wanted to make the highlight role,” says Moxley. “We thought the only way we could do that was if I almost killed myself with a fatal blow. So we invented this place where he bombs me from the ring to the floor via a steel ladder, and that’s sketchy. It’s an extremely dangerous bump, receding at a high angle.

It was a gnarled bump. Vince [McMahon] overheard. He thought I was dead, which meant it was a good bump. And we made the highlight role. I maintain to this day that I would not have entrusted that bump to anyone else on the planet. I put my life in his hands and walked away. “

For the next four years, Huber never uncovered the secret to singles success in WWE. So he took matters into his own hands.

Despite WWE offering outrageous compensation for its services, Huber took the road less traveled in pro wrestling. He bet on himself and signed with AEW. The timing, it turned out, couldn’t have been worse. A pandemic removed fans from live events, exposing wrestling as a different entity without the magical element of a packed audience in the venue. Rather than debuting on one Dynamite in his hometown of Rochester, New York, Huber instead revealed himself as The Dark Order’s ‘The Exalted One’ on a closed set Dynamite in March.

Having Huber as leader of The Dark Order seemed like a botched proposition, as the group had not been able to connect with the public at large at the time. Still, a funny thing happened on the way to the Dark Order’s darkness, as Lee’s presence turned out to be the play it took to bring the group to life. His wit and sharpness were a perfect fit for a group that adamantly claimed it was not a cult.

That scene repeated itself after Huber lost a world title match to Moxley on the Everything or nothing pay-per-view in May. Of course, after losing a world title match, there were concerns that Huber would struggle to find his place in the AEW script.

Again, Huber rewrote the script.

Huber finally cast doubt on his worth as a singles entity when he knocked out Cody Rhodes and claimed possession of the TNT Championship in August. He finally had television segments to wreak havoc in the ring, as well as time to use the microphone as his pulpit. As summer turned to fall, Huber built himself into a champion worth watching. The Dark Order, it seemed, became instant viewing appointments, which it still is. That TNT Championship trajectory confirmed every belief Huber had about himself as a professional wrestler – despite years of doubt and executives telling him his place in the supporting cast, Huber showed he had the chops to play the lead role.

“It was no secret to anyone in the industry how good he was,” says Moxley. “But it was always used in a utility function or part of a group. To be the center of a group as a solo act, he proved himself to be a lead artist. “

Full of surprises, Huber had so much more to offer professional wrestling. And, more importantly, for his two children and his wife, whom he loved very much.

“He wasn’t interested in being famous,” says Moxley. “This is a guy you wouldn’t see at an after party. As soon as he finished work, he went home to his family as soon as possible. He was so proud to be a father and husband. He loved wrestling and he was great at it, but it was his job. He was lucky enough to love his calling, but his most important role in life was that of father and husband. “

Multiple layers were all an important part of Huber’s charm. Yes, he had that terrifying Bruiser Brody-like intensity to his work. He also had an endearing sense of humor, the ability to connect with people through seven short words on Twitter, and a skill and passion few of his peers possess. But once he dropped the TNT Championship back to Rhodes on the October 7th edition of Dynamite, Huber seemed to be disappearing from AEW programming.

Little information is available on the circumstances surrounding his illness so far. His death is a heartbreaking reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Yet it is also a very loud testimony to the power of pro wrestling. This industry goes much deeper than just entertainment. It represents an opportunity to create a work that will endure. Huber made people believe in the magic of his work and captured the sweetness of an industry that contains quite a bit of poison.

There will eventually be some comfort amid the tears knowing that Brodie Lee’s work will live on, but for now, the pain and grief over the loss of this giant of a husband, friend, and artist continues to grow.

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