The heart-breaking passing of Jon Huber, better known as Brodie Lee in AEW and Luke Harper in WWE has shocked the wrestling community to its core, with expressions of love and support, have been flooding in from all corners of the wrestling world. Huber cast a long shadow, making friends all over the world from the independent scene, to WWE and to his current home of AEW, with everybody who met him sharing their positive experiences of him on social media. Everybody who met him, or even anybody who has seen one of his matches knew that he was a world-class talent.
Unfortunately, Brodie Lee didn’t get a lot of opportunities to show his talent, since WWE regrettably never quite used him to his full potential and with his career tragically being cut short just as he was getting the chance to show what he could do as a main event talent in AEW. However, what can be said is that whenever he did get a chance to show what he could do, he showed exactly how good a wrestler he could be.
WWE Hell in a Cell 2019: Daniel Bryan & Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan & Luke Harper – Tornado Tag Match
One of Luke Harper’s final appearances on WWE was a fitting reunion with long time tag partner, joining Erick Rowan to take on Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. After a shocking return at the previous month’s PPV to help Rowan beat Roman Reigns, the feud built to a climax in a brilliant tornado tag match. Hell in a Cell 2019 was not a great show overall, but this match was a true highlight and was a match good enough to be worthy of his final WWE match.
AEW Dynamite: Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Dustin Rhodes
Brodie Lee hit the scene on AEW Dynamite like a house of fire, quickly becoming a focal point of the whole company. Not long after his debut, Brodie was already facing Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship as well as Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship. Just a few weeks after winning the TNT Championship, and dominating Cody Rhodes, Brodie faced his first challenge as TNT Champion, Cody’s brother Dustin Rhodes. With Brodie dominating the Rhodes family, having memorably destroying Cody and Brandi Rhodes to end an episode of Dynamite, Dustin Rhodes stepped up to the Exalted One to reclaim the honour of the Rhodes family. Brodie Lee and Dustin Rhodes had one of the most physical matches in AEW history and showed just how good both men could be when given the chance.
WWE TLC 2014: Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler – Ladder Match
In 2014, Luke Harper was finally starting to break out as a singles wrestler after the breakup of the Wyatt Family. After joining the fantastic 2014 Survivor Series match between Team Cena vs Team Authority, Luke Harper picked up his first, and only, singles WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Title. As champion, Harper entered into a feud with Dolph Ziggler and the two went on to have a fantastic Ladder match at WWE’s annual TLC PPV. At the time, it is believed both men got heat backstage for the match being too physical, but watching the match back you can’t deny it is one of the better Ladder matches of the decade.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2017: Luke Harper vs. Randy Orton
In 2017, one of the best stories in WWE was the fabled “Viper in the Family” storyline, when Randy Orton infiltrated the Wyatt Family and tried to destroy everything Bray Wyatt had built up from within. As a loyal follower of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper obviously butted heads with the Viper. Harper and Orton went on to have a phenomenal match at the Elimination Chamber PPV. A match so good that many that fans started crying out for Luke Harper to be added to the main event WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania, hoping WWE would make it a triple threat match with Wyatt vs Orton vs Harper. For a brief moment, it looked like it might actually happen, with Harper almost winning a Battle Royal on Smackdown to become the Number One Contender to the WWE Championship. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, but if nothing else the match with Randy Orton at Elimination Chamber 2017 was an instant classic.
Elimination Chamber 2014: The Shield vs The Wyatt Family
The Shield and the Wyatt Family. What more needs to be said. These two teams had many wars together and any encounter from their series of matches could have easily made this list. Elimination Chamber was their first match together and the crowd was so excited for it they were chanting “This is Awesome” before the match had even started. The first time that had ever happened. And indeed, it was awesome. This match was iconic and featured star making performances from all 6 men, and any match between these 6 men is worth checking out, however this match at Elimination Chamber is particularly exceptional.
AEW Dynamite: Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Cody Rhodes – Dog Collar Match
It is a rare occurrence when a wrestler get to end their career on a true match of the year contender, but Brodie Lee will have the honour of being one of those wrestlers. While everybody would have loved to have had years and years of more Brodie Lee matches, his dog collar match with Cody Rhodes was an old school wrestling clinic. If it was AEW’s intent to bring back this classic match stipulation to the modern wrestling scene then Brodie Lee and Cody Rhodes could not have done a better job. A fantastically brutal match, all future dog collar matches will now undoubtedly be judged against this one.
AEW Double or Nothing 2020: Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Jon Moxley – AEW World Championship
When Brodie Lee debuted in AEW, everybody wanted to see how he would do without all of the restrictions WWE always placed on him. AEW capitalised on this and instantaneously pushed him into the main event picture to face Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. This matched ended up being the first and only chance Brodie got at being a true main eventer and he undeniably showed he never should have been anywhere else. The match was a vicious, hard hitting World Championship match, ending via a referee judgement when Brodie Lee refused to submit to Moxley’s rear naked choke. The match revealed that Brodie Lee belonged at the top of the industry and was able to hold his own with the best of them, and there isn’t a doubt in anybody’s mind that Brodie Lee would have been a World Champion one day.