Jon Huber attracts people’s attention. Whether he acted as Brodie Lee or Luke Harper, he achieved the hardest thing of wrestling.
Huber made fans believe.
Wrestling’s most skilled artists find a way to suspend disbelief and make people believe in the magic of their work. This is the beauty of pro wrestling. Even more significant than raw athletic performance, making someone believe creates a lasting connection.
Huber spent his life harnessing and honing his harness without looking for the right look, style and character. The end result was to forge a timeless piece into the pro-wrestling corpse, though one that would be heartbreaking not to include a subsequent chapter.
Late on Saturday night, it was announced that Huber – the indestructible, thick-bearded, unstoppable force – had died of a lung-related illness. At age 41, when he was just an artist and parent, Huber’s life cruelly ripped him away.
“It doesn’t really feel right,” Jon Good, best known as AEW star Jon Moxley, said Sunday night. ‘It feels like I’m in a very vivid dream and I’m waiting to take it out. My brain has not yet accepted it. At the moment I am completely f —— numb. ”
Thanks to WWE
As the news of the death spread Saturday night, memories of Huber’s work as Brodie Lee in AEW and Luke Harper in WWE immediately flowed into the minds of those who wanted to see him perform. Amidst the sadness, people also reflected on the resilience and perseverance that defined Huber’s work in pro-wrestling, an industry that is somehow as pervasive as it is sublime.
If Huber had emerged in pro-wrestling in the early 1980s, the mind did not have to wander too far before proposing a dominant, awesome run through the territories as a big monster before ending up in the World Wrestling Federation around Hulk Hogan to fight. But the style of pro-wrestling has evolved over the decades, providing an even more difficult landscape for a bigger man than life. Yet Huber found a way to bring about his own identity, by developing a terrifying persona, complete with a set of eyes that had the ability to peek into your soul. He built his reputation throughout India and had a believable style. His work with Moxley in CZW and EVOLVE, as well as with Eddie Kingston in Chikara, was particularly appealing. It became clear to those who saw that this great man was a force, one who was willing to strike hard and ensure that contact was nothing short of cozy.
“The first night we wrestled with each other, we shared a hotel room later that night,” says Moxley. “It was more than a decade ago. He was an amazing person. Although so many of us would all feel over some wrestling corner, he would find a way to turn negative into a positive or an inside joke. He was the exact person you wanted in the locker room. I was so happy to be in AEW again to be him.
“And we wrestled so many times. Whether it was in India, in the war in The Shield – Wyatt, six men on domestic 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 the game.’ We could wrestle each other in our sleep. He was so f —— good. ”
Moxley also wrestled Huber in his three-game game for WWE.
“We always joked that he would be a substitute teacher in Rochester if I did not make him look so good, but the truth is, he was this mischievous, unmistakable talent,” said Moxley. “He was an athletic big man who could work circles around everyone.”
Huber needed few words to capture a rare blend of mystery and suspense as part of The Wyatt Family. In addition to Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan, the trio has created magic that is rarely displayed in pro wrestling. Although Wyatt was the star, it was the ensemble that completed the act. Their showdown with John Cena, The Shield, Daniel Bryan and The New Day still stands out as memorable scenes that captured realism, credibility and fear, which are extremely difficult to do in pro-wrestling.
There was also a glimpse of Huber’s brilliance as a single in WWE. Despite his conquest by Rowan, Huber has always longed for a chance to be solo. His one singles title took place six years ago when he was given just under a month with the Intercontinental Championship. He gave the belt back to Dolph Ziggler in an extremely underrated leather match at TLC in 2014, while bumping and selling and making Ziggler look like a bona fide star by overcoming this 6’5 “power.
A few months later, Huber participated in a multi-man learning contest WrestleMania 31, his first ever game on a WrestleMania. He again showed how long he was willing to be considered someone who could build the business.
“We wanted to turn the highlight,” says Moxley. ‘We thought the only way we could do that was if I almost killed myself with a death-defying bump. So we thought of this place where he bombed me from the ring to the floor through a steel staircase, and it’s f —— sketchy. It is an extremely dangerous bump that goes backwards at a high angle.
“It was a gag. Vince [McMahon] chased out. He thought I was dead, which means it was a good bump. And we made the highlight roll. I maintain to this day that I would not trust anyone else on the planet with the bump. I put my life in his hands and walked away. ‘
For the next four years, Huber never found the secret to single success in WWE. Therefore, he took matters into his own hands.
Despite the fact that WWE offered outrageous compensation for its services, Huber drove the road less in pro-wrestling. He gambled on himself and signed at AEW. The timing, as it turns out, could not have been worse. A pandemic has removed fans from live events and exposed the struggle as another entity without the magical element of a crowded crowd in the venue. Instead of going on a Dynamics in his hometown of Rochester, New York, Huber reveals himself rather than “The Exalted One” of The Dark Order on a closed set Dynamics in March.
Appointing Huber as leader of The Dark Order seemed like a failed proposal, as the group was not yet able to engage with the public at large at that point. Yet a funny thing happened on the way to The Dark Order’s path to darkness, as Lee’s presence was the piece needed to bring the group to life. His humor and lead have a good fit with a group that claims it was not a cult.
The scene repeated itself after Huber lost a world title match against Moxley Double or nothing pay-per-view in May. After losing a world title race, there was, of course, concern that Huber would struggle to find his place in the AEW script going forward.
Once again, Huber rewrote the screenplay.
Huber finally dispelled any doubts about its value as a single entity when it condemned Cody Rhodes and claimed possession of the TNT Championship in August. Eventually, he had television segments to wreak havoc, as well as time to use the microphone as a pulpit. When summer fell, Huber built himself up into a champion worth watching. The Dark Order seemed immediate, apparently became an appointment and it still remains. The stretch with the TNT Championship was a confirmation of every conviction Huber had about himself as a pro wrestler – despite years of doubt and managers telling him that his place was in the supporting cast, Huber showed that he had the chops to be the chief.
“It was no secret to anyone in the business how good he was,” says Moxley. ‘But he was always used in a role as part of a group. To be the center of a group for him as a solo act, he proved that he was a lead film. ”
Full of surprises, Huber gave so much more to pro wrestling. And, more importantly, to his two children and his wife whom he loved very much.
“He did not want to be famous,” says Moxley. ‘This is a man you would not see at an afterparty. Once he finishes the job, he goes to his family as soon as possible. He was so proud to be a father and a husband. He loved wrestling and he was very good at it, but that was his job. He was fortunate enough to like his profession, but his most important role in life was as a father and husband. ”
Several layers were all an important part of Huber’s charm. Yes, he had that frightening, Bruiser Brody-like intensity in his work. He also had an engaging sense of humor, the ability to connect with people through a concise seven words on Twitter, and a skill and passion that few of his peers possess. But once he put back the TNT Championship on October 7’s version of Rhodes Dynamics, Huber seems to have disappeared from AEW programming.
As of now, little information is available about the circumstances surrounding his illness. His passing is an intricate 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. This is a chance to create a job that lasts. Huber made people believe in the magic of his work, capturing the sweetness of an industry that had its own poison.
Eventually there will be comfort in the midst of tears to know that Brodie Lee’s work will live on, but for now the pain and sadness continues to grow over the loss of this giant of a man, friend and artist.
“I’m thankful I’ve had to spend so much time with him since we first met in India,” says Moxley. ‘I will always imagine him with the smile on his face. I still can not turn my brain on this. I do not understand why the best people are taken away so early. ”
Justin Barrasso can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.