On Saturday, wrestlers and fans were shocked and saddened to learn that Jon Huber, known as Luke Harper in the WWE and Brodie Lee in AEW, suddenly passed away at the age of 41 from a non-COVID lung related issue; his wife Amanda confirmed the news on Instagram. A native of Rochester, NY, Huber was competing for All Elite Wrestling at the time of his death. AEW acknowledged the passing on their Twitter account.
#RipBrodieLee pic.twitter.com/wBdvPO5F9Y â All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 27, 2020
Jon Huber made his wrestling debut on the independent circuits as Brodie Lee on October 7th, 2003. He was trained by Kirby Marcos, Rik Matrix, and former ECW and WWE wrestler Tony Mamaluke. Huber wrestled for several Independent companies, including Chikara, Squared Circle Wrestling, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, Dragon Gate Japan, and Ring of Honor for nine years. He won several championships before signing with WWE in 2012.
At the time of his signing, WWE was re-branding Florida Championship Wrestling into NXT. He made his NXT debut as part of a new faction called The Wyatt Family with Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) and Erik Rowan (Joseph Rudd). Together, Rowan and Harper would win the NXT tag-team championship, defeating Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas. The duo would drop the tag team titles shortly after debuting on the main roster on July 17th, 2013, to Neville and Corey Graves.
While on the main roster, Harper would bounce between being a singles wrestler and a tag team wrestler. He would become a one-time Smackdown Tag Team champion and a one-time Intercontinental champion. Harper would request his release, with WWE granting it on December 8th, 2019. After his 90-day compete clause elapsed, Huber went back to his indie name Brodie Lee and made his AEW debut on March 18th, 2020, as the leader of the Dark Order. During his short stint in AEW, he would win the AEW TNT championship. He also made appearances on the hit YouTube channel BTE (Being the Elite). His final match in AEW was October 7th, losing the TNT championship to Cody Rhodes in a dog collar match on Dynamite.
Huberâs colleagues paid tribute and shared their memories on Twitter.
The âdirtyâ tank tops Brodie wore in the ring were actually very clean and smelled tremendous. He put a lot of work and pride in keeping them clean but looking dirty. He would get so mad if somebody (oops) would yank at them or tear them⌠pic.twitter.com/57ybH7xXql â Cesaro (@WWECesaro) December 27, 2020
Jon Huber was an incredible father, husband, friend, and talent. I can honestly say Iâve never met anyone with his character. John made your life better by being in it. I will miss you my friend. pic.twitter.com/u77d6QYrHZ â âThe Big Showâ Paul Wight (@WWETheBigShow) December 27, 2020
âYou okay if I donât hook the leg?â Yea Big RigâŚmore than okay What a beautiful man pic.twitter.com/KC76iDckVc â Cody (@CodyRhodes) December 27, 2020
Thank you for being one of the greatest humans ever, @ThisBrodieLee My sons always loved seeing you and lil Brodie.. Love you my dude. â¤ď¸ pic.twitter.com/zOSTYB8nJo â The Machine Gun (@MachineGunKA) December 27, 2020
Feeble are my words. A loving husband. A adoring father. A kind and friendly gentleman and an incredible wrestler. This loss is immeasurable. Iâm stunned and heartbroken and will miss Jon very much. My heart is with his wife and their Two boys. Godspeed my friend. #RipBrodieLee pic.twitter.com/UGzGQKHsVx â Frankie Kazarian (@FrankieKazarian) December 27, 2020
BGMSportsTrax sends its condolences to Huberâs wife, children, friends, and fans.
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