Jon Huber caught people’s attention. Whether he played Brodie Lee or Luke Harper, he accomplished the most difficult feat of the fight.
Huber made the fans believe.
The most skilled interpreters of the struggle find a way to suspend distrust and make people believe in the magic of their work. This is the beauty of professional wrestling. Even more significant than raw athletic deeds, making someone believe creates a lasting bond.
Huber spent his life capitalizing on and perfecting his craft, constantly looking for the right look, style and character. The end result was the falsification of a timeless piece in the field of professional wrestling, although one that, heartbreakingly, will not contain a next chapter.
Late on Saturday night, when it was announced that Huber – the indestructible, thick-bearded, unstoppable force in battle – had died of a lung disease. At the age of only 41, when he was just reaching his peak, both as a performer and as a parent, Huber’s life was cruelly severed by him.
“It doesn’t feel real,” said Jon Good, best known as AEW star Jon Moxley on Sunday night. “It feels like I’m in a very vivid dream and I’m waiting to get out of it. My brain hasn’t accepted it yet. At this point, I am completely numb.
As the news of his death spread on Saturday night, memories of Huber’s work as Brodie Lee in AEW and Luke Harper in WWE immediately entered the minds of those who enjoyed seeing him perform. Against the background of sadness, people also reflected on the resilience and perseverance that defined Huber’s body in professional wrestling, an industry as stupid as it is sublime.
If Huber had appeared in professional wrestling in the early 1980s, the mind would not have to wander too long before imagining a dominant, amazing run through territories like a terrible monster before landing in the World Wrestling Federation to fight the Hulk. Hogan. But the style of professional wrestling has evolved over the decades, presenting an even more difficult landscape for a man larger than life. However, Huber found a way to force his own identity, developing a frightening person, complete with a set of eyes that had the ability to take a look at your soul. He built his reputation in all the Indies, working an incredibly violent style. His work with Moxley in CZW and EVOLVE, as well as with Eddie Kingston in Chikara, resonated particularly. For those who noticed that this great man was a force that was willing to strike hard and make sure that the contact was nothing but close.
“The first night we fought, we shared a hotel room together later that night,” says Moxley. “It simply came to our notice then. He was an incredible person. While so many of us would all be hot about some fighting angle, he would find a way to turn the negatives into a positive or an inside joke. He was exactly the person you wanted in the locker room. I was so glad to be around him in AEW.
“And we have fought so many times. Whether it was in indie, in the Shield-Wyatt war, with six men at house shows and European tours, I felt like we were always together. When Tony Khan asked me about Brodie in AEW, I said, “Yeah, I want that game.” We could fight each other in our sleep. It was so f —— good. “
Moxley also fought Huber in his WWE Test match.
“I’ve always joked that he would be a substitute teacher in Rochester if I didn’t make him look so good, but the truth is, he’s an undisputed, undeniable talent,” says Moxley. “He was an athletic man who could circle everyone.”
Huber needed a few words to capture a rare mixture of mystery and suspense as part of the Wyatt family. Along with Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan, the trio created magic rarely exposed in professional fights. Although 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 achieve in professional wrestling.
There was also a look at Huber’s brilliance in the ring as a WWE single. Despite his team conquests with Rowan, Huber always wanted to have the chance to be a solo act. His singles course took place six years ago, when he was awarded just under a month with the Intercontinental Championship. He left the belt behind Dolph Ziggler in an extremely underrated ladder match at TLC in 2014, hitting and selling and making Ziggler look like a good faith star by overcoming this 6’5 ”force.
A few months later, Huber participated in a multi-scale match at WrestleMania 31, his first match at WrestleMania. He demonstrated again the lengths he was willing to take to be seen as someone the company could build.
“We wanted to play the lead role,” says Moxley. “We thought that the only way we could do that was if I almost killed myself with a death-defying blow. So I designed this place where it’s bombarding me hard from the ring to the floor by a steel ladder, and that’s f —— incomplete. It is an extremely dangerous swelling that goes back to a high angle.
“It simply came to our notice then. Vince [McMahon] out. He thought I was dead, which meant it was good … And I did the lead role. I claim so far that I would not have trusted anyone else on the planet with that swelling. I put my life in his hands and I walked away. “
For the next four years, Huber never found the secret to the single’s success in the WWE. So he took matters into his own hands.
Despite the fact that WWE offered outrageous compensation for his services, Huber took the less traveled route in professional wrestling. He bet himself, signing with AEW. The moment, as it turned out, could not have been worse. A pandemic drove fans away from live events, exposing the fight as a different entity, without the magical element of a crowd inside the venue. Instead of debuting on a Dynamite in his hometown of Rochester, New York, Huber instead revealed himself as “The Exalted One” from The Dark Order on a closed set Dynamite in March.
Huber’s presentation as leader of the Dark Order seemed a failed proposal, as the group could not, until then, connect with the general public. However, a funny thing happened on the way to The Dark Order to the dark, because Lee’s presence turned out to be the necessary piece to bring the group to life. His humor and advantage were perfectly suited to a group that firmly held that it was not a cult.
This scene was repeated after Huber lost a world title match to Moxley at Double or nothing pay-per-view in May. Of course, after losing a world title match, there were concerns that Huber will struggle to find his place on the AEW forward stage.
Once again, Huber rewrote the script.
Huber finally dispelled any doubts about his value as a single entity when he hit Cody Rhodes and claimed possession of the TNT Championship in August. Eventually he had television segments to wreak havoc in the ring, as well as time to use the microphone as a pulpit. As summer fell, Huber built himself into a champion worth watching. It seems that the Dark Order has instantly become watching a meeting, which remains. That stretch with the TNT Championship served as a statement for every belief Huber had about himself as a professional wrestler – despite years of doubt and directors telling him his place was in the supporting role, Huber showed that he has the chops to be the leader.
“It was no secret to anyone in the business how good it was,” says Moxley. “But he was always used in a useful role or in a part of a group. For him to be the centerpiece of a group as a solo act, he proved to be a leading performer. “
Full of surprises, Huber had much more to offer in professional wrestling. And, more importantly, to his two children and his wife, whom he loved dearly.
“He wasn’t interested in being famous,” says Moxley. “This is a guy you wouldn’t see at an afterparty. As soon as he finished his work, he went home to his family as soon as possible. He was so proud to be a father and a husband. He liked fighting and it was great at that, but it was his job. She was lucky to love her vocation, but her most important role in life was that of father and husband. “
The multiple layers were all an essential part of Huber’s charm. Yes, he had that frightening intensity, like Bruiser Brody, in his work. He also had a sense of humor in love, an ability to connect with people through a brief seven-word Twitter, and an ability and passion that few of his colleagues possess. But once he gave up the TNT Championship back in Rhodes for the October 7 edition Dynamite, Huber seemed to disappear from AEW programming.
As of now, little information is available about the circumstances surrounding his illness. His passing is a terrifying memory of the passing nature of life. However, it is also a very strong testimony to the power of professional struggle. This industry is much deeper than entertainment. It is a chance to create a work that will last. Huber made people believe in the magic of his work, capturing the sweetness of an industry that has a fair share of poison.
Eventually there will be some consolation amid tears, knowing that Brodie Lee’s work will continue, but for now the pain and grief continues to intensify following the loss of this giant of a man, friend and performer.
“I’m grateful I’ve spent so much time with him since we first met in indie,” says Moxley. “I will always imagine him with that smile on his face. I still can’t wrap my brain around this. I don’t understand why the best people are the ones taken so early. “
Justin Barrasso can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.