165-523: Luke Harper and Erick Rowan , also known as The Bludgeon Brothers, were an American professional wrestling tag team in WWE . They were also known as being members of the cult faction The Wyatt Family , led by Bray Wyatt . After work at house shows from June 2012 to November 2012, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan made their televised debut as a tag team in January 2013, under the leadership of Bray Wyatt as
330-412: A Tag Team Scramble match won by The S.A.T. He returned to ROH over two years later at Redemption on August 12, 2005, where he participated in a Four Corner Survival match won by Ace Steel . In October 2005, he lost a singles match to Claudio Castagnoli and a singles match between Keenan and Steel at Tag Wars 2006 in January 2006 ended in a no contest due to interference from Chris Hero and
495-596: A battle royal , Graves teamed with Kassius Ohno to unsuccessfully challenge Luke Harper and Erick Rowan for the NXT Tag Team Championship , and Graves, Ohno, and Adrian Neville lost to The Wyatt Family in a six-man tag team match. After the Wyatts injured Ohno in storyline, Graves began regularly teaming with Neville, and on the July 18 episode of NXT , they defeated Harper and Rowan to capture
660-495: A dark eight-way fray elimination match , before the tapings of the Uprising pay-per-view . Later, on the pay-per-view section of the evening, Lee interrupted a match between Rip Impact and Johnny Wave, beat down both of the competitors and stated that next time he would be coming after a Japanese wrestler. At the following event on September 25, Lee defeated Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz, Marshe Rockett and Willie Richardson) in
825-537: A dark match to The Gymini prior to the SmackDown taping. On June 6, 2006, Keenan teamed with Jon Bolen in a loss to Jamie Noble and Kid Kash . Keenan appeared on an episode of WWE Heat that was taped on August 6, losing to Val Venis . Keenan appeared on the August 10, 2007, episode of SmackDown! , where he was easily squashed by Mark Henry . In August 2011, it was reported that Polinsky had signed
990-585: A developmental contract with WWE . He made his debut for WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) at a house show on May 18, working under the new ring name Luke Harper. When FCW was rebranded as NXT in August 2012, Harper made his television debut on the November 7 episode of NXT as a follower of Bray Wyatt , who introduced Harper as the "first son" of The Wyatt Family . The Wyatt Family later also came to include Wyatt's "second son" Erick Rowan , with whom Harper formed
1155-445: A heavyweight , claimed he was a " cruiserweight ". Upon his debut in WWE as Luke Harper, he became part of The Wyatt Family , a cult -like faction with Bray Wyatt as their leader. According to Huber, WWE chairman Vince McMahon envisioned Harper as a hillbilly and asked him to speak with a Southern -like drawl . The faction split in early 2017, but Harper later reunited with former Wyatt Family teammate Erick Rowan to form
1320-408: A miscarriage . On May 1, 2023, the couple announced their pregnancy on Instagram. On November 8, 2023, their son was born. Legendary Professional wrestling commentator and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has stated that "Graves is the brightest young on-air talent that WWE has developed in years". Fellow WWE commentator and broadcast colleague, Michael Cole has praised Graves stating "We gave him
1485-547: A squash match . Going into 2018, The Bludgeon Brothers began to target SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos , as well as their rivals The New Day . On March 11, 2018, The Bludgeon Brothers made an appearance at Fastlane , interfering during the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match between The Usos and The New Day. This led to a tag team championship match between the three teams at WrestleMania 34 , which The Bludgeon Brothers won to attain
1650-663: A tag team . With victories over Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr.), Cheech Hernandez and K.C. Day, and the North Star Express (Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz), Lee and Redwood earned their right to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas . On October 17, 2009, Lee and Redwood challenged The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) for the championship, but were defeated in two straight falls . Lee opted to give Redwood one more chance, but when he dropped
1815-477: A three-on-one handicap match , before repeating his threat of going after a Japanese competitor. Later in the night, Lee set his sights on Yamato and chased him away from ringside, when he tried to interfere in a match between his ally Jon Moxley and Jimmy Jacobs. The following day, Lee defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Kyle O'Reilly , Mike Quackenbush, Rich Swann and Silas Young in a six-way match. On October 29 at Dragon Gate USA's first live pay-per-view, Bushido: Code of
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#17328019672171980-575: A triple threat tag team match between the three teams for the title at WrestleMania 34 , where the Bludgeon Brothers won, earning their first title as a team on the main roster; this was also Rowan's first title on the main roster, and the first win at WrestleMania for both. They would go on to successfully defend the titles against The Usos at the Greatest Royal Rumble , against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at Money in
2145-561: A trucker . Lee and the Olsen Twins were scheduled to enter the 2008 King of Trios tournament as Team Dr. Keith, but after Colin signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the team was left one man short. While Retail Dragon substituted Colin, the team lost in the first round, so Lee turned on him while simultaneously ending his alliance with Jimmy Olsen in the process. In April 2008, Lee's storyline where he bullied smaller wrestlers led to Claudio Castagnoli issuing
2310-637: A 30-Man gauntlet match . Keenan competed for Pro Wrestling Zero1 and won the Zero-One United States Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. On March 8, 2008, Keenan defeated Mr. Wrestling 3 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to win the championship for the first time. He only held the championship for a week before dropping it to Dr. X on March 15 in Morganville, New Jersey . On May 9, Keenan won
2475-483: A Tornado Tag Team Match. However, this would be their final time teaming together as during the 2019 WWE draft , Rowan was drafted to Raw while Harper remained on SmackDown . On December 8, 2019, Luke Harper was released from his WWE contract, thus ending the possibility of Harper and Rowan teaming again in WWE. On April 15, 2020, Erick Rowan would also be released from his WWE contract as part of budget cuts stemming from
2640-511: A battle royal at the Crown Jewel event on October 31, which he lost. On November 26, he filed a trademark for Brodie Lee, his former wrestling ring name. On December 8, it was announced that Harper had been released from his WWE contract. Huber made his surprise debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the March 18, 2020, episode of Dynamite , reverting to his Brodie Lee ring name. He
2805-515: A challenge to him. Their first match on April 20 ended in Castagnoli being disqualified for accidentally kicking the referee of the match. The second match on May 24 ended in similar fashion, this time Lee was disqualified for kicking the referee. This led to a no disqualification match on July 13, which Lee won after interference from Shayne Hawke and Mitch Ryder, both of whom had a grudge with Castagnoli for breaking up The Kings of Wrestling
2970-500: A chance and he really worked hard at it. This didn't come to him easy. He put a lot of time in at the Performance Center, and hours and hours of work. "We put him on Raw, and he took off. He's the new guy, he's the new heel. "He's got a unique presence, he's got sarcasm and he's got wit, and he also has the experience of being in the ring, being a former NXT tag team champion. He has everything. A good looking young kid - he's
3135-614: A degree in marketing . Polinsky chose his ring name the night before his first professional wrestling match, and picked the name "Sterling James Keenan" as a tribute to Sterling Sharpe , Polinsky's favorite American football player as a child, and Maynard James Keenan of the band Tool . Keenan debuted on March 22, 2000. Throughout the next few years, Keenan appeared for various promotions , including Dory Funk Jr. 's " Funking Conservatory ", where he competed with wrestlers including Paul London , Adam Windsor , and Onyx . In 2002, Keenan teamed with "Dreamachine" Chris Cage to win
3300-641: A developmental contract with WWE. Polinsky announced that he would be performing in WWE's developmental territory , Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), under the ring name Corey Graves. He debuted at the FCW television tapings on September 25, losing to Erick Rowan . The following year, on March 17, 2012, Graves won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship with Jake Carter by defeating Bo Rotundo and Husky Harris . When WWE rebranded FCW into NXT , Graves and Carter participated in
3465-420: A feud with The Shield, challenging them to a match for costing him title opportunities, turning face in the process. He faced Rollins in a lumberjack match , which he lost when the other members of The Shield interfered, therefore cementing his face turn. In May, Graves began feuding with The Wyatt Family following a confrontation (and later match) with leader Bray Wyatt . After being eliminated by Wyatt in
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#17328019672173630-414: A heart attack on August 24, 2023, at the age of 36, leaving Rowan as the only surviving original Wyatt Family member. The 236th episode of The Young Bucks ' YouTube series Being The Elite ( BTE ) was titled "Brodie", featuring a compilation of Lee's BTE appearances. The following episode was titled "Tribute", featuring behind the scenes clips from his Celebration of Life memorial show. Since then,
3795-575: A heel color commentator. On September 26, 2019, WWE announced as a part of their "WWE Premiere Week" that a new commentary team will be on all three brands. Later, it was announced that Graves would now be a commentator and analyst only for SmackDown. On the April 12, 2021 edition of Raw after WrestleMania 37 , Graves returned to the Raw broadcast booth, replacing Samoa Joe . In which in turn, podcaster and radio show host Pat McAfee would replace Graves as
3960-472: A knee injury during a Raw dark match and it was reported that the injury would sideline him for five to six months. On July 19, at the 2016 WWE draft , Wyatt and Rowan were drafted to SmackDown while Strowman was drafted to Raw, separating him from the group. After the draft, Wyatt and Rowan continued their alliance, and Harper returned at the close of the SmackDown brand's event No Mercy on October 9 in
4125-691: A legitimate injury. Lee returned to Chikara on October 30. After signing a developmental contract with WWE, Lee made his farewell appearance for Chikara on March 25, 2012, when he unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Kingston for the Chikara Grand Championship. Lee made his debut for Ring of Honor (ROH) on October 25, 2008, aligning himself with The Age of the Fall and helping the group's leader Jimmy Jacobs to defeat Austin Aries in an Anything Goes match . Lee then teamed with fellow Age of
4290-399: A live event. Harper then wrestled at WrestleMania 35 and Worlds Collide before taking an extended hiatus from weekly television, and on April 16, requesting his release from WWE. However, at Clash of Champions on September 15, Harper returned, helping Rowan defeat Roman Reigns and reforming their alliance. The two were then defeated by Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan at Hell in a Cell in
4455-577: A lung issue at the clinic since late October. Despite what some fans believed at the time, the issue was unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic as Huber had tested negative multiple times. He had been moved to the intensive care unit in late October. On the AEW Unrestricted podcast in January 2021, Amanda revealed that Huber had died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis , a rare condition which causes lung tissue to continuously thicken until
4620-459: A match between Wyatt and Randy Orton , whom Harper distracted to help Wyatt win the match, thus realigning himself with the group. Prior to Harper's return, Rowan underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. During Rowan's absence, Harper betrayed the group, attacking Wyatt and his new ally Randy Orton during the 2017 Royal Rumble . On the April 4 episode of SmackDown , Rowan returned from injury after nearly eight months of inactivity, sporting
4785-507: A match between the teams at Elimination Chamber , which The Wyatt Family won. During this time, Harper and Rowan also supported Bray Wyatt in his feud with John Cena through WrestleMania XXX , with Harper and Rowan also starting their own feud with the WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), who supported Cena in the feud. Harper and Rowan went on to unsuccessfully challenge The Usos for
4950-575: A match for the championship between Keenan and McChesney ended in a double countout. In March 2006, Keenan unsuccessfully challenged Doe for the IWC Heavyweight Championship. That September, Keenan was part of a tournament for the vacant IWC Heavyweight Championship, but was eliminated in the first round after losing to Ricky Reyes . On August 4, 2007, Keenan lost another match for the championship, this time to long-time rival Dennis Gregory, in what proved to be his final match in
5115-450: A month of promotion, Harper and Rowan wrestled their return match as The Bludgeon Brothers on the November 21 episode of SmackDown , defeating The Hype Bros . After multiple weeks of defeating enhancement talent in squash matches , the Bludgeon Brothers made an appearance at Fastlane on March 11, 2018, interfering during the SmackDown Tag Team Championship bout between defending champions The Usos and The New Day . This would lead to
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan - Misplaced Pages Continue
5280-478: A new steampunk -style sheep mask, assisting Wyatt in attacking Orton (who had also betrayed Wyatt); Wyatt and Rowan later that went on to lose a tag team match against Orton and Harper. The Wyatt Family seemingly disbanded again when Wyatt was moved to the Raw brand during the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up , but despite this Wyatt and Rowan continued their alliance, with Wyatt distracting Orton during his match with Rowan on
5445-510: A new record for most shirts sold within 24 hours, breaking Sting 's previous record. In just under four hours, it became the highest selling T-shirt of 2020, breaking Orange Cassidy 's previous record. Night 1 of New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's Wrestle Kingdom 15 started with commentator Kevin Kelly saying "it's January 4th, you know what that means" and dedicating the broadcast to Lee. In March 2021, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer presented
5610-505: A painting of Huber has been present in The Dark Order's usual meeting room for their segments on BTE . The Dark Order members also continue to often wear Brodie Lee shirts and "RIP Brodie" armbands. The December 30 episode of AEW Dynamite , which was a special episode titled " Brodie Lee Celebration of Life ", featured matches and segments with fellow wrestlers honoring and paying tribute to Huber and his family. Every match on
5775-468: A part of The Wyatt Family stable. Together, they won the NXT Tag Team Championship in May 2013. They moved to the main roster later that year, eventually starting a feud against each other following the split of The Wyatt Family in late 2014. The duo would reunite in May 2015 and subsequently reconcile with Wyatt, reforming The Wyatt Family. Harper and Rowan suffered injuries during the group's revival, causing
5940-643: A picture to her Instagram page stating that Polinsky had been having an affair with WWE wrestler Leah Van Dale, known by the ring name Carmella . The post was deleted shortly after and it was confirmed that the pair had already been separated and were already in the divorce process. Their relationship was later profiled in the 9th season of the reality show Total Divas . In October 2021, Van Dale and Polinsky got engaged. The two were married on April 7, 2022., in October 31, 2022, his wife revealed in her instagram account, that she had an ectopic pregnancy , which caused
6105-455: A sheep mask. On the July 8 episode of Raw , The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane . Harper and Rowan made their main roster in-ring debut on the July 26 episode of SmackDown , where they defeated Tons of Funk ( Brodus Clay and Tensai ) in a tag team match. Over the next few months, Harper and Rowan competed as a tag team and went on a winning streak over many teams, until Cody Rhodes and Goldust handed them their first loss on
6270-488: A shop named True Image in New Kensington, Pennsylvania . Polinsky is known for his numerous tattoos. He got two of them before the age of 16 with his parents' permission, and after turning 18, got sleeve tattoos on both his arms, made up of several clearly visible and separate tattoos tied together with designs. He also has tattoos on his neck, and has the words "stay down" tattooed across his knuckles . Polinsky
6435-851: A singles match. On January 28, 2011, at United: NYC , Lee, now representing the heel group Blood Warriors, defeated Jimmy Jacobs in a singles match. The following day at United: Philly , Lee suffered his first loss in Dragon Gate USA, when he was defeated by Open the Freedom Gate Champion Yamato in a non-title match. On December 21, 2010, Lee made his debut for Japanese promotion Dragon Gate (DG) in Tokyo , where he, representing The Warriors stable, defeated Kzy . The Warriors stable turned heel on January 14, 2011, when they attacked Masato Yoshino and World-1, aligning themselves with Naruki Doi 's group, though Lee himself
6600-418: A tag team dubbed The Bludgeon Brothers . The duo carried wooden mallets to the ring and had a look apparently modeled after Demolition , a tag team who wrestled for WWE in the 1980s. Desiring a run as a singles competitor, Huber pitched several gimmick ideas to McMahon, such as a "collector" who took trophies from his defeated opponents and an "intelligent monster" who would eloquently tell his rivals how he
6765-475: A tag team match on November 22 at Survivor Series , where the two defeated Harper and Wyatt. The next night on Raw , Harper teamed with Wyatt again to defeat The Dudley Boyz , igniting a new feud. Over the next weeks, Tommy Dreamer and Rhyno joined The Dudley Boyz in the feud, leading to an eight-man tag team tables match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , where Harper, Wyatt, Rowan and Strowman were victorious. On January 24, 2016, Harper competed in
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan - Misplaced Pages Continue
6930-706: A tag team match, and once again in a rematch the following week on Raw . In late June, during a match at a live event , Rowan suffered a torn bicep , with reports saying he would be out of action for 4–6 months. On the June 23 episode of Main Event , Harper returned to singles competition when he defeated Cesaro , but not before cutting a promo where he said losing his tag team partner has only made him more dangerous. Harper eventually reunited with Bray Wyatt on July 19 at Battleground by helping him defeat Roman Reigns . After four months of inactivity, Rowan returned from injury on
7095-514: A tag team match. The following month at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , The Wyatt Family defeated Bryan in a 3-on-1 handicap match . At the Royal Rumble on January 26, 2014, Harper competed in his first Royal Rumble match , where he eliminated two other participants before being eliminated by Roman Reigns . Shortly afterwards, The Wyatt Family began a feud with The Shield ( Dean Ambrose , Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins ), leading to
7260-431: A tag team. The two defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu in their first match together on the January 9, 2013, episode of NXT . On the January 23 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan again defeated Watson and Tatsu in the opening round of the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament . Following a win over Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals with Wyatt's interference, Harper and Rowan were defeated in
7425-661: Is a professional wrestling promoter , and his younger brother Sam is also a professional wrestler who competes under the ring name "Sam Adonis" in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Outside of professional wrestling, Polinsky is a professional piercer. After training as an apprentice at the request of a friend of his who needed a piercer in his tattoo shop, he has worked in the Naughty Vibrations shop in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and in
7590-489: Is described as a typical yinzer and often shows pride in being from Pittsburgh on WWE programming, often mentioning his bar-hopping on Pittsburgh's South Side and mentioning his favorite places to visit. He did, however, admit that upon joining the WWE commentary team he had to significantly tone down his natural Pittsburghese dialect only to see fellow Pittsburgh native Pat McAfee become successful on WWE commentary because of it. In early 2019, Polinsky's ex-wife posted
7755-438: Is signed to WWE , where he performs under the ring name Corey Graves as the play-by-play commentator on their SmackDown brand . He is a former NXT Tag Team Champion with Adrian Neville and a former WWE 24/7 Champion . Polinsky is also known for his work on the independent circuit under the ring name Sterling James Keenan . Polinsky was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . He attended college and obtained
7920-507: The 2019 WWE draft , Rowan was drafted to Raw while Harper remained on SmackDown . Harper was then granted his release from the promotion in December due to creative differences, while Rowan was subsequently released in April 2020 due to budget cuts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic . Following their respective releases from WWE, Harper signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Brodie Lee, while Rowan began working on
8085-477: The 2021 Royal Rumble , The New Day wore custom ring gear honoring Huber, later auctioning off the gear with all the proceeds going to Foodlink, a nonprofit foodbank based in Huber's hometown Rochester. At WrestleMania 37 in April 2021, Bray Wyatt (who had largely been off television since before Huber's death) honored Huber by shouting Huber's "yeah, yeah, yeah" catchphrase during his match. Wyatt later died from
8250-546: The Baltimore Convention Center to investigate the fandom, where he dressed in an Applejack costume and interviewed Bronies. WWE released a free preview of the episode on August 26, 2015 following the August 22 NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event and the August 23 SummerSlam event. Despite being drafted to Raw , Graves continued to provide color commentary for NXT until the February 1, 2017 episode. On
8415-498: The COVID-19 pandemic . Following their respective releases and after their 90-day non-compete clause had expired, Harper signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Brodie Lee, while Rowan began working on the independent circuit under the ring name Erick Redbeard. On December 26, 2020, Jon Huber (Luke Harper/Brodie Lee) died from lung disease at the age of 41. At AEW's Brodie Lee Celebration of Life on December 30, 2020, an event memorializing Huber, Rowan appeared for
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#17328019672178580-588: The Friday Night SmackDown color commentator. On the November 8 edition of Raw , Graves would pin Akira Tozawa at ringside to win the WWE 24/7 Championship , only to lose it immediately afterward to Byron Saxton . On February 11, 2022, Graves subbed in for Pat McAfee on an episode of Friday Night SmackDown . On the April 4, 2022 episode of Raw , after Graves' wife, Carmella, was attacked by her tag team partner, Zelina Vega , for losing
8745-770: The International Wrestling Cartel (IWC) on October 19, 2002, defeating Troy Lords. On the following IWC show, Keenan defeated CM Punk , before losing to Shirley Doe on two occasions but defeating Josh Prohibition. On December 28, Keenan teamed with Dustin Ardine to challenge the Devil's Advocates for the IWC Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. In May 2003, Keenan participated in IWC's Super Indy tournament, defeating B. J. Whitmer in
8910-572: The NXT North American Championship . Soon after, Harper took time off after undergoing surgery for a wrist injury. On March 9, 2019, Harper returned to in-ring action, defeating Mojo Rawley at a house show in his hometown of Rochester. He made his televised return at WrestleMania Axxess , defeating Dominik Dijakovic , which aired as part of the WWE Worlds Collide special. Following that, he competed in
9075-709: The Necro Butcher . Six months later, at In Your Face , Keenan and Jason Blade lost a tag team match to The Briscoe Brothers . He made a single appearance in ROH in 2007 at the Fifth Year Festival: Dayton event, losing to Jimmy Rave and another appearance in March 2009 at Steel City Clash , losing to Delirious . He also appeared on the Ring of Honor Wrestling television show on the April 4, 2009 episode, losing to Erick Stevens . Keenan debuted in
9240-489: The Royal Rumble with fellow Wyatt Family members and he was eliminated by Brock Lesnar , but returned to the ring later on with The Wyatt Family members to eliminate Lesnar. Harper and Wyatt were defeated by Lesnar in a 2-on-1 handicap match at the Roadblock event on March 12. On March 21, Harper suffered a knee injury during an untelevised match on Raw , sidelining him for five to six months. After getting an MRI , it
9405-700: The Shad Gaspard/Jon Huber Memorial Award , named after Huber and fellow wrestler Shad Gaspard , who died in May 2020 while saving his young son from drowning, which is dedicated to people involved in professional wrestling who make positive contributions to society. In August 2021, CM Punk revealed that Huber's death and how well his illness was kept secret amongst the AEW locker room out of respect inspired him to end his seven-year hiatus from wrestling, which began when he became disillusioned with WWE. Bryan Danielson also spoke about how
9570-729: The WWE Women's Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania 38 , Graves consoled her at ringside, eventually sharing a kiss between the two. As McAfee was hired by ESPN for its College GameDay coverage, Graves temporarily returned on the September 9, 2022 episode of SmackDown as a color commentator which this arrangement lasted until the end of the college football season. Graves returned to SmackDown as color commentator with Kevin Patrick joining in as play-by-play commentator on August 11, 2023. On February 2, 2024, Graves transitioned into
9735-575: The independent circuit under the ring name Erick Redbeard. On December 26, 2020, Harper unexpectedly died; during an AEW tribute show on December 30, Rowan appeared for the first time in the promotion and paid tribute to his former tag team partner by holding up a sign in the ring that read: "Goodbye for now, my brother. See you down the road." Rowan signed a WWE contract in February 2011 and Harper in March 2012, with both wrestlers performing in NXT's predecessor Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). After FCW
9900-543: The tag team championship once and, after he won the television championship , he unified it with the Kayfabe Dojo Championship. Huber made his debut for Philadelphia -based Chikara on March 24, 2007, at Time Will Prove Everything , using "The Right Stuff" Brodie Lee gimmick and losing to Equinox . Lee originally was not scheduled to wrestle at the event, but was instead visiting backstage with friends. However, when Reckless Youth no-showed
10065-701: The André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at the WrestleMania 35 pre-show, but failed to win as he was eliminated by Braun Strowman. After WrestleMania, Harper wrestled against EC3 in a dark match before an episode of SmackDown . It was reported that WWE chairman Vince McMahon did not like the match, so he canceled creative plans for Harper including a feud with Sami Zayn . After that, on April 16, Harper requested his release from WWE, as he had yet to appear on weekly television. His request
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#173280196721710230-526: The April 11 episode of SmackDown . Harper and Rowan continued to rival each other until the feud seemingly ended at Backlash on May 21, where Harper defeated Rowan. After months without appearing on WWE programming, on the October 10 episode of SmackDown , Harper and Rowan returned in a repackage vignette , with the duo wielding mallets and calling themselves "bludgeon brothers". During this time, both Luke Harper and Erick Rowan shortened their ring names, officially being billed as "Harper" and "Rowan". After
10395-439: The August 21 episode of SmackDown Live , The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a no disqualification match to win the championships, ending their reign at 135 days. The following day, it was announced that Rowan had suffered a torn right bicep, sidelining him indefinitely and putting the team on hiatus. Harper made a surprise appearance at a NXT house show on September 6, where he unsuccessfully challenged Ricochet for
10560-558: The August 22 episode of Dynamite , Lee quickly defeated Cody to win the AEW TNT Championship . He successfully defended the TNT Championship against Rhodes and Orange Cassidy on the September 9 and 23 episodes of Dynamite , respectively. Cody returned after Lee's match against Cassidy, and Lee challenged him to a dog collar match for the TNT Championship. On the October 7 episode of Dynamite , Cody won
10725-482: The Bank , and against Team Hell No at Extreme Rules . At SummerSlam , Harper and Rowan defended their titles against The New Day; they lost by disqualication after Rowan attacked Xavier Woods with a mallet, marking their first loss as The Bludgeon Brothers. Two days later on SmackDown , Rowan and Harper lost the titles to The New Day in a no-disqualification match, ending their reign at 135 days. The following day, it
10890-524: The Bell , which debuted in October 2019. In June 2020, he would launch a second podcast called Bare with Us alongside his real life wife Leah Van Dale, where the two discuss different issues regarding relationships including issues within their own. Polinsky is of Hungarian descent . As of 2020, he and his ex-wife, Amy (Schneider) Polinsky, have three children together. His father and younger brother are also involved in professional wrestling. His father Dan
11055-581: The Brodie Lee Tribute Show inspired him to sign for AEW. In September 2021, one week after winning the WWE Championship, Big E celebrated with The New Day and thanked the fans for their support and from "one incredible friend above" as the fans began to chant Huber's ring name. Corey Graves Matthew Polinsky (born February 24, 1984) is an American wrestling color commentator and retired professional wrestler . He
11220-517: The COVID-19 pandemic and with AEW's return to the venue in January 2024 for the two-part Homecoming special, AEW again paid tribute to Huber, airing a video package during the event and had three multi-person tag team matches with current and former members of The Dark Order. During the tribute show, Pro Wrestling Tees ' Shop AEW store released a T-shirt in memory of Lee with all proceeds benefiting The Huber Family. In less than two hours, it set
11385-471: The Countdown Showdown battle royal and was dominating the match, before being eliminated by Redwood. On October 23, Lee suffered an upset loss in a match against Dasher Hatfield , who was defeated by Redwood the following day. On November 20, Lee and Redwood, having earned each other's respect, re-united and attacked Hatfield after his match with Shayne "Buck" Hawke. On January 23, 2011, at
11550-466: The Curtain". From October 2015 to April 2016, Polinsky wrote a monthly column for Alternative Press entitled "Stay Loud." The column covered the intersection of wrestling and music. Polinsky has also delved into the fashion industry with Fatal Clothing's "Stay Down" collection. Polinsky, as his Corey Graves persona, launched his own podcast (produced by WWE and Endeavor Audio) titled WWE After
11715-403: The Fall and on May 30 he defeated Lee in his final ROH match. Lee debuted for Evolve on January 16, 2010, at the promotion's first ever show, teaming with Gran Akuma and Icarus in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Team Frightning (Mike Quackenbush, Hallowicked and Frightmare ). After losing a singles match to Gran Akuma on March 13, Lee picked up his first victory in
11880-483: The Fall member Delirious and defeated Cheech and Cloudy in a tag team match, before ending the night by attacking Necro Butcher , with whom the stable was feuding, after his match with Go Shiozaki . On November 7, Lee's match with Necro Butcher ended in a disqualification, when the rest of The Age of the Fall attacked his opponent. Lee and Necro Butcher had a rematch under Anything Goes rules on February 27, 2009, which Necro won. In March, Delirious turned on The Age of
12045-645: The Funkin Conservatory Tag Team Championship by defeating the team of London and Windsor. Keenan also made appearances for NWA Upstate, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South , Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling, and Full Throttle Wrestling. On April 26, 2002, in NWA East / Pro Wrestling eXpress , Keenan and Mad Mike won the NWA East Tag Team Championship by defeating The Premiere Players. Keenan
12210-641: The Garden State Gods (Corvis Fear and Myke Quest) to win the JAPW Tag Team Championship . On January 23, 2010, at JAPW's 12th Anniversary Show, Lee and Necro lost the title to Da Heavy Hitters (Havok and Monsta Mack ) in a three-way tag team match, which also included The H8 Club (Nate Hatred and Nick Gage ). On March 20, Lee got to challenge for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship , but was defeated by
12375-590: The IWC Heavyweight Championship to Radford, and failed to regain it in a rematch on April 3, and on April 17, when he lost a Tables match to Radford. In July 2004, Keenan unsuccessfully challenged Chris Sabin for the IWC Super Indy Championship. That December, after Sabin had vacated the IWC Super Indy Championship , Keenan won a four-way match against Petey Williams , Josh Prohibition, and John McChesney to win
12540-463: The January 10, 2017, episode of SmackDown Live , Harper and Orton shoved each other, which led to Harper accidentally superkicking Wyatt. Harper and Orton continued having problems with each other, leading to a match between the two on the January 24 episode of SmackDown Live , where Orton was victorious. After the match, Wyatt attacked Harper with the Sister Abigail , separating him from
12705-455: The July 26 SmackDown , where he and Rowan defeated Tons of Funk ( Brodus Clay and Tensai ). Over the next few months, Harper and Rowan went on a winning streak over many teams, until Cody Rhodes and Goldust handed them their first loss on the October 11 episode of SmackDown . In November, The Wyatt Family started a rivalry with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan heading into Survivor Series , where Harper and Rowan lost to Punk and Bryan in
12870-580: The July 4 episode of SmackDown Live , Harper took part in the Independence Day Battle Royal to determine the number one contender for the United States Championship . He failed to win as the match was eventually won by AJ Styles. Harper then disappeared from WWE television for several months. On the October 10 episode of SmackDown Live , as a heel again, Harper returned to television in a vignette where he
13035-541: The June 19 episode of NXT , The Wyatt Family defeated the team of Graves, Neville and Ohno. On the July 17 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Neville and Graves. From the May 27 episode of Raw , WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming main roster debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed the Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing
13200-781: The Luke Harper name and was sent to WWE's developmental territory in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) before debuting in NXT as a member of The Wyatt Family . For most of his WWE career, he was closely associated with Wyatt Family members Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan . The Wyatt Family won the NXT Tag Team Championship and the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship . The team of Harper and Rowan , later known as The Bludgeon Brothers in one of their tag team runs, went on to hold
13365-445: The May 2 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag team match by lastly pinning Neville to earn a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship. On the May 8 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan defeated Neville and Dallas, the latter filling in for the injured Grey, to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. After Harper and Rowan won the titles, The Wyatt Family went on to feud with Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno ,. On
13530-439: The NXT Tag Team Championship. The duo held the championship for nearly three months, before losing to The Ascension in September. After failing to regain the title, Graves attacked Neville to provoke a feud, thus turning heel. They traded victories, before Graves suffered a legitimate concussion , rendering him temporarily inactive. He returned in January 2014, to enter a feud with Sami Zayn . Graves defeated Zayn on April 3 but
13695-592: The November 10 episode of Raw , throwing an unconscious Ziggler at Triple H and Stephanie McMahon 's feet and expressing his desire to join their team at Survivor Series . The following week on Raw , Harper officially joined Team Authority . Immediately after, Harper was awarded an impromptu match for the Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler, which, after interference from Seth Rollins , Harper won to capture his first main roster title. At Survivor Series, Team Authority lost
13860-512: The October 11 episode of SmackDown . In early 2014, Harper and Rowan feuded with The Shield , while also supporting Bray Wyatt in his feud with John Cena . While Wyatt and Cena's feud continued, Harper and Rowan also started a feud with The Usos , unsuccessfully challenging for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank and Battleground . On September 29, 2014, vignettes began to air of Bray Wyatt announcing he
14025-547: The October 19 episode of Raw , when he filled in for Harper (who was unable to show for personal reasons) to team with Wyatt and Wyatt Family newcomer Braun Strowman , against Roman Reigns , Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, which his team won by disqualification after Ambrose attacked Strowman with a kendo stick. During this time, The Wyatt Family feuded with several teams including The Brothers of Destruction ( The Undertaker and Kane ) and Team ECW ( The Dudley Boyz , Tommy Dreamer and Rhyno ). In March 2016, Harper suffered
14190-656: The Power podcast to Huber, which also featured Cesaro , Tyler Breeze , and Erick Rowan speaking about Huber; a video version of the podcast was put on the WWE Network . The next day on the WWE Network, the promotion added a new entry into their Best of WWE series entitled "Best of Luke Harper", an anthology showcasing several of Huber's matches in WWE, which also included comments by various wrestlers involved in those matches speaking of their time working with Huber. At
14355-543: The SmackDown Tag Team Championship once more. During a brief run as a singles competitor, Harper became a one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion . Huber departed WWE in December 2019 and subsequently made his AEW debut in March 2020 as Mr. Brodie Lee, the leader of The Dark Order , and won the AEW TNT Championship in August of that year. He was hospitalized in October 2020 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis , from which he died on December 26 at
14520-495: The WWE Tag Team Championship at both Money in the Bank and Battleground . Beginning on September 29, vignettes were shown of Harper and Rowan being "set free" by Wyatt, marking the dissolution of The Wyatt Family and the transition of its members into singles competition. After a further series of video vignettes aimed at Dolph Ziggler , Harper made his return to television during the closing moments of
14685-478: The Warrior, Lee teamed with sumo legend Akebono in a tag team match, where they defeated The Osirian Portal. After the match, Lee and Akebono had to be separated from one another by the rest of Dragon Gate USA's locker room. Later in the night, Cima used his draft pick to name Lee the newest member of his Warriors International stable. At the following day's tapings of Freedom Fight 2010, Lee defeated Akebono in
14850-535: The action-horror film Mohawk . Under the Luke Harper name, he is a playable character in the video games WWE 2K15 , WWE 2K16 , WWE 2K17 , WWE 2K18 , WWE 2K19 , and WWE 2K20 . And in AEW Fight Forever under his Mr. Brodie Lee name as a legend. Huber married Amanda, a fellow professional wrestler who previously performed under the name Synndy Synn, in 2011. They had two sons named Brodie and Nolan. Following Huber's death, Brodie
15015-555: The age of 41. Jonathan Huber was born in Rochester, New York , on December 16, 1979. He attended McQuaid Jesuit High School and played lacrosse for four years. He also played hockey in independent youth leagues. Huber first got into wrestling as a backyard wrestler , performing under the ring name Huberboy #2 with the likes of Colin Delaney and his real-life brother, Referee Rob Ryan (Chris Huber) and Jimmy Olsen . Huber
15180-453: The card featured members of Huber's faction, The Dark Order . The memorial show began with the entire AEW roster onstage and commentator Jim Ross saying, "It's Wednesday and you know what that means", followed by a ten-bell salute . In the middle of the show, Huber's former long-time WWE tag team partner Erick Rowan, now under the name Erick Redbeard, made his AEW debut and held up a sign which said, "Goodbye for now, my brother. See you down
15345-454: The championship against Doug Williams on January 25, 2008, and Martin Stone , Darren Burridge and Abyss in a four-way match the following night. His next defense was on October, when he lost to Johnny Moss via disqualification , and retaining the championship as a result. At the 3rd Anniversary Show that same month, Keenan retained the championship against Raven . Keenan eventually lost
15510-616: The championship and ended Lee's reign at 55 days (46 days as recognized by AEW due to tape delay ). This would mark Lee's final match as he then went on hiatus and was reportedly dealing with an undisclosed injury, but died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in December. Huber's wrestling style has been described as mix of "blending power moves with deceptive agility" and "pioneering a new wave of athletic giants". He cited Jake Roberts , Rick Rude , and Big Show as his primary influences. Huber has described his original "The Right Stuff" gimmick as him "just having fun" and, despite being
15675-419: The championship belt as a weapon. He then began challenging Ulf Herman for the 1PW Heavyweight Championship, but was unsuccessful in a four-way match on June 29 when Herman retained the championship. Keenan failed to win the championship again on June 30 and August 18. On October 13, at 2nd Anniversary Show , Keenan defeated Herman to win the championship in a steel cage match . Keenan successfully defended
15840-478: The championship despite winning via disqualification following interference from Rollins' associates in The Shield . After singles victories over former partner Carter and Alex Riley , Graves faced Conor O'Brian in a number one contender's match; the match ended in a no contest after The Shield attacked both men, and Graves later lost in a triple threat number one contender's match. Graves transitioned into
16005-521: The championship for the second time, defeating Jake Manning in Limerick, Pennsylvania . He held the championship for just under a month before losing it to Rick Landell on June 1. Throughout the years, Keenan has also made sporadic appearances for Ring of Honor (ROH). His debut appearance for the promotion was at Round Robin Challenge II on April 25, 2003, where he teamed with E. Z. Money in
16170-427: The championship to Martin Stone on April 18, 2009 at To The Extreme , ending his championship reign at 554 days. He continued to feud with Stone in an unsuccessful attempt to regain the championship throughout 2009, and made his final 1PW appearance at the 4th Anniversary Show in November. Before signing a contract with WWE, Keenan made several appearances for the company. On April 26, 2006, Keenan and CM Punk lost
16335-514: The commentary team for the Cruiserweight division's WWE Network exclusive show, 205 Live , alongside Mauro Ranallo and Austin Aries . In March 2017, following Ranallo's absence from commentary and Aries' return to in-ring action, Graves would be joined by Tom Phillips on commentary for 205 Live . On the May 29 episode of Raw , Graves would directly report to Raw general manager Kurt Angle about some "scandalous information" that
16500-583: The company by defeating Gran Akuma, Hallowicked and Chris Dickinson in a four-way match on May 1. At the fourth show on July 23, Lee wrestled Jon Moxley to a no contest . As Moxley was protesting the stoppage, Lee kicked a chair into his face, which led to Evolve suspending him for the show of September 11. Lee returned to Evolve on May 20, 2011, in a match where he was defeated by Sami Callihan via submission. On May 8, 2010, Lee made his debut for Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA), defeating Cheech, Cloudy, Kyle O'Reilly, Phil Atlas, Xtremo, Brent B. and Anthony Fiasco in
16665-493: The company. Keenan made his debut for the United Kingdom -based 1 Pro Wrestling (1PW) at their inaugural show, A Cruel Twist of Fate , on October 1, 2005, defeating D'Lo Brown . He quickly formed an alliance with Abyss , and the pair defeated Sabu and Ulf Herman in a hardcore tag team match on January 7, 2006. In March, Keenan competed in a tournament to determine the inaugural 1PW Heavyweight Champion , but
16830-594: The defending champion Dan Maff and, after the match, Nick Gage attacked Maff and joined The Hillbilly Wrecking Crew, replacing Murdoch, who had left the company. On May 22, Lee and Necro faced Maff and the JAPW New Jersey State Champion Charlie Haas in a tag team match, where they put their JAPW careers on the line against the titles of their opponents. In the end, Lee managed to pin Haas, after Maff had turned on him, to become
16995-549: The duo to go inactive in 2016. The duo reunited as a team in October 2017 under the new moniker The Bludgeon Brothers , with their ring names shortened to simply Harper and Rowan. They would go on to capture the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in April 2018 at WrestleMania 34 . After losing the titles that August, they spent time apart due to injuries, ultimately reuniting in September 2019, dropping their Bludgeon Brothers gimmick and re-using their original ring names. However, this would be their last time teaming together, as during
17160-407: The event, Chikara booker Mike Quackenbush offered Lee the chance to get in the ring. Lee returned to the company two months later, defeating Equinox in a rematch and starting a streak of not being pinned nor submitting that lasted for the rest of the year. In August, Lee aligned himself with the Olsen Twins ( Colin and Jimmy ) and adopted the nickname "Big Rig" and a more serious gimmick of
17325-413: The fall on October 19 in a match against The Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian ), Lee kicked him in the face, effectively ending The Roughnecks. Redwood made his return six months later on April 24, 2010, as a surprise opponent of Lee's, but was easily defeated by him. Afterwards, Redwood stated that he was not done with Lee, but would prepare himself before their next match. On August 29, Lee entered
17490-419: The finals of the tournament by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey . Harper defeated Neville on the March 20 episode of NXT . On the May 2 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag match by last pinning Neville. On the May 8 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan defeated Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas, filling in for the injured Grey, to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. After retaining
17655-690: The first round, but losing to Colt Cabana in the second. At IWC's Revengeance show in September, Keenan defeated Al B. Damm to earn a match for the IWC Heavyweight Championship . He received his championship match on November 1, 2003, and defeated Dennis Gregory to win the championship. At Rebirth of Extreme on November 22, Keenan successfully retained the championship in a rematch against Gregory, and made further successful defences against Punk on December 12, Dean Radford on January 31, 2004, and February 24, and against Super Hentai on March 6. Two weeks later, on March 20, Keenan lost
17820-440: The first round. In early May, Harper revived his alliance with Erick Rowan. After Rowan suffered an injury, Harper reunited with Bray Wyatt on July 19 at Battleground by helping him defeat Roman Reigns . This led to a tag team match between Harper and Wyatt against Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam , which they lost after Reigns pinned Wyatt. The following night on Raw , Braun Strowman joined Harper and Wyatt as
17985-529: The first round. Following a win over Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals with Wyatt's interference, Harper and Rowan went on to the finals of the tournament, but were defeated by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey . The Wyatt Family later assaulted Grey (who had suffered a legitimate injury) while Wyatt prevented Bo Dallas from winning a NXT Championship number one contender match due to Dallas refusal to join The Wyatt Family. On
18150-447: The first time in AEW to pay his respects to Huber; Rowan performed a run-in to save Huber's former Dark Order teammates John Silver and Alex Reynolds and their partner Adam Page from interference by Wardlow , helping them defeat The Inner Circle 's team of Maxwell Jacob Friedman , Santana and Ortiz . At the end of the match he held up a sign dedicated to his tag team partner and friend: "Goodbye for now, my brother. See you down
18315-564: The first time, unifying the two titles. Lee made his first JAPW Heavyweight Championship defense on December 11, during the Anniversary weekend, defeating Rhino with help from Nick Gage. On December 30, 2011, JAPW announced that Lee, who had not made an appearance for the promotion in nine months, had been stripped of the JAPW Heavyweight Championship. On March 12, 2012, it was reported that Huber had signed
18480-402: The following episode of SmackDown Live , Harper ambushed Daniel Bryan after a confrontation with Rowan, only to be interrupted by Reigns, who Harper and Rowan laid out as well. At Hell in a Cell , Harper and Rowan were defeated by Reigns and Bryan in a tag team match. As part of the 2019 draft , Erick Rowan was drafted to Raw, disbanding the team. Harper's last televised match in WWE was in
18645-709: The future of what we do here". Professional wrestling promoter and booker Eric Bischoff has praised Graves as an "amazingly talented guy" and "an exceptional talent". Bischoff also further reiterated that Graves is "Very different, has his own way about him. He's got a vibe and an approach to the business that I really love, and I think it makes him unique. But think about that. Think about how much wrestling, how many stories, think about what Corey Graves in particular had to do every week. Unless you've done that job, even if you've done that job, it's hard to imagine". Professional wrestling Legend and WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson , has also praised Graves stating "He obviously has
18810-582: The game, he has his own path in the "Who Got NXT " mode, documenting his matches in NXT and on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions as an unlockable character through the MyCareer mode. He later appeared in WWE 2K18 , WWE 2K19 , WWE 2K20 , WWE 2K22 , WWE 2K23 and WWE 2K24 as a non-playable character as part of the commentary team. Polinsky was a part of E:60 documentary: "WWE: Behind
18975-534: The greatest TNT Champion. A tribute video with " Ol' '55 " by Tom Waits closed the show. Khan purchased the rights to the song in perpetuity , which he did "so the tribute will last forever". AEW has since adopted "it's Wednesday night, (and) you know what that means" as the standard introduction for episodes of AEW Dynamite , as further tribute to Huber. As Huber was a prominent figure for AEW during its time at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida during
19140-466: The group. At the Royal Rumble on January 29, Harper entered the Royal Rumble match at number 25, attacking both Wyatt and Orton and eliminating Apollo Crews , before being eliminated by Goldberg . On the January 31 episode of SmackDown Live , Harper turned face after helping WWE Champion John Cena in his confrontation with Orton and Wyatt. At Elimination Chamber on February 12, Harper
19305-443: The help of J&J Security ( Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury ), who were the special guest referees for the match. On the January 22 episode of SmackDown , Harper and Rowan once again competed against each other, this time in a 2015 Royal Rumble qualifying match, with Harper winning and thus not allowing Rowan to participate in the Royal Rumble match. Despite this, Rowan appeared during the Royal Rumble match on January 25, ambushing
19470-405: The in-ring background, he has a cool look, it feels like he's 'inside baseball' enough and up on his stuff where 'smart fans' can enjoy his work, he checks Vince's boxes". "Just his appearance alone made you pay attention and he appealed to a younger crowd and I think you have to have a mix of different announcers that cover and check different boxes just like you have talent and Corey was a guy that
19635-510: The inaugural tapings in June 2012. They defeated CJ Parker and Nick Rogers in a match that aired in July. Graves was re-established as a villainous singles wrestler on November 14 with a win over Oliver Grey ; Following a submission victory over Yoshi Tatsu in December, Graves attacked the NXT Champion Seth Rollins , and was awarded a title match on the January 2, 2013 episode of NXT . Graves failed to capture
19800-458: The lead commentator role on SmackDown, serving alongside Wade Barrett who replaced Kevin Patrick. On August 26 2024, Graves returned to Raw to be a commentator with Michael Cole as Pat McAfee took a hiatus from WWE to return to College GameDay. Polinsky, as Corey Graves, made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K15 , where on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of
19965-563: The lungs can no longer function. A multitude of wrestlers and wrestling personalities paid tribute to Huber with previously untold stories on social media , most of which shared a running theme of him being devoted to his wife and children while going out of his way to guide and support other wrestlers. His former Wyatt Family teammates also paid tribute: Bray Wyatt called Huber his "best friend, brother, [and] partner", Erick Rowan said that Huber "meant more to [him] than he will ever know", and Braun Strowman referred to Huber as "one of
20130-405: The match by his former partner (with assistance from Seth Rollins ). On the December 8 episode of Raw , Harper and Rowan faced each other in singles competition, with Harper ultimately getting himself disqualified. On the January 5, 2015 episode of Raw , The Authority punished Rowan by putting him in a singles match against Harper, with Harper picking up the win after a discus clothesline and
20295-402: The match of the SmackDown brand pay-per-view No Mercy , helping Bray Wyatt defeat Randy Orton by distracting Orton. On December 4 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , Wyatt and Orton, who had recently joined The Wyatt Family, captured the SmackDown Tag Team Championship , and three days later it was announced that Harper had been sanctioned as champion as well, making him eligible to defend
20460-532: The match, which Harper was eliminated by Ziggler. As punishment for his affiliation with The Authority, Harper was forced to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Dean Ambrose on the November 24 episode of Raw and successfully retained the title after getting himself disqualified. Harper lost the title back to Ziggler in a ladder match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , ending his reign at 27 days, and failed to regain
20625-514: The match. At Invincible in August, a tag team match featuring Keenan and Hyson versus Spud and Teddy Hart ended in a no contest after several other wrestlers interfered, prompting a 10-man elimination tag team match , which Keenan's team won. At Resurrection in April 2007, Keenan challenged Romeo Roselli for the Nu-Wrestling Evolution Heavyweight Championship, but was disqualified for using
20790-411: The most unselfish men [he has] ever met and an amazing husband and father". Cody Rhodes , against whom Huber wrestled his final match, called the match "an honor and a privilege and an experience so ferociously humbling". Big E , who was particularly close with Huber and his son Brodie and was requested to be present alongside Rhodes with Amanda when informing Brodie of his father's death, spoke of how
20955-470: The names of actor Jason Lee and his character Brodie Bruce , though his style and appearance have also brought comparisons to Bruiser Brody , mistakenly thinking his ring name was derived from Bruiser. Throughout his time in RPW, which was later renamed to NWA Upstate and then again to NWA New York, Lee went on to win multiple championships including the heavyweight championship on three separate occasions,
21120-489: The new JAPW New Jersey State Champion. On October 23, 2010, Lee challenged Dan Maff for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship in a Champion vs. Champion match, but was defeated. On November 20, Lee first successfully defended the New Jersey State Championship against Eddie Kingston and then defeated Dan Maff, Nick Gage and Azrieal in a Championship Scramble to win the JAPW Heavyweight Championship for
21285-433: The new member of The Wyatt Family. At Night of Champions The Wyatt Family defeated Reigns, Ambrose and Chris Jericho in a six-man tag team match. On the October 19 episode of Raw , Erick Rowan returned to The Wyatt Family when he filled in for Harper (who was unable to show for personal reasons). The Wyatt Family then got involved in a feud with The Brothers of Destruction ( The Undertaker and Kane ), which built to
21450-549: The number six entrant Curtis Axel , to attack Harper and subsequently sparking a brief Wyatt Family reunion, along with Bray Wyatt, before all three men began to brawl. On the May 7 episode of SmackDown , Rowan would come out after Harper defeated Fandango , seemingly to confront Harper, but would instead attack Fandango and thus turning into a villain in the process. On the May 11 episode of Raw , Harper and Rowan would officially reunite when Harper accompanied Rowan to his match against Fandango which Rowan won after 30 seconds and
21615-451: The pre-show for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio , Graves announced he would be leaving NXT after that event, with Nigel McGuinness taking his place on commentary. Following the 2016 WWE draft , it was announced that Graves would be joining the Raw commentary team. On July 25, on the first post brand split episode of Raw , Graves began serving as a color commentator alongside Michael Cole and Byron Saxton . On November 29, Graves joined
21780-735: The previous year. Lee's and Castagnoli's feud ended on September 7, 2008, in Chikara's first-ever steel cage match , with Castagnoli coming out victorious. In late 2008, Lee aligned himself with Eddie Kingston and Grizzly Redwood to form a stable called The Roughnecks. On February 21, 2009, The Roughnecks defeated UltraMantis Black , Crossbones and Sami Callihan to earn a spot in the 2009 King of Trios tournament . On March 27, The Roughnecks lost their King of Trios opening round match to Team Uppercut ( Bryan Danielson , Claudio Castagnoli and Dave Taylor ). When Kingston moved on to feuding with Castagnoli, Lee and Redwood began wrestling matches as
21945-443: The professional wrestling industry as a whole came together to mourn the loss of a performer deemed to have made a personal impact on the careers and lives of many of his colleagues, stating, "I feel a real brotherhood. In that I have so many guys that I've worked with, who hit me up, who cried with me, who reached out to me, and that's beautiful. It really made me think, 'Man, we have something special in our industry. ' " After many of
22110-665: The road." Brodie Lee Jonathan Huber (December 16, 1979 – December 26, 2020) was an American professional wrestler known as Brodie Lee . Huber performed under the ring name Luke Harper in WWE from 2012 to 2019, and as Mr. Brodie Lee in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2020. From 2003 to 2012, Huber performed as Brodie Lee on the American independent circuit for promotions such as Chikara , Ring of Honor , and Dragon Gate USA , as well as Dragon Gate Japan . Upon signing with WWE in 2012, he assumed
22275-437: The road." At the end of the show, Huber's widow and son left his wrestling boots and a purple bandana in the middle of the ring. As Huber was a former TNT Champion, AEW retired the red strap version of the title belt that had been used up to that point in honor of Huber, and presented the belt to Huber's son Brodie, with AEW President and CEO Tony Khan stating that Lee's son was "TNT Champion for life". Khan also regarded Huber as
22440-445: The season ten premiere, The Roughnecks defeated The Throwbacks (Hatfield and Sugar Dunkerton) in a tag team match. The Roughnecks and The Throwbacks ended their feud on March 13 in a lumberjack match , where Hatfield and Dunkerton were victorious. In May 2011, Lee entered the 12 Large: Summit , set to determine the inaugural Chikara Grand Champion , but was forced to pull out of the tournament following his first match, after suffering
22605-539: The stories about Huber had been widely shared, Randy Orton stated, "You all have heard about how much we all respected [Huber], about how much we all enjoyed his presence. It is a fact." The December 28, 2020, episode of WWE Raw opened with an "In Memory of Jon Huber ('Luke Harper')" graphic, as did the December 30 episode of WWE NXT and the January 1, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown . Performers and commentators on Raw paid tribute by using some of Huber's catchphrases, such as commentator Tom Phillips welcoming
22770-504: The team. Graves would continue to support Angle about his personal information that was sent to him, which Angle would reveal on the July 17 episode of Raw , announcing that Jason Jordan was his storyline son. On September 4, it was announced that Graves would also join the SmackDown Live announce team after JBL departed from the company, making Graves the only current announcer to commentate both Raw and SmackDown LIVE , as
22935-506: The title against Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno on the June 5 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Adrian Neville and Corey Graves on the July 17 episode of NXT . From the May 27 episode of Raw , WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed The Wyatt Family's backwoods origins. On the July 8 episode of Raw , The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane . Harper made his WWE in-ring debut on
23100-405: The title in a rematch on the December 22 episode of Raw . On January 25, 2015, Harper entered the Royal Rumble match at number 4, and was eliminated by Bray Wyatt. Beginning in early March, Harper was involved into a storyline where he was one of many wrestlers stealing Bad News Barrett 's Intercontinental Championship belt from Barrett and each other. This led to a seven-man ladder match for
23265-462: The title on March 29 at WrestleMania 31 , which was won by Daniel Bryan. The match led to a new feud between Harper and Dean Ambrose (who was also a participant in the ladder match at WrestleMania), with Harper losing a Chicago Street Fight between the pair at Extreme Rules . On the April 27 episode of Raw , Harper took part in the 2015 King of the Ring tournament, but was eliminated by Neville in
23430-470: The title under the Freebird Rule . The Wyatt Family, represented by Harper and Orton, lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championship to American Alpha ( Chad Gable and Jason Jordan ) in a four-way elimination match on the December 27 episode of SmackDown Live . After the match, Harper and Orton showed tension over the loss. After Wyatt and Orton unsuccessfully challenged American Alpha for the title on
23595-404: The titles. They would go on to successfully defend the titles against The Usos at the Greatest Royal Rumble event, against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at Money in the Bank , and against Team Hell No at Extreme Rules . The Bludgeon Brothers lost by disqualification in a championship defense against The New Day at SummerSlam , resulting in them retaining the titles. Two nights later on
23760-447: The two proceeded to double team Fandango after the match. On the May 18 episode of Raw , Harper and Rowan teamed up to take on Fandango and Zack Ryder , which Rowan and Harper won after a superkick and full nelson slam combination. On the June 4 episode of SmackDown , Harper and Rowan cut a promo about being ostracized and stated they were a family. On the June 5 episode of Superstars , Harper and Rowan defeated Los Matadores in
23925-610: The vacant championship. He made a successful defense of the championship against AJ Styles on February 24, 2005, and Claudio Castagnoli the following night. In April he retained the championship against Nate Webb, before losing a championship match to Justin Idol by countout in final championship defense on April 29, 2005. That same night, McChesney won the Super Indy Tournament, winning the championship as part of his victory, despite having not beaten Keenan. The next night,
24090-590: The viewers to the show by exclaiming "it's Monday, you know what that means" and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre beginning his promo by stating "it's Monday and you know what that means [...] yeah, yeah, yeah". Xavier Woods , who wore an armband with "Brodie" written on it, performed Huber's signature taunt and finishing move during an eight-man tag team match. Over the next week, the promotion uploaded videos with various WWE wrestlers honoring and speaking of their memories with Huber. On January 11, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston , and Xavier Woods) dedicated their Feel
24255-416: Was rebranded to NXT Wrestling , Harper and Rowan debuted on NXT under the leadership of Bray Wyatt to form a faction known as The Wyatt Family in November, with the duo being referred to as Wyatt's "sons". On the January 23, 2013, episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan entered the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champions, defeating the team of Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu in
24420-469: Was a cult, and often harshly punished his disciples for petty transgressions. The character drew comparisons to McMahon due to displaying traits similar to ones often attributed to McMahon, such as disliking people sneezing in his presence, but Huber denied this and instead stated that it was inspired by mafia films . In 2017, Huber appeared as Pitchfork Perry in an episode of the period drama series Damnation . In 2018, he played Lachlan Allsopp in
24585-405: Was announced that Rowan had suffered a torn right bicep, sidelining him indefinitely. During this time, Harper also underwent surgery due to a wrist injury. Rowan returned alone on January 27, 2019 at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, where he aided WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in retaining his title against AJ Styles . On March 9, 2019, Harper returned to in-ring action, defeating Mojo Rawley at
24750-452: Was defeated by AJ Styles in a quarter-final match. He moved on to feud with Spud , defeating him on May 26 at Know Your Enemy Night One . At Fight Club 2 in July, Keenan defeated Spud in an Iron City Street Fight . Three weeks later, Keenan replaced Matt Hyson in a tag team match, where he and Spud challenged Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm for the 1PW Tag Team Championship . They were unsuccessful after Keenan attacked Spud during
24915-492: Was defeated by Orton. Shortly after this, Harper unsuccessfully faced AJ Styles over number one contendership for the WWE Championship, held by Wyatt. At the WrestleMania 33 pre-show on April 2, Harper took part in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal , from which he was eliminated by Titus O'Neil . Following WrestleMania, Harper feuded with the returning Erick Rowan, leading to a match at Backlash , which Harper won. On
25080-557: Was defeated in a 6-man tag team match teaming with The Ascension against Zayn and The Usos . Graves then suffered a second concussion, causing him to be absent from television for several months. Graves returned on the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution pre-show on December 11, where he announced his official in-ring retirement due to his concussion issues. He also announced that he would be joining NXT's commentary team with immediate effect, with his duties beginning at that event. Graves
25245-738: Was denied by McMahon. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter later reported that Harper's contract was originally going to expire in November 2019, but WWE added six months to it, due to the time missed due to injury. In mid-July it was reported that Harper had returned to traveling with the roster, as he had been off events since requesting his release. At the Clash of Champions pay-per-view event on September 15, with his old ring name Luke Harper, he made his televised return to WWE programming by attacking Roman Reigns in his match with former partner Erick Rowan. On
25410-465: Was eventually formally trained by Kirby Marcos and Rik Matrix in Rochester, New York , and Tony Mamaluke in Schenectady, New York , and made his debut for Roc City Wrestling (RCW) in 2003, working under a mask as Huberboy #2. Later that year, he unmasked and began working as Brodie Lee for Rochester Pro Wrestling (RPW). He came up with the name Brodie Lee from the movie Mallrats by combining
25575-407: Was going to hurt them, but his ideas were rejected by McMahon and WWE creative. After joining AEW in March 2020, Huber reverted to his pre-WWE name of Brodie Lee and was unveiled as "The Exalted One", the previously anonymous leader of The Dark Order stable. Adding the prefix "Mr." to his name, he assumed the gimmick of a suit-wearing corporate executive who denied allegations that The Dark Order
25740-507: Was not present, as he was snowed in and could not make the show. The following day, Lee made his return to DG as a member of the new top heel group, in a match where he, Gamma and Genki Horiguchi defeated Yamato , Kagetora and Diablo. On January 18, the new group was named Blood Warriors. Lee made his debut for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) on March 28, 2009, as a member of The Hillbilly Wrecking Crew, along with Necro Butcher and Trevor Murdoch . On August 1, Lee and Necro defeated
25905-405: Was once again aligned with Erick Rowan. The duo were dubbed " The Bludgeon Brothers ", with Harper's ring name shortened to simply "Harper". The team wrestled their return match on the November 21 episode of SmackDown Live , defeating The Hype Bros ( Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley ). At Clash of Champions on December 17, The Bludgeon Brothers defeated Breezango ( Fandango and Tyler Breeze ) in
26070-502: Was opinionated. I don't how much of those opinions were his own and those projected for him to have, but he fits in with that younger demographic and you're always wanting to grab that, that's for sure." Fellow WWE commentator colleague and broadcast partner Byron Saxton has praised Graves stating "there's been so many greats but when you look at Jesse [Ventura] and Bobby [Heenan] and all these great color guys, The King [Jerry Lawler], who have been in this company, you know, Corey [Graves]
26235-865: Was part of the Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers promotion in both of its incarnations. He won the UIPW Keystone Cruiserweight Championship. Beginning in 2005, he appeared regularly for Far North Wrestling (FNW), and on November 2, 2007, he won a Battle royal to win the FNW Heavyweight Championship. He defeated Samoa Joe and Rikishi by countout on August 23, 2007 to win the Ballpark Brawl Natural Heavyweight Title. On February 24, 2008, Keenan won Absolute Intense Wrestling's Heavyweight Championship by winning
26400-536: Was revealed as the "Exalted One", the previously unseen leader of the villainous faction The Dark Order , and attacked SoCal Uncensored with the other members of the group. After remaining undefeated for several weeks, he lost for the first time against Jon Moxley in a match for the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing . Over the following months, Lee recruited new members into The Dark Order, including Colt Cabana and Anna Jay . On
26565-509: Was revealed that he had dislocated his patella and tore his medial patellofemoral ligament . Because of his injury, Harper was not drafted to either Raw or SmackDown in the 2016 WWE draft . Harper returned to the ring on October 5, unsuccessfully teaming with Kevin Owens against Sami Zayn and Seth Rollins at a house show in Santiago , Chile . Four days later, Harper returned in
26730-434: Was sent to him about Angle, with Angle telling Graves that if the news broke out, it would ruin him. On the June 19 episode of Raw , as Angle tried to resolve the mystery of who attacked both Enzo and Cass over the last few weeks, Graves would show security footage of Big Cass faking his attack, which led to Cass revealing himself as the one who attacked Enzo Amore , before attacking Amore once again, officially disbanding
26895-488: Was setting Luke Harper and Erick Rowan "free". Rowan returned on the October 31 episode of SmackDown , while Harper returned on the November 10 episode of Raw , aligning himself with The Authority . On the November 17 episode of Raw , Rowan joined Team Cena for Survivor Series , opposing Luke Harper and turning into a heroic character . At the event, Rowan's team was victorious. During the match, Harper and Rowan attacked each other, with Rowan ultimately being eliminated from
27060-624: Was signed to AEW and became a member of his father's faction The Dark Order at the age of eight, with AEW stating that he can immediately start to perform for the company when he comes of age if he so wishes. Huber was a fan of the then- Washington Football Team (now the Commanders) and Toronto Maple Leafs . On December 26, 2020, Huber died at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida , 10 days after his 41st birthday. His widow, Amanda, said that he had been receiving treatment for
27225-561: Was then offered a two-year commentary contract by Triple H , and was later added to the pre-show panel for Raw . He is also the host of WWE Culture Shock , a WWE Network original series. In August 2015, following Dolph Ziggler 's 2014 shout-out to the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom , March's reveal of Xavier Woods as a member of said fandom, and Sheamus being shamed in April by Ziggler about Bronies on TV, he attended BronyCon at
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