Jonathan Huber was an American professional wrestler and actor.
He was born on 16 December 1979.
He was best known for his time in WWE under the ring name Luke Harper and briefly Harper,
and in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as Brodie Lee and Mr. Brodie Lee.
From 2003 to 2012, Huber worked on the independent circuit under the Brodie Lee ring name, most
notably in Chikara, Squared Circle Wrestling (2CW), Ring of Honor (ROH), Dragon Gate USA
(DGUSA), and internationally for Dragon Gate in Japan.
Signing with WWE in 2012, he assumed the name Luke Harper and was sent to WWE's developmental
territory, 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.
Harper and Rowan, later known as The Bludgeon Brothers, also held the SmackDown Tag Team
Championship on another occasion.
During a brief singles run, Harper became a one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion in
2014.
Huber departed WWE in December 2019, subsequently making his AEW debut in March 2020 as "Mr."
Brodie Lee and revealing himself to be "The Exalted One", the previously anonymous leader
of The Dark Order faction, and won the AEW TNT Championship in August of that year.
On December 26, 2020, Huber died at the age of 41 in Jacksonville, Florida, after suffering
from lung problems.
Jonathan Huber was born on 16 December 1979, in Rochester, New York.
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, who worked as Huberboy
#1.
Huber 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, 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 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, the tag team championship once and the television championship once,
which he also proceeded to unify with the Kayfabe Dojo Championship.
Huber has described his original "The Right Stuff" gimmick as him "just having fun" and
"being a cruiserweight".
Huber's wrestling style has been described as mix of "blending power moves with deceptive
agility", as well as "pioneering new wave of athletic giants".
Upon Huber's debut in WWE as Luke Harper, he become 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 character
and asked him to speak with a Southern-like drawl.
After the faction split in early-2017, Harper reunited with former Wyatt Family teammate
Erick Rowan to form a tag team dubbed The Bludgeon Brothers.
The duo carried wooden mallets to the ring and their look was apparently modelled after
Demolition, a team that wrestled for WWE in the 1980s.
Tired of always being part of factions, Huber pitched several gimmicks to McMahon, such
as a "collector" character who collected trophies from his opponents and an "intelligent monster"
who would eloquently tell his rivals how he was going to hurt them, similar to wrestlers
Bruiser Brody and Mike Knox.
However, his ideas were rejected by McMahon and WWE creative.
After joining All Elite Wrestling in March 2020, Lee was unveiled as "The Exalted One",
the previously anonymous leader of The Dark Order stable, and assumed the persona of "Mr.
Brodie Lee", a suit-wearing corporate cult leader who harshly punished his disciples
for petty transgressions.
The character drew comparisons to Vince McMahon due to sharing traits similar to ones reported
to belong to McMahon, such as disliking sneezing, but Huber denied that it was based on McMahon
and instead stated that it was inspired by mafia films.
Huber married his wife Amanda, a fellow professional wrestler also known as Synndy Synn, in 2008.
They had two sons.
Huber cited Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, and Big Show as his wrestling influences.
He was a supporter of the Washington Football Team and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Huber died at the age of 41 on December 26, 2020.
His wife stated that he had been treated for lung problems at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville,
Florida.
[Biography taken from Wikipedia]
Please subscribe to my channel.
Thanks for watching.