It is with a heavy heart that I bring this article to our readers today as we learned just a few days ago of the passing of Jon Huber aka Brodie Lee aka Luke Harper. Who for the purposes of this article I will refer to as Luke Harper.
After seeing the outpouring of support online from his peers in the industry it is clear that while Harper was an extremely talented performer in the ring he will be known amongst his peers as a family man first and foremost. All tweets and social media posts from people that Harper has come across over his career attest to the fact that he put his family first and that his too young ones at home were his pride and joy.
While I can’t comment much further on his family life, as I didn’t know the man, I felt that I needed to write something about one of my favourite wrestlers. So below I have highlighted some of Luke Harpers greatest moments in the WWE.
Before we begin I will mention that while Harper had all the potential in the world the WWE failed to see this after a while. There may be only a handful of moments highlighted below but that merely is because of my limited knowledge on his career before he came to the WWE.
I also know that he did make a great impression for AEW but I am going to keep my scope to the time he spent in the WWE.
Luke Harper makes his debut on NXT
In 2012 Harper, along with Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan, made his debut on the black and gold brand. As a member of the Wyatt family, Harper ran roughshod over the NXT roster eventually winning tag title gold with Erick Rowan.
While it did not take long for Harper and the rest of the family to get the call up to the main roster it was still a high point in the big man’s career. He was able to showcase his talent for a larger audience and get his name out there.
Wyatt Family v The Shield – Elimination Chamber 2014
Once the Wyatt family made their debut on the main roster it was only a matter of time before these two stables faced off in the squared circle.
If anyone has not had the pleasure of watching this match it should be on your bucket list of WWE matches. All six men put on one of the best tag team matches in the history of the company. The fans in the arena were already chanting “This is Awesome” before anyone locked horns and that goes to show how excited we all were to see this encounter.
What was more exciting about this contest, for me anyway, is that it was expected that it would be the star-making performance for the Shield and Bray Wyatt and while those four men did have an excellent showing it was Luke Harper who came out looking like a star. Harper did most of the heavy lifting during the contest and was really able to show off how fast and agile he was for a man his size.
Not that we didn’t not think Harper a great athlete but this match was one of the first instances where we got to see that his talent knew no bounds.
Luke Harper v Dolph Ziggler – Intercontinental Title Match, TLC 2014
Not long after the Wyatt family broke up Harper was thrust into an Intercontinental title program opposite Dolph Ziggler. At the time Ziggler was in one of his better babyface runs and he needed a heel to work against, enter Luke Harper.
Harper was just embarking on his first singles run in the WWE and this was a huge boost for him. Putting him into an upper midcard feud was a huge step for the big man and he did reward the WWE’s faith in him but knocking it out of the park.
We had all known for a while that Harper was a stud in the ring but we really got to see how good his promo and psychology work was. The man was able to bring fans in and make them care even more about his feud with Ziggler. Which could have been a hard feat to accomplish considering that Ziggler was on again off again with the fans and company.
The match itself was a fantastic one and Harper was able to use his psychology to act as the perfect foil for Ziggler.
There is also something that I noticed while watching the match and that is Harper’s ability to time his near falls to perfection. Wrestling is a suspension of disbelief to a point, but it is always tough to see how poorly timed most near falls are in a ladder match. This was something that Harper excelled at making sure to wait until the last minute to make the save having us believe that at any moment the match could be over.
It is unfortunate that Harpers single’s career never amounted to much past this point but it was during this match that we saw just how far it could have risen.
The Bludgeon Brothers – Luke Harper & Erick Rowan Reunite
The brothers may not have had the best run in the WWE but it is still important to note this tandem when discussing the WWE tenure of Luke Harper.
Harper wasn’t being used for much of anything at this point so it was just great to see him on t.v doing something. The Bludgeon Brothers did get a run with the tag titles so there was that too but not much materialized out of it.
The fact that Harper was able to get this gimmick over to any extent is a testament to the extreme talent of the man. It is really a shame that he wasn’t able to move further up the card and show what kind of wrestler he could have been.
Luke Harper/Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton Storyline
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While Harper was not the focal point of the Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton feud he did become the main part of it and once again showed up what an asset to the company he could be.
Orton had become a member of the Wyatt family and while the partnership lasted for a good amount of time it was pretty clear that it was leading to Wyatt and Orton feuding with one another. This happened and the WWE title was involved during Wrestlemania season. It was an ok feud but what stood out for me was the inclusion of Luke Harper into it.
Being part of the Wyatt family Luke Harper was, of course, going to be included in the angle between Orton and Wyatt and he once again was able to show off his talents in and out of the ring. The matches that he had with Orton were some of the best in a long time for the Viper. He also was able to garner enough sympathy from the crowd that his eventual face turn went over quite well and he was very much over when he switched sides…
It came as quite a shock to hear of the passing of Luke Harper. He was easily one of the best big men to come around over the past 15 years. It a tragic occurrence when anyone passes from this world, especially a man who had so much potential.
RIP Jon Huber.