Brett Lauderdale: Brodie Lee Jr. Was A Natural In The Ring

Brett Lauderdale breaks down Brodie Lee Jr’s first match.

Lee made his singles debut at Joey Janela’s Spring Break X event in April 2026, where he faced Joey Janela. The match, which lasted nearly 30 minutes, was praised by fans around the world of wrestling.

Speaking with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp for a new interview, Lauderdale said that the gears started turning on the match after Brodie Lee Jr’s Clusterfuck appearance.

“I really think it came from both sides, Joey and Brodie Jr. I think it started to really become an idea and a possibility after the previous years Brodie appearance at the Clusterfuck in Las Vegas when he came out and he had the interaction with Joey and got in the ring and did moves and it was part of the match. I think that was when we realized this isn’t just a kid, but this is a performer. Like this kid has skills, well beyond his years.”

Lauderdale went on to admit that he brushed off Joey Janela’s conversations about the match at first.

“Of course Joey sees something like that and Joey’s a spectacle guy. What you and I would think is crazy, Joey sees it as, ‘No, this isn’t crazy. This is something that has to happen.’ Brodie, Jr. is many things, one of them being almost equally as crazy as Joey. The first time I heard him mention it, I was like, ‘Yeah, alright, dude, whatever.’ Of course, I’m not going to tell Joey no, but it seemed far-fetched to me. Just that mom would be down for it, we’re going to go through this whole thing and you’re going to have a full fledged match. Like, alright, maybe in my mind, ‘Alright, maybe he’ll be like the manager for whoever you wrestle and you’ll have another interaction.’ But Joey was adamant that not only does he want to wrestle Brodie Jr, but that Brodie Jr also wants to do it and it’s going to happen. Again, I just was like, ‘Alright, man, if you say so.’ As the months went by, know, Joey stayed on it and kept telling me, ‘This is the match for Spring Break.’ As it got closer, I realized ‘Alright, now we actually really have to determine who Joey’s wrestling at Spring Break,’ and he said, ‘I’m wrestling Brodie Jr.’ I said, ‘Alright, I guess we’re going to find out if this is real.’”

When he started having conversations with Amanda Huber, Lauderdale realized how real the match was.

“I ended up talking to Brodie’s mom and it was very much real. Not only was it real, but they were, in their mind, already into figuring the match out and determining how it was going to go. Hearing that Brodie was as into it as Joey was and that mom was fully on board, I was down. I said, ‘Alright, if this is real, then it’s real. Let’s go.’ But Junior was so cool and passionate and so wise wrestling-wise beyond his years. There are some people that they get into wrestling and you have to teach them wrestling, and there are other people who just have that wrestling in their blood.”

Lauderdale wasn’t short with his praise for Lee, saying that he’s a natural in the ring that knows how to find the camera and cut a promo.

“It’s cliche to say it, but there’s certain things where you need direction and there’s other things where they either know it or they don’t—ways you react to a crowd, timing, knowing when to take an extra second or when to go, and those are all things you can’t really teach. Those are all things you either know, or you don’t know. Brodie has those little things at such a young age. He is a natural, was a natural in the ring, knowing how to, yes, interact with the fans and when you need to take a little more or take a little less, he just knows how to do those things. He knows how to find the camera. He knows how to pose. He knows how to talk into a microphone. Just little things that you just don’t expect a 14-year-old who’s never wrestled a match to do. I have people, and I say this with all due respect, I have guys who I’ve worked with for years that aren’t as smooth as he is on a microphone or at just getting through a match or a segment. He’s so confident and he just knows it. He just has it. It’s so impressive.”

Finishing off the topic, Lauderdale said that he wants to work with Brodie Lee Jr. again.

“So I really, honestly, along the whole path, of course every time he appeared we, again, collaborated with him and his mom and Joey. They were very easy to work with, open-minded and Brodie had so many ideas of his own that were great. Joey, of course, so many ideas and it was just fun to watch how each segment along the way came together. Sometimes you put a segment together and there’s a lot of moving parts and you’re like, ‘I don’t know how this is going to go,’ and you just have to wait and see. We had a lot of those then every single time they just nailed it. It just so impressive and I hope that we get to work with him again.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lauderdale talked about Matt Cardona’s return to WWE. Check out his full comments by clicking here.

Fans can check out Fightful’s full interview with Brett Lauderdale in the video linked at the top of this article. After that, head over to our YouTube channel to catch a full review of all the action.