The wrestling world lost Jon Huber (Brodie Lee in AEW, Luke Harper in WWE) on December 26 after he battled a non-COVID lung illness.
Throughout the week, wrestlers and companies have paid tribute to Huber, his career, and his life. Friday Night SmackDown was no different.
Much like Raw, SmackDown opened with a graphic honoring Huber. Big E had plenty of nods to Huber in his match against King Corbin, which turned into a tag team match. Big E wore a "BRODIE" armband and used a gator roll during the singles match against Corbin. Later, in the tag team match, Big E yelled "Yeah, yeah, yeah" before performing a running splash. Corey Graves noted on commentary, "that's like getting run over by a Big Rig," a nod to one of Huber's nicknames.
While on the phone in a backstage segment, Adam Pearce said, "You know what that means."
During a backstage promo, Big E said "I have fans coming up to me from Rome to Rochester. I had little Nolans and Amandas coming up to me." Rochester is the hometown of Huber while Amanda is his wife and Nolan is his youngest son. Big E also mentioned the Maple Leafs in his promo, which was Huber's favorite hockey team.
Sasha Banks and Bayley wore armbands that said "BRODIE." WWE twitter also potentially made a Brodie Jr. reference with a "negative one" tweet. Brodie Jr. is called "-1" in AEW.
During his tag team match against Daniel Bryan and Otis, Cesaro performed a Brodie sidewalk slam. In the same bout, Otis used a discus clothesline. Cesaro and Bryan also wore "BRODIE" armbands in the bout.
You will never be forgotten.
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) January 2, 2021
Thank you for everything, Jon. pic.twitter.com/cWt7ZyL3LA
he mentioned brodie’s wife and son -- i love big e pic.twitter.com/qx6dOewcGy
— ---------- (@baIorscole) January 2, 2021
#SmackDown Women's Champion @SashaBanksWWE has encountered an obstacle in this tag team match... a negative one! pic.twitter.com/9lqE7jV4Om
— WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2021
DB and Cesaro wearing Brodie Lee wrist bands on #SmackDown. pic.twitter.com/mtD5tvBv6a
— --EIDOSCOPE ANG (@coolangnakulang) January 2, 2021
Training with @WWEGable continues to pay off for @otiswwe!
— WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2021
DISCUS CLOTHESLINE + THE CATERPILLAR!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/9nQ00ove5Q
You can view all the tributes paid to Huber by Raw superstars by clicking here.
If you missed anything from WWE SmackDown, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
