In 2006, Jon Huber (Brodie Lee in AEW, Luke Harper in WWE) first shared a ring together in a tag team match under the NWA banner.
The two men would have a number of battles in CHIKARA, including the first-ever cage match in CHIKARA history. Throughout their handful of matches in the promotion, Brodie was consistent in one thing when it came to wrestling Cesaro.
"I don't think we had one match where he didn't blame me for hurting him in some way," said Cesaro on New Day: Feel The Power podcast. "He bled in the CHIKARA cage match. It's a super PG company and blood is a big no no. Of course, he rams his head into the pole as hard as he can and of course blames me. I just watched it back. He was like, 'It's you, you're way too strong and don't realize it.' I hit him with like two moves and he's like 'Yeah, you broke my neck.' Just nonstop crap. I would do the same to him."
Cesaro was hired by WWE in September 2011. Brodie would join him a few short months later, getting signed by WWE in March 2012.
"He was one of two people -- not helped hire because they both got hired because they're friggin' awesome -- but that I put in a good word and put them over when [WWE] asked me about them. I told them, 'Hire him. 100% right now' because of what a good person he is," recalled Cesaro.
Cesaro and Brodie would go on to have many more matches together in WWE, typically opposing each other in tag team bouts.
New Day: Feel The Power reflected on the life and career of Huber, who passed away on December 26 due to a non-COVID lung illness. Elsewhere on the podcast, Kofi Kingston reflected on seeing Brodie win the AEW TNT Championship. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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