Luke Harper

Jonathan Huber (December 16, 1979 – December 26, 2020) was an American professional wrestler.

Jonathan Huber was born in Rochester, New York, on December 16, 1979.

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, Referee Rob Ryan (Chris Huber) and Jimmy Olsen.

From 2003 to 2012, Huber performed as Brodie Lee on the American independent circuit for promotions such as Chikara, Ring of Honor, and Dragon Gate USA, as well as Dragon Gate Japan.

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, he 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, after he won the television championship, he unified it with the Kayfabe Dojo Championship.

Huber made his debut for Philadelphia-based Chikara on March 24, 2007, at Time Will Prove Everything, using "The Right Stuff" Brodie Lee gimmick and losing to Equinox.

Lee originally was not scheduled to wrestle at the event, but was instead visiting backstage with friends.

However, when Reckless Youth no-showed the event, Chikara booker Mike Quackenbush offered Lee the chance to get in the ring.

Lee returned to the company two months later, defeating Equinox in a rematch and starting a streak of not being pinned nor submitting that lasted for the rest of the year.

In August, Lee aligned himself with the Olsen Twins (Colin and Jimmy) and adopted the nickname "Big Rig" and a more serious gimmick of a trucker.

Lee and the Olsen Twins were scheduled to enter the 2008 King of Trios tournament as Team Dr. Keith, but after Colin signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the team was left one man short.

While Retail Dragon substituted Colin, the team lost in the first round, so Lee turned on him while simultaneously ending his alliance with Jimmy Olsen in the process.

In April 2008, Lee's storyline where he bullied smaller wrestlers led to Claudio Castagnoli issuing a challenge to him.

Their first match on April 20 ended in Castagnoli being disqualified for accidentally kicking the referee of the match.

The second match on May 24 ended in similar fashion, this time Lee was disqualified for kicking the referee.

This led to a no disqualification match on July 13, which Lee won after interference from Shayne Hawke and Mitch Ryder, both of whom had a grudge with Castagnoli for breaking up The Kings of Wrestling the previous year.

Lee's and Castagnoli's feud ended on September 7, 2008, in Chikara's first-ever steel cage match, with Castagnoli coming out victorious.

In late 2008, Lee aligned himself with Eddie Kingston and Grizzly Redwood to form a stable called The Roughnecks.

On February 21, 2009, The Roughnecks defeated UltraMantis Black, Crossbones and Sami Callihan to earn a spot in the 2009 King of Trios tournament.

On March 27, The Roughnecks lost their King of Trios opening round match to Team Uppercut (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and Dave Taylor).

When Kingston moved on to feuding with Castagnoli, Lee and Redwood began wrestling matches as a tag team.

With victories over Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr.), Cheech Hernandez and K.C. Day, and the North Star Express (Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz), Lee and Redwood earned their right to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas.

On October 17, 2009, Lee and Redwood challenged The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) for the championship, but were defeated in two straight falls.

Lee opted to give Redwood one more chance, but when he dropped the fall on October 19 in a match against The Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian), Lee kicked him in the face, effectively ending The Roughnecks.

Redwood made his return six months later on April 24, 2010, as a surprise opponent of Lee's, but was easily defeated by him.

Afterwards, Redwood stated that he was not done with Lee, but would prepare himself before their next match.

On August 29, Lee entered the Countdown Showdown battle royal and was dominating the match, before being eliminated by Redwood.

He was best known for performing under the ring name Luke Harper (later shortened to Harper) in WWE from 2012 to 2019, and as Mr. Brodie Lee in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2020.

Upon signing with WWE in 2012, he assumed the Luke Harper name and was sent to WWE's developmental territory in 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.

The team of Harper and Rowan, later known as The Bludgeon Brothers in one of their tag team runs, went on to hold the SmackDown Tag Team Championship once more.

During a brief run as a singles competitor, Harper became a one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Huber departed WWE in December 2019 and subsequently made his AEW debut in March 2020 as Mr. Brodie Lee, the leader of The Dark Order, and won the AEW TNT Championship in August of that year.

He was hospitalized in October 2020 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, from which he died on December 26 at the age of 41.