Fans need to calm down about Brodie Lee Jr. and AEW

After the untimely death of Jon Huber at the end of 2020, the entire wrestling community rallied around his wife and children.

AEW in particular has provided a lot of support to the family, including signing Jon’s young son Brodie Lee Jr. to a contract. It was meant as a gesture more than anything else, but it has translated into the 8-year-old child having a TV presence.

While most fans have reacted positively to this, some have been quite negative. This has led to online criticism of AEW for “exploiting” the child and the tragedy of Jon Huber’s death. Those fans need to calm down and let it go.

Jon Huber’s final days in AEW

Prior to signing with AEW, Jon Huber had a great career on the indies as well as a run in WWE as Luke Harper. While working for Vince McMahon, Huber was a three time Tag Team Champion as well as a one time Intercontinental Champion.

After leaving WWE in late 2019, Huber made his debut with AEW in March 2020. Under the name Brodie Lee, he was became the leader of the nefarious faction known as The Dark Order. He would go on to become the TNT Champion.

But it was a short reign. A few weeks later, he lost the belt back to a returning Cody Rhodes in an epic dog collar match on October 7, 2020. What fans didn’t realize at the time was that they were watching Huber’s last pro wrestling match ever.

Fans were confused as to why Huber was suddenly gone from TV. With no answers coming from AEW, some people incorrectly attributed him suddenly losing the title to AEW not valuing him. In reality, he was incredibly ill and passed away on December 26, 2020.

The legacy continues

Keeping in mind that the Hubers’ entire wrestling family offered support in any way that they could, AEW certainly took the lead. They produced a tribute show, which remains one of the best episodes of Dynamite to ever air.

More than that, the AEW family has proven to be there for the Hubers. That includes actually signing Jon and Amanda’s then eight-year-old son Brodie to a contract. The kid is a massive wrestling fan, and has a lot of favorites in different companies.

It’s important to note that he isn’t wrestling. This contract simply guarantees him a spot on the AEW roster and that the company will train him when he comes of age. And he has to want to do it. Kids change their minds a lot. He may not want to be a wrestler as he gets older.

Under the guise of -1, Brodie has been involved with AEW programming over the last few months. He acts as the de facto leader of The Dark Order and often fills the role of ringside manager at many of their matches. He’s at his best on commentary when he’s berating Excalibur, though.

Fans get bent out of shape, again

Wrestling fans can get really upset over the smallest things, and a recent one is -1 participating in AEW events and programming. Some people see it as exploitative on the part of the company, even going so far as to criticize Amanda Huber’s parenting.

The reality of the situation is that those fans are being ridiculous. AEW is not exploiting Brodie and Amanda is not a bad mother. And anyone who has suggested otherwise needs to take step back from the situation to ask why they’re bugging a widow who’s trying to figure her new normal out.

As previously stated, Brodie Jr. is a huge wrestling fan. Working with The Dark Order is giving a little boy who just lost his father something else to focus on. It obviously makes the kid happy. Any child who has lost a parent should be so lucky as to have such a great support system.

The same is true of Amanda Huber. She has consistently been the first to acknowledge the support of AEW and The Dark Order members through this time. She even recently highlighted how important Vickie Guerrero has been as she went through the same situation in 2005.

Amanda Huber has had to put too much time into shutting down critical fans. When they criticized WWE for “not doing enough” to honor Jon Huber, she stepped in to shut them down. Amanda pointed out that the WWE is still part of her wrestling family, too, and there is love there.

Brodie is not required to participate in AEW event on any level. And as long as she sees it as a positive experience for her son, Amanda Huber can and should keep letting him be part of AEW. It’s her call. Any fans who don’t agree can keep their opinions to themselves, which won’t happen.