Former AEW TNT Champion Brodie Lee may be best known to wrestling fans for his run in the WWE as Luke Harper, but that run may not have happened at all.
While speaking to AEW Unrestricted, “The Exalted One” talks about how a little help from Cesaro helped him get signed after an injury.
“So about six months earlier, I had been in contact with somebody there and was getting ready to go down for one of their tryouts. I broke my leg, dislocated my patella, lost my shoot job and then a week later, my wife told me that she was pregnant, unplanned. It was mine, so it was okay. The world was ending, but then six months after that, they called me again and said, ‘hey, are you healthy?’ And I said, ‘actually, yeah. Literally just got cleared.’ He said, ‘hey, can you come down January 1?’ So my son’s now scheduled to be born early January.”
“So I’m traveling to Tampa from Rochester to do this week long tryout. So my wife said, ‘no problem. Go ahead.’ So the baby did not come out. The week happened, and then January 17, we’re in the hospital having the baby. That’s when Johnny Ace (John Laurinaitis) called me. The phone breaks up. So I think, of course, I’ve ruined my entire opportunity at pro wrestling stardom.”
“I don’t have his number because it cut off. So I call Claudio (Cesaro), and I’m like, ‘oh my God, do you have Johnny Ace’s number?’ He goes, ‘yeah, here it is.’ Texted it to me. I call him. I said, ‘Johnny, I’m so sorry I missed your phone call.’ He goes, ‘oh, no problem. Do you want work here?’ And I said, yeah got hired the day my son was born.”
Poor cell phone connection may have nearly cost Brodie his shot in the WWE, but thanks to the help of Cesaro, things turned out okay.
Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the quote.
