RIP Brodie Lee

[LaGoosh]

Watch that Shield vs Wyatt Family classic back, he's the main guy holding the match together. The reactions when he big boots Ambrose and hits his dive blow the roof off the building.

[Lenin]

10 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Watch that Shield vs Wyatt Family classic back, he's the main guy holding the match together. The reactions when he big boots Ambrose and hits his dive blow the roof off the building.

Agreed, he was easily the standout performer in that match which is phenomenal considering he was in with several other mein event level talents. 

Along with the original TLC match and Angle/Rousey vs. HHH/Stephanie, The Wyatt Family vs. The Shield is one of my favourite all time matches. That's no exaggeration either, every time I watch it the near falls are still as believable. 

As others have mentioned, Brodie Lie absolutely potatoing Cody Rhodes in under ten minutes to win the TNT Title was brilliantly done and he got himself way over with that match. Up until that point there were still some doubters (including myself) who wondered when he was going to 1) be booked as a genuine threat and 2) get across his incredible personality. After that match whether serious or not he progressed to another level. 

The dog collar match was a hugely successful performance. Not only did he sell the hell out of it, he also carried Cody Rhodes to his best match in AEW.

Now, it'll be interesting to see how they book The Dark Order in light of his passing. There is never a right way or time to address story arcs after a tragedy but they're in a pickle I think. Having Page join the DO as planned has risks. He'll be brilliant at it but without The Exalted One as the objective, he could end up losing a lot of his own character 

It's when you think about the wrestling side of things (the show must go on) that you realise just how much he'd achieved in 9 months. He was an integral part of several story arcs. He was also shaping up to be one hell of an AEW Heavyweight Championship holder. The title run that you thought Kevin Nash would have had before he stunk the place out. Tall and bearded with cracking leather ring gear and a tremendously powerful moveset. 

I know this is a bit of a ramble but I'm still shocked by the news of his death. One of the very few wrestlers that could legitimately have carried a World Heavyweight title for a prolonged period - everything about him and the character was so believable that it shows up just how thin on the ground such talents are in WWE. I could easily see him being a dominant champion in the mould of Drew McIntyre. He had such an intimidating presence. 

Anyway, we're another good man and wrestling role model down. RIP x 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Suplex Sinner
Spelling

[Chris B]

29 minutes ago, Suplex Sinner said:

Now, it'll be interesting to see how they book The Dark Order in light of his passing. There is never a right way or time to address story arcs after a tragedy but they're in a pickle I think. Having Page join the DO as planned has risks. He'll be brilliant at it but without The Exalted One as the objective, he could end up losing a lot of his own character 

This absolutely isn't a criticism or rebuke, as it's fair comment - he was clearly part of a big ongoing storyline, and we haven't seen how AEW will handle something like this, while we kind of know what to expect from WWE with the 10 bell salute and everyone on the stage, etc.

However, it feels kind of uncomfortable to wander into that discussion in this thread. The focus should be on the person rather than the business response. That's my feeling anyway, but I suspect I'm not alone in that. At least for a while, anyway.

So again, this isn't saying you were wrong to talk about these things. But I could see this getting sidetracked with responses because it's an area of genuine interest, so I'd suggest any further discussion of how AEW handles it should probably be in the AEW thread.

(Apologies if jumping into modding territory here - more trying to avoid the need for it)

[Lenin]

4 hours ago, Chris B said:

This absolutely isn't a criticism or rebuke, as it's fair comment - he was clearly part of a big ongoing storyline, and we haven't seen how AEW will handle something like this, while we kind of know what to expect from WWE with the 10 bell salute and everyone on the stage, etc.

However, it feels kind of uncomfortable to wander into that discussion in this thread. The focus should be on the person rather than the business response. That's my feeling anyway, but I suspect I'm not alone in that. At least for a while, anyway.

So again, this isn't saying you were wrong to talk about these things. But I could see this getting sidetracked with responses because it's an area of genuine interest, so I'd suggest any further discussion of how AEW handles it should probably be in the AEW thread.

(Apologies if jumping into modding territory here - more trying to avoid the need for it)

That's fair comment and I totally understand where you're coming from as I wasn't sure myself. Apologies if I strayed too far too soon from the personal to business.  Happy to edit/remove post if need be to keep on topic for folks. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2020/12/27/mitchell-column-why-the-questions-surrounding-brodie-lees-death-are-important/ Wade Keller needs to quality control more

Edited December 28, 2020 by Hannibal Scorch

[Tsurutagun]

44 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2020/12/27/mitchell-column-why-the-questions-surrounding-brodie-lees-death-are-important/ Wade Keller needs to quality control more

Would it surprise you that Will Colling and Jonathan Snowden tweeted praising the bravery of Bruce Mitchell for writing this garbage

[Hoptimus]

CM Punk has said he will donate a whole month of merchandise sales to Brodie Lee's family. Nice gesture.

[CTXRussomark]

Out of all the wrestling deaths from the past 20+ years the only other one i recall generating so many unanimous stories of love and admiration is Owen Hart and I think it's telling that in both cases so many of the stories centre around how great of a father they were.  Life really isn't fair sometimes. 

[Supremo]

14 hours ago, Louch said:

Watching back, it’s easy to forget with how long this year has felt that he debuted in the no fans era first show. Not even sure they had their thousand or so back in by time he was gone. 

It's super sad he didn't get to debut in Rochester as originally planned. Imagine the pop he would've got!

I love this tidbit from Cesaro and Kofi.

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Supremo

[Lenin]

1 hour ago, Hoptimus said:

CM Punk has said he will donate a whole month of merchandise sales to Brodie Lee's family. Nice gesture.

https://411mania.com/wrestling/ec3-releases-new-t-shirt-to-benefit-brodie-lees-family/

EC3 is also releasing a new shirt and donating the proceeds to Brodie's family. These gestures further emphasize just how beloved he was. There really are some good eggs out there. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

2 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2020/12/27/mitchell-column-why-the-questions-surrounding-brodie-lees-death-are-important/ Wade Keller needs to quality control more

Utter scumbag of an article, should be ashamed of himself but doubt he will be

[Jazzy G]

2 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2020/12/27/mitchell-column-why-the-questions-surrounding-brodie-lees-death-are-important/ Wade Keller needs to quality control more

Well isn't that just a load of bollocks? His writing style with its shit attempts at snarky asides is bad enough, but there's no need for this crap.

Edited December 28, 2020 by jazzygeofferz

[Hannibal Scorch]

34 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Well isn't that just a load of bollocks? His writing style with its shit attempts at snarky asides is bad enough, but there's no need for this crap.

Let’s pretend for a second he got Covid at AEW. It wouldn’t take until now for him to die. The fact they filmed his kid beating Omega for the title in a dark segment means it was likely terminal or he was very sick. There are hundreds of things it could have been other then Covid. And there will be a coroner’s report as well. So speculation for likes is just a waste of time and makes you look like an awful human.

[RedRooster]

31 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Let’s pretend for a second he got Covid at AEW. It wouldn’t take until now for him to die. The fact they filmed his kid beating Omega for the title in a dark segment means it was likely terminal or he was very sick. There are hundreds of things it could have been other then Covid. And there will be a coroner’s report as well. So speculation for likes is just a waste of time and makes you look like an awful human.

While I agree that the article was odd, unnecessary and slightly crass I’m not sure that’s completely accurate. Long COVID is real and we probably don’t know what it means for people with pre-existing conditions.

Brodie’s family have made it clear that his death was non-COVID related, so the article is just unhelpful. 

However, he did have a lung problem of some sort, which means had he caught COVID he would have been at serious risk. In other words, the virus could still have tragic consequences to individuals in wrestling should they get it, particularly given that the pandemic is running rampant right across America.

I hope this awful tragedy, if nothing else, re-enforces the importance of maintaining robust COVID policies (eg. social distancing, avoid lumberjack matches/battle royales etc) to wrestling companies as we edge closer towards the end of this pandemic.

Brodie’s death shows us that there are vulnerable people wrestling, whether they know it or not and companies should keep that in mind - particularly AEW, which loves a multi-person match.

I don’t think this very speculative article should have been published, but I do hope this horrific tragedy reminds companies that they can not relax their precautions.

Edited December 28, 2020 by RedRooster

[Hannibal Scorch]

Spoiler

 

But your speculating. That’s no better then this article (and I’ve seen nothing to suggest Long Covid is deadly, just you get long lasting side effects)