7 Things we learned from Brodie Lee on Chris Jericho's Podcast

It's official now. The man that was once known as Luke Harper is now in AEW. He is The Exalted One. The so-called leader of The Dark Order, who was rumored for months and months. Most AEW fans thought it was going to be Matt Hardy, but Brodie Lee didn't disappoint.

It was a double swerve of sorts, and it looked like Lee was ready for action in AEW. As a guest on Talk Is Jericho, Brodie revealed some interesting backstage stories involving Vince McMahon and his frustrations of being creatively stifled. On the other end of the spectrum, he explained things that were not known before.

Here are seven things that Brodie Lee revealed on Chris Jericho's podcast.

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#7 Brodie Lee first hated Erick Rowan when he worked with him in Wyatt Family

Not the best of friends when they first started (Pic Source: WWE)

When Brodie Lee was Luke Harper in the Wyatt Family, it was as if he fit right in with that stable. More so, with Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan, it seemed that their paths were intertwined.

While Brodie Lee did remark that he and Erick Rowan made a great tag team, he didn't like Rowan at first.

When they first got together in the Wyatt Family, Brodie Lee revealed that he despised the man. Lee said:

"We roomed together, we tagged together and we were literally constantly together. And he snores more than any men I met in my life."

He would wake up hating him and just said that during a match, he would recall how much he hated him.

It seemed that the 'hatred' didn't last long as they both become good friends over the long run. He also said that the last run was just a lot of fun with him.

That tale sounds no different from other wrestlers who started as rivals/enemies but became friends over time.

#6 The Bludgeon Brothers were based on Demolition

A very interesting choice by Vince McMahon (Pic Source: WWE)

It's interesting to think that the Bludgeon Brothers was primarily based on a picture of Demolition.

According to Brodie Lee, WWE Creative showed him and Erick Rowan a picture and said that's what Vince McMahon wanted him to be. Of course, Brodie Lee found the image of them in such gear to be strange.

He did say that he and Rowan were given some creative freedom to come up with a look that fits better and would be in line with a modern-day narrative. Brodie Lee revealed that Rowan had a lot of input on the look of the characters.

What's more interesting is that Vince McMahon approved of the gimmick while he was taking a massage. Brodie Lee said:

"Vince looks up and says, 'Yup, love it.' Well, did you want to see the other? Vince goes, 'No, No, love it.' And he just puts his head back down and keeps getting a massage."

Brodie Lee also revealed that the name of the team came from Vince McMahon and he liked the word 'Bludgeon.' One thing is clear -- Vince McMahon's backstage stories never get dull.

#5 Vince McMahon kept turning down Brodie Lee's creative ideas

There were certainly some interesting ideas (Pic Source: AEW/WWE)

When Brodie Lee felt that he was flatlining as a character, he had pitched a bunch of different ideas to change the gimmick around.

One of the main issues in working in WWE was that Vince McMahon's mind was made up, it was tough to change it.

In Lee's case, he only saw him as a 'Backwoods Hillbilly,' even though he was from Rochester, New York.

Lee explained that he tried a couple of gimmicks which were a little different from his Wyatt Family avatar. He said:

"I wanted to be a collector of some sort..I'm very much into serial killers and stuff like that. So, I wanted to collect something from each person I would beat."

When that was turned down, he thought of a 'Smart Monster' gimmick.

"I could speak like I do in a very intelligent way and like break my opponents down in a way, that I wasn't doing in the Wyatt family. "

The result was the same. Vince McMahon didn't see him as anything more than a specific type of character.

#4 Daniel Bryan called Brodie Lee to work in the storyline involving him, Erick Rowan and Roman Reigns

It's an interesting reason why Bryan called him (Pic Source: WWE)

It's fair to say that Brodie Lee, as Luke Harper was probably in limbo for most of his last year in WWE. He was mostly doing dark matches in the hope that Vince McMahon would notice as the crowd would chant his name. But nothing came of it.

Brodie Lee would have stayed home for the most part of in his final year in WWE if it wouldn't have been for Daniel Bryan. Lee revealed that it was Bryan who called him to join the storyline with him and Roman Reigns. He said:

"So Bryan calls me, and says, 'Hey man, how are you feeling right now?' He then says, 'Do you wanna come back to work?' I was like, 'With who?' He says, 'With me', and I said 'Yeah'. So, Bryan is one of the people in the business I respect more than anybody. They kind of built this story of who attacked Roman, and it ended up being Rowan.

Brodie Lee says that Daniel Bryan is one of the few WWE Superstars that he genuinely respects.

#3 Vince McMahon wouldn't release him for business reasons

The reason was quite interesting (Pic Source: AEW/WWE)

Brodie Lee was growing tired as he knew that he wasn't booked very well in WWE. Some of the ideas that he committed to were not just working from him, ranging from poor placement in Battle Royals to being Sami Zayn's sidekick.

A canceled SmackDown appearance after WrestleMania 35 seemed to be the last straw, and he made his mind to ask for his release.

Vince McMahon called him to know the reason behind him asking for a release, and he was not aware that other people were also asking for their release. Lee decided to go public with his release request as he wanted to control the narrative. Shawn Spears had done something similar and was granted his release.

But that was not the case for Brodie. He recalls that Vince McMahon called him a second time and said:

"I thought they were gonna do it. After the second conversation with Vince, he called me and said, 'Hey man, for business reasons, I can't let you go.', and I said, 'Okay, it's totally fair, it's your decision obviously.'"

Of course, it was intimated that this was after AEW happened, and Chris Jericho had signed with them. AEW may have played a role in McMahon delaying Lee's release.

#2 WWE was trying to re-sign him the day they released him

There was a lot of money on the table (Pic Source: WWE)

Brodie Lee was pretty clear that he wanted to leave WWE. But WWE was still trying to re-sign even on the day that they released him.

Due to Jericho signing with AEW alongside a couple of others, WWE was intent on giving everyone raises and keeping everyone locked down so that they wouldn't go anywhere else.

From the sound of it, Brodie was offered a lot of money to stay at home, and he was unsure of whether he should stay with WWE. It was his wife who told him to get out. Brodie Lee said:

"My wife was like, 'Ok, we take this money and in six months, you're doing nothing. And you're going to be crazy. "

From the sound of it, Brodie wanted to be valued as a performer rather than be utilized sparingly despite being paid a good amount of money. Brodie did say that even if there were no AEW, he would have worked for independent wrestling organizations or NJPW.

#1 He has big plans for The Dark Order in AEW

The story is just beginning (Pic Source: AEW)

With Brodie Lee now firmly in AEW, he had some nervousness about accepting the role of The Exalted One. He was not interested in being compared to the Wyatt Family or Bray Wyatt himself. But he then concluded he could make it better over time.

Brodie also complimented Matt Hardy to go out of his way to put a 'red herring' while he remained silent on social media. It made his debut even better as it was a 'double swerve.' Brodie was pretty adamant that he can make The Dark Order his own thing.

Brodie also said that he has a clear vision of what he wants The Dark Order to be. He believes that he can bring it up to a certain level that will make a huge impact. Brodie also revealed that he had worked with Evil Uno and Stu Grayson years earlier on the independent circuit.

He went on to add that he and Evil Uno have been bouncing ideas off each other, and it'll be interesting to see what this faction has in store for the fans.