AEW superstar and current TNT champion Brodie Lee recently spoke to Wrestling Inc. to talk all things pro-wrestling. Highlights are below.
On learning about COVID-19 and making his AEW debut:
A pretty heartbreaking day, and I believe it was March 11, which was the week before my debut was supposed to happen in Rochester. Literally, we were making travel plans to get the family home, and so I was at the gym, watched President Trump make an address about the coronavirus, watch the NBA cancel their season and then watch Tom Hanks come out on the news as positive for coronavirus. Literally all in a five to 10-minute range at 9:00 and went to bed that night thinking, ‘OK, maybe everything’s OK,’ didn’t really know the magnitude of the situation at that time, and then two days later, I believe, I got the call from Tony Khan saying, ‘hey, we are canceling all these shows, but we will be running in Jacksonville. If you still want to debut, you’re more than welcome to, but you’re also more than welcome to not debut at that time.’ And I chose to debut because I didn’t know how long it was going to be, and I’d been sitting [at] home for so long. I was dying to be a professional wrestler again.
On getting use to the AEW atmosphere:
I remember telling Shawn Spears at one point, I said, ‘is everybody always this positive because something doesn’t feel right to me.’ So it took a little getting used to in the beginning, but I love it. It’s a very different feel, very different vibe. [The] creativity there of mine is fulfilled. I go to bed happy at night, and I think that’s shown in the product.
How he took some early jabs at Vince McMahon but his character was never supposed to be a direct parody:
Obviously, there was a couple of little Easter eggs and things that people could very easily pick up on, but as a whole, the character was never meant to be a Vince McMahon parody. But there was definitely a couple jabs his way in the early going,” Lee admitted. “Once I realized that that was everything that people were going to talk about, I wanted to get away from that as quickly as possible because I wanted it to be more about me more about my identity and more about my journey to where we’re going. I didn’t want to be seen as that that bitter ex-employee. I don’t want that label on me whatsoever.
On being happy that his impression irked Vince McMahon and WWE:
I have no problems with that whatsoever,” Lee remarked. “I rather enjoy that and the thought of me, little old me, affecting someone there, that’s OK with me.
Full interview can be found below.
