Brodie Lee Confirms He Is Able To Wrestle For NJPW While With AEW
Wrestling Inc.'s Nick Hausman recently chatted with AEW TNT Champion Brodie Lee on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast to discuss all things The Dark Order. Before The Dark Order, however, Lee was Luke Harper as part of The Wyatt Family along with Erick Rowan, now Erick RedBeard.
Rowan has said before that joining AEW "would be awesome," but he believed that he and Lee should stay apart for a while after being together for so long. Lee expressed similar sentiments while also saying that Rowan is "tailor-made" for Japan.
"I'm great friends with Erick Rowan. I know he just had a pretty, pretty sweet acting gig coming off the release," Lee noted. "I haven't discussed what his professional wrestling plans are. I think he's a man who's tailor-made for Japan. He's a terrifying, scary monster. It's all legit. I would never want to be caught in an alley with that man.
"As for a AEW, again, that's above my pay rate, my pay grade, but if they came to me and said, 'do you want Erick Rowan here,' I could never say no. I love him. He's a brother. We do good business together. I think we're both OK with a little bit of separation, maybe for five-20 years, but again, I think there will always be a time where me and Rowan get back together and tear it up."
On his status for wrestling in Japan, Lee said that his AEW contract does allow him to wrestle in NJPW, a promotion that Lee said is on his bucket list. However, he noted that in the U.S., he is exclusive to AEW and that indie work would be more selective.
"I have the possibility to do both those things," Lee revealed. "I think the indie work will be a bit more selective. New Japan is always a bucket list kind of item for me. So if the right opportunity came along, I would love to do it. In America, I'm AEW exclusive."
On the topic of The Wyatt Family, Lee recalls the good memories of the faction and described the differences of then and now as leader of The Dark Order. He pointed out that now the big singles matches are his and that he is the one that gets to hold titles like the TNT Championship.
"The Wyatt family was an awesome experience. We had an awesome run," Lee said. "We had some of the biggest matches in WWE history. Our thing against The Shield was unbelievable, but to a point, it becomes too much background dancing, and to feel the need to break out when you can and they just won't let you, that's where the frustration begins.
"So to be allowed now to stand in front of a group and to know that the big singles matches that are coming, the marquee singles matches are coming to your group, are going to be coming to my table. So that's the huge difference to me is just that now I'm the one that's that gets these marquee match-ups. I'm the one that has these these big feuds. I'm the one that holds the titles. So it's much better. I think for me."
Lee was asked if there is a kinship between him and his Dark Order brethren, and he said there is because of his responsibility to not only bring himself up the AEW ladder but also everyone else in The Dark Order. He noted that for many in The Dark Order, this is their first time on a large platform like Dynamite is on TNT, and he spoke on guiding them throughout their journeys.
"Absolutely, like I said, when I came in, it was my responsibility to not only move myself up the card but to also pick up the pieces of what the Dark Order had become and move them up the card, and I think we're slowly doing that," Lee stated. "We had the tag title shot, didn't go our way. We did win a match against The Elite a week later, but the gold is where the power lies, and obviously, as soon as we got the TNT Championship, a lot more eyes were directed towards us. So that is always our goal.
"I do feel a huge kinship with these guys just because I know what [Evil] Uno and Stu [Grayson] have struggled through for 15-20 years. I've seen it for 5 (Alan Angels), 10 (Preston Vance), Anna [Jay], [John] Silver, [and Alex] Reynolds, for all these guys, this is their first shot at giant, broadcast professional wrestling on a cable TV show weekly. This is their first shot, maybe their only shot. So yes, I feel a huge responsibility for putting them in a good position to perform and putting them in the best position to show what they can do."
Brodie Lee and The Dark Order take on Matt Cardona, Scorpio Sky and The Natural Nightmares this Saturday at AEW All Out on PPV. Lee's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.