It seems that Brodie Lee Jr. was adopted by the AEW family even before his father died tragically last weekend. Since his father’s death, Brodie Jr. has been adopted by the entire wrestling community.
Seeing the eight-year-old TNT champion for the love of professional wrestling reminded us all, and gave us an outlet for our pain other than mourning. Seeing how loved he is not only by the cast of All Elite, but by his father’s friends and former colleagues in WWE, reminded us of the love that exists in making the shows that we are lucky to be able to watch.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22208418/Eql6aU_UwAESYVR.jpg)
AEW released a clip of what happened after December 30 Dynamite it went off the air, and it’s beautiful to see what the show meant not only to Brodie Jr. and his mother Amanda, but to two of the men who made the show possible – Tony Khan and Cody Rhodes.
But it’s some clips shared on social media by others on the AEW list that really made me smile today. That’s because they’re focused on newly hired Brodie Jr. just for being a kid on one of the coolest playgrounds a kid could have.
John Silver gave us this glimpse of -1 illuminating his Dark Order companions with a kendo stick:
And another member of the wrestling fraternity who understands what it’s like to lose your father as a young man, Brian Pillman Jr., posted this clip in his story on Instagram. Brodie Jr. defeating Top Flight with his father’s discus lariat is great; listening to Pillman and seeing Ricky Starks rooting for him is even better:
Sonny Kiss playing in the background is just a bonus.
There will definitely be sadness in the future of wrestling. It just makes it even more important to keep a little bit of the love that is evident in these last two videos with us at the beginning of a new year.
UPDATE: It’s not just the AEW list!
The location probably should have revealed it from the start, but Adam Cole’s presence seems to confirm that these are from a New Year’s Eve party (presumably shown in COVID). Starting 2021 right, in fact.