On last week’s episode of All Elite Wrestling ‘s Dynamite , Brodie Lee — formerly Luke Harper in WWE — was unveiled as the Exalted One of The Dark Order. He joined Stu Grayson and Evil Uno in attacking Christopher Daniels and his SCU teammates, right after cutting a promo where he threw some shade at Vince McMahon.
However, citing PWInsider , WrestleTalk reports that while AEW planned to have Lee become a member of the faction when he joined the company, the originally proposed storyline was to have Marty Scurll be the Exalted One.
Given the Dark Order’s history of violence with The Elite — Cody Rhodes, Adam Page, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks — Scurll would have been a shocking surprise. Scurll was a member of the group before they co-founded and joined AEW, so having him debut as their enemy would have made for an intriguing rivalry.
Those plans were changed, though, when Scurll opted to sign a new contract with Ring of Honor and accept the job as a lead booker with the rival company. Most wrestling fans expected Scurll to join his friends in AEW, but the British wrestler couldn’t resist the opportunity to creatively oversee the ROH product.
Lee proved to be a surprising choice for the, however, as there were rumors circulating that “Broken” Matt Hardy would be the Exalted One. However, while Hardy also debuted in AEW as his “Broken” character on last week’s Dynamite , he appears to be an ally of The Elite.
”My name is #BrodieLee , and I’m the #ExaltedOne ” pic.twitter.com/keD8So330g
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 19, 2020
Of course, Lee makes sense as the leader of a cult-like faction. Not only does he have the right look, but his history as a member of the Wyatt Family in WWE has made him familiar with playing characters in horror-themed factions. However, in AEW, the spotlight will be firmly on him as he won’t be playing an understudy to someone else.
Lee was released from his WWE contract back in December along with Sin Cara and The Ascension. Before being let go by AEW’s rivals, he hadn’t been featured on WWE television in months, as he had previously requested his release via social media.
However, Lee is a performer who many WWE fans deserved better while he was in the company. While he did enjoy some success as a tag team specialist, he was never backed by management to thrive as a singles star. Now it will be interesting to see how well he performs in AEW.
