10 Things You Didn't Know About Brodie Lee
5. CHIKARA's First Cage Match
CHIKARA came to a close in acrimonious circumstances in 2020, shutting its doors in June after allegations of abuse, misconduct and sexual harassment were made against the promotion and its figurehead, Mike Quackenbush. The promotion had lost plenty of steam in recent years, eventually stuttering to a close amid controversy and ignominy.
There were good times though, for sure. It was in CHIKARA that Brodie Lee made his name with a five-year run between 2007 and 2012, a run that started by accident and ended with Lee as one of the top heels in company history. Brodie only made his debut for CHIKARA after Reckless Youth no-showed an event, filling in at the last minute to lose to Equinox. The rest is history.
Lee's biggest feud in CHIKARA was with Claudio Castagnoli, better known today as Cesaro in WWE. The feud was unusually brutal for the family-friendly CHIKARA, a beef that was eventually settled in the promotion's first-ever cage match. Castagnoli came out on top after a war, hitting Lee with a monster European Uppercut from the top of the cage.
The match is available for free in its entirety, and is a must-see at any time, especially so in these most tragic of circumstances.