10 Weird Secrets To Wrestlers' Success

3. Brodie Lee - Subverting The First Piece Of Advice Every Wrestler Receives

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AEW

The oldest maxim in pro wrestling is that to get over, you must play a character influenced by your own personality. The whole deal is contrived enough. Since nobody is ever going to perceive it as real, you must come off as real to lose the audience in your work.

Brodie Lee played an intelligent psychopath on the indies - a role that stood in stark contrast to, as so many of his devastated peers paid tribute in light of his tragic passing, his real personality as one of the best human beings ever to have graced the industry. Look closely, and you can see elements of the man in the performance. He enjoyed launching a gruesome big boot in the face of his beleaguered, unprepared opponents, for example, realising his mischievous wit in the body of the match.

But Mr. Brodie Lee played in AEW a tyrant who terrorised his underlings as the Dark Order's Exalted One. It was a bit as hilarious as it was unnerving; funny as John Silver's dumbly innocent reactions were, the guttural fury of Lee's expletives very much conveyed the idea that this was man was capable of something awful. He wasn't; in reality, he was a benevolent man who tasked himself with getting his peers over.

Given how under they were in December 2019, there is no better testament to his brilliance as a performer.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!