Michael Cole pays tribute to the late Brodie Lee on WWE SmackDown

Tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown kicked off with Michael Cole paying a tribute to the late Brodie Lee (real-life Jon Huber).

Brodie Lee built his career in WWE under the ring name Luke Harper. He started in NXT and made his way to the main roster as part of Bray Wyatt's faction, The Wyatt Family. The Exalted One has held the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Titles twice and is also a former Intercontinental Champion.

In December 2019, Brodie Lee was released from WWE, and the following year he signed with AEW. The former member of The Wyatt Family was revealed to be the leader of The Dark Order faction. Shortly after his arrival, he managed to capture the TNT Championship from Cody Rhodes. Lee later dropped the title to The American Nightmare.

In December 2020, the wrestling world was devastated as Lee passed away.

The former WWE Superstar's birthday is today, and Michael Cole kicked off tonight's SmackDown with the phrase, "It's Friday, and you know what that means." It is a phrase that Lee often tweeted ahead of every wrestling show.

The wrestling world was elated to see the SmackDown commentator pay homage to The Exalted One. Among other WWE stars, Dolph Ziggler also paid tribute to Jon Huber by tweeting a photo of their rivalry over the Intercontinental Title.

What was your favorite match or moment of The Exalted One? Let us know in the comments section below.