Jon Huber (Brodie Lee in AEW), entered AEW as The Exalted One, with the big reveal coming on the March 18, 2020 episode of Dynamite.
Huber (Luke Harper in WWE) was released by WWE in December 2019, a few months prior to his contract with the company expiring. FTR (The Revival in WWE), was released on April 10, 2020, shortly before their respective contracts were set to expire in the company.
All three men had expressed their frustrations with WWE throughout 2019 and had asked for their respective releases from the company in early 2019 before they were finally granted.
Speaking on Talk is Jericho, Dax Harwood revealed Huber wanted the trio to enter AEW together, similar to the way The Radicalz entered WWE.
"We had a group text with him and he said, 'I want us to be The Radicalz.' Me, Cash, and him. He wanted us to be The Radicalz. The group text was called 'The Radicalz.' We had these big grandiose plans to come in together because our contracts were coming up pretty soon until some things happened. His plan and our plan was to be The Radicalz (in AEW), but he didn't know about the Dark Order stuff," said Dax.
The Radicalz consisted of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn, all of whom jumped from WCW to WWE in January 2000.
While Huber debuted in AEW in March 2020, FTR didn't arrive until May 2020.
Huber tragically passed away on December 26 after battling a non-COVID lung illness. AEW paid tribute to the life and legacy of Huber on the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite. You can find tributes from the show by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
