Keith Lee was seen working a dark match again just before the Aug. 16 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.
Lee went one-on-one with an enhancement talent inside the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. As one would imagine, this was a squash match that saw Lee nab the pinfall easily. Lee has been competing in dark matches since getting his win back over Karrion Kross on the Aug. 2 edition of Raw.
Keith Lee’s Absence Explained
Lee had been out of action for five months. While Lee teased an explanation for a while, nothing had come to light for quite a while. In a YouTube video, Lee broke his silence and revealed that he suffered from inflammation of the heart following a COVID-19 diagnosis (h/t Comic Book).
“I got a call saying there was something off with my blood. Some people might have experienced this thing where there’s an inflammation in the heart or lungs, for me it was the heart. And that led to very scary times. I was basically forbidden or any training outside of a light walk. So there was a fear that doing more than that there was a chance that I could up and pass away. So, for three or four months this was kind of the case and I had several MRIs on my heart.”
“Very fortunately, even though it took a long time we waited that amount of time, that allowed for the inflammation in my heart to eventually go down to normal. Even though the first MRI was bad and the second MRI was worse, over time things got better here and there. Eventually, after that visit, I was cleared to try and get back into some sort of shape. That’s where the real struggle is. But it took some time, and to be honest it wasn’t even certain that I was going to show up in Dallas (where he returned and challenged Lashley to a non-title match) in terms of on TV.”
Some have speculated that WWE could be testing the waters with Keith Lee to see if he’s truly 100 percent. Others believe that since he isn’t factored into SummerSlam plans this year, he’ll just stay active through dark matches. In his video, Lee admitted that getting back in ring shape has been his toughest task.
