WWE are celebrating the signing of Dragon Lee, and have AEW to thank for getting their attention.
Lee announced his deal with WWE earlier this week, after he and Dralistico won the AAA World Tag Team Championships.
Lee and Dralistico won the titles from AEW’s FTR, ending their reign at 438 days.
Signing with WWE
Lee is the first signing of a notable name (not to be a former Superstar) under WWE’s Head of Talent Relations Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
During the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer that people who may have spoke differently a year ago, advised Lee to join WWE.
“He was asking several people, a lot of different people ‘what’s better for me…AEW or WWE?’ And it’s funny, because a year ago most of the people would have said AEW for sure, but in fact they said WWE. And I don’t know if they are wrong.”
Speculating on what Lee would have done had he become ‘All-Elite’ Meltzer didn’t expect much success for the masked wrestler.
“If he went to AEW, he probably would go in with more money, not appreciably more but more money. He would probably be used less [than he would have liked.] He’d probably get frustrated. I mean look at all the people on that roster, and they don’t have enough television time, they don’t do enough angles or angles on the streaming stuff.”
Interest
With his impressive in-ring ability, it is hardly surprising that WWE wanted to sign Dragon Lee.
On his show, Meltzer confirmed that both WWE and AEW had interest in him.
“He was working in Mexico. there is really not a lot money in Mexico… He had a tryout with WWe. But AEW wanted him as well.”
Dave Meltzer.
Meltzer added that WWE’s interest in Lee picked up once they learned that AEW had featured him without a deal to his name.
“WWE’s interest in Dragon Lee came when they found out that AEW put this guy on television with no contract. So it was kind of like, ‘We can swoop in.’ They came after him after that deal. And right after that, he was signed, but he was signed a couple of weeks back. That was the catalyst of it. It was them finding out that AEW put a guy on television with no deal.”
There is no word on when Dragon Lee is expected to make his debut for NXT.
Dragon Lee Signs with WWE, Triple H Comments (stg.sescoops.com)
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