It was previously reported that top pro wrestling and Lucha Libre Star Dragon Lee signed with the WWE earlier in the month, but he will only start with the company some time in January as a member of the NXT roster. Lee announced his WWE signing at the AAA Noche De Campeones PPV this past Wednesday night following his and Dralistico’s massive win over FTR to dethrone them and become the new AAA World Tag Team Champions.
Dave Meltzer noted on a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio Program that the deal was made a couple of weeks ago, but Lee was told to keep it quiet and only make the announcement after winning the tag team titles. Meltzer also noted that this is very interesting because Lee pinned an All Elite Wrestling Star, which was reportedly part of the deal and AEW President Tony Khan was aware of it, so if this was reversed, then it is possible the deal would have never happened.
Meltzer then noted that Lee was mainly working in Mexico and there isn’t a lot of money in Mexico, so Dragon Lee and Dralistico had a tryout with the WWE, but WWE only wanted Lee just like AEW wanted Lee and similar to how WWE’s interest in Bandido came about, they were only interested in Dragon Lee when they found out that AEW put him on television without a contract.
This is what Dave Meltzer said:
“The deal was made a couple of weeks ago, but they were told to keep it quiet, and they won’t make the announcement until they won the tag team titles, which is very interesting because he pinned an AEW star which was part of the deal. Tony Khan was aware of it. I am sure if this was reversed that it would have never happened.” “He was working in Mexico, and there is not a lot of money in Mexico. He and Dralistico had a tryout with WWE, and they wanted him. AEW wanted him as well. He was talking to various people.”
“Like with Bandido, 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.’ That was one of the things. 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 was them finding out that AEW put a guy on television with no deal.”
Dragon Lee has been a champion in a number of major pro wrestling promotions, including New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring Of Honor, AAA and CMLL. Lee has also competed in AEW and his last match took place on the August 28th episode of AEW Dynamite, when he teamed up with RUSH and Andrade El Idolo to face The Elite in an AEW World Trios Tournament Match. It was during that match when Lee got over the AEW fans and the company had an interest in signing him to a deal.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for transcribing the quotes.
