It would not be much of a stretch to call Keith Lee one of the biggest failures of WWE in recent memory. Signing with WWE in 2018, Keith Lee had a successful run on their NXT brand – becoming the first man to become NXT North American & NXT Champion at the same time. However, once he joined the WWE main roster as part of Monday Night RAW – things quickly fell apart.
Vince McMahon Didn’t Like How Keith Lee Spoke
Part of this came down to an abrupt gimmick change for Lee, as Vince McMahon wanted him to be something he’s not. This included Lee changing how he speaks, as Vince McMahon felt Lee sounded “too smart for your own good”. Lee revealed this while speaking on Talk is Jericho – saying the following.
“The weird thing, you mentioned the way that I speak; my cadence, the way I seem thoughtful about how I deliver things, my choice of diction, all of those things were something that Vince was not a fan of. To the point where he literally told me, ‘You sound too smart for your own good.’ I don’t understand what that means. He wanted something more grimey. I don’t think I delivered that for him. He wanted some intense guy and I think I can be intense, but I need a reason to be intense. It’s easy for me to flip a switch, but if it doesn’t make sense, it’s hard for me to do that.”
Now Happy On The AEW Roster
Now, Keith Lee has found a home on the roster of AEW. Since signing, he’s only had a single match – which qualified him for a spot on AEW’s upcoming PPV event ‘Revolution’. By simply letting Lee be himself, he’s already become one of the most popular names on their roster, and is set to wrestle later tonight on AEW Rampage.
If WWE simply were able to let Keith Lee be himself, they could have had someone who was an easy main event player for years to come. Should WWE have not tried to change what made Keith Lee special when he hit the main roster? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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