NXT’s Keith Lee Talks His Long Journey to WWE, His Failures and Learning From Dusty Rhodes and William Regal

News

 

Former independent wrestling standout and newest addition to the NXT roster Keith Lee sat down with WWE.com to induce himself to the WWE Universe and talk about his long journey getting to WWE’s hottest brand.

When asked about his own unique journey to NXT, Lee said,

“It’s been eventful, long and educational. I had a five-day tryout in 2008, a three-day tryout in 2011, and in 2013 I was part of the first tryout group at the WWE Performance Center. I believe there were 32 of us there […] There is so much to learn and a lot of training to be had. Being intellectually stimulated is something I enjoy greatly. I was rather imbalanced when I first came here. But the training has been efficiently bringing balance my way. I’ve regained a lot of strength that I was unsure would return, so I am more than grateful for that. I can’t wait to see how much further I progress.”

Lee also spoke about how two of the Performance Center’s “godfathers” motivated to continue developing when he believed he would never be signed.

“In 2013, if it weren’t for Dusty Rhodes and William Regal’s encouragement, I might have stopped wrestling […] When I first met and worked with him (Dusty), he let me know how much and where I lacked. I applied his words and honed myself. During the 2013 tryout, if you were going to show who you were on a microphone, you had to do it in front of The American Dream. When I finished, he pulled me aside and said to me, ‘That’s it, baby. You’ve got a presence I can literally bask in. Take it and do what you want.’  And thus, ‘Bask in my glory’ was born. It is now something I hold very dear.”

Keith Lee is a rare athlete who can move like a cruiserweight despite standing 6’2 and weighing 325 lbs. During his early tryouts, Lee wrestled a “big man”-style as he thought that was what the WWE brass was looking for but “The American Dream” had other ideas.

“In 2013, they (William Regal and Dusty Rhodes) were two of the very few who told me to stop doing what is expected of me and to do what I want to do. Those two, and one of my closest friends (and fellow wrestler), Jerome Daniels, convinced me of this. In every sport I’ve ever done, I’ve been a versatile athlete. In basketball, I could be a point guard, small forward or power forward. In football, I’ve been fullback, tailback, tight end, defensive tackle, defensive end, nose tackle, and middle linebacker. And so, it was something that came very natural to me to want to do. I was always advised against it. But the moment I took the advice of those three, my career began a new path.  From there I watched my inspirations more closely. We’re talking the names I mentioned above plus The Rock, Eddie Guerrero, Low Ki, Ron Simmons and Daisuke Sekimoto, as well as a healthy amount of old-school wrestling and a very large helping of Japanese wrestling. Then I began applying little things here and there to fit who I am as a person.”

Follow Matthew on Twitter @HTCHarrak Visit his site at HTCwrestling.com Email him at MHPulse@4sternstaging.com Become a fan on Facebook