WWE’s free agency shopping spree continues. On Wednesday’s Noche de Campeones event from Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, new AAA Tag Team Champion Dragon Lee announced that he is heading to WWE. Lee’s signing is somewhat of a rare deal in today’s WWE NXT, as the company’s developmental territory recently shifted away from acquiring independent wrestlers as it has focused on inking collegiate athletes instead. That said, bringing Lee in is not random, as there are reportedly big plans for him within WWE and its rebooted global localization strategy.
WWE Head of Talent Strategy and Operations James Kimball spoke on Lee’s signing, stressing that the luchador will be integral to WWE’s growth in Latin America.
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“Dragon Lee is a tremendous talent that will immediately add value to the NXT roster,” Kimball said. “This signing is reflective of WWE’s renewed emphasis on globalizing our talent pipeline with Latin America positioned as a focal market.”
Lee also received praise from WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
“An unbelievable athlete who has collected accolades and held championships across the globe,” Levesque wrote on Twitter. “And he’s just getting started.The next chapter of Dragon Lee’s career begins with WWE NXT!”
In 2018, Levesque laid out plans for what he deemed “global localization,” an expansion strategy that would birth NXTs across the world. This effectively began with the launch of NXT UK, but that spin-off hit a roadblock this year as it officially closed down this past summer. NXT UK is not completely dead though, as it is planned to relaunch next year as NXT Europe.
It remains to be seen as to when Lee will be brought into WWE, but he could serve as a central figure for the company’s planned NXT Mexico.
“I know there’s been talks of NXT Japan and NXT Mexico,” Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels revealed earlier this year. “As I understand it those announcements could be coming down the road in 2023.”
Lee has been on WWE’s books for a couple of weeks now, but the deal only became public when he announced it at Noche de Campeones. According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE specifically wanted to wait until Lee won the AAA Tag Titles to make the announcement. It’s worth noting that Lee and partner Dralistico’s championship victory came by pinning FTR, a tag team currently signed to AEW. AEW President Tony Khan was reportedly aware of both the result and the announcement.
Beyond that, the Wrestling Observer reported that WWE’s interest in Lee only came about once he appeared on AEW TV without a contract. Lee tagged with Andrade El Idolo and Rush on the August 17th edition of AEW Dynamite in the trio’s loss to Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. A similar situation happened with Bandido, as WWE had significant interest in the former ROH World Champion when he wrestled Chris Jericho on an episode of AEW Dynamite. While he fielded multiple offers, Bandido ultimately signed with AEW.
