Keith Lee Returns From Hiatus, Faces WWE Champion Bobby Lashley on WWE Raw

Keith Lee made his surprise return to WWE television on this week's Monday Night Raw, answering [...]

By Connor Casey

Keith Lee made his surprise return to WWE television on this week's Monday Night Raw, answering WWE Champion Bobby Lashley's open challenge for a non-title match. Lee was last booked for a United States Championship match (then held by Lashley) at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in February but was pulled from the show due to an undisclosed injury. Since then Lee has repeatedly stated on Twitter that he would return but always stopped short of saying why he was no longer on TV.

"I miss you guys, as well as all the others that expressed this sentiment... whether in dm's, tweets, or comments. I miss you all," Lee wrote in one of his posts. "But do not fret. I will fight like no other to return...and when I do, we got a LOT of ground to cover.

Unfortunately, Lee's return did not result in a win. He managed to escape Lashley's attempt at The Hurt Lock, but was pinned after getting nailed by a Spear. Lashley was then challenged by Goldberg after Lee left the ring.

Earlier this month marked the one-year anniversary since Lee made history, becoming the first man to hold both the NXT and North American Championships at the same time by ending Adam Cole's historic NXT Championship reign at the 2020 Great American Bash.

Though he did kick off 2020 by challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE title, Lee has spent the bulk of his main roster run in Raw's midcard.

"As monumental as it's been to go to the main roster, I'm not sure it was so important to end that [NXT championship reign] as abruptly as it happened," Lee said in an interview with Sports Illustrated back in December. "I watch NXT, and obviously I have some friends there, and one that I'm fairly close to is Mr. Damian Priest, and I watch often to see how he's doing. Kross went down in our match, then to have Finn [Bálor] as the new champion and he hurts his jaw, it's hard. I like those guys, and I feel like I abandoned them. It's difficult to think about. I'm proud of everything I've done, and I've hung with the top guys from Raw and some of them from SmackDown, but it's been difficult to see the injuries.

"I don't know what would have happened if I had stayed a little bit longer," Lee said. "At the end of the day, we're not always in control of our journey, and that's just how it goes. The main roster wanted me, and that's where I ended up. All I can do right now is root those guys on and be there for them in whatever capacity I can be, while still focusing on what I'm doing."

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