There are definitely some matches we need to see from Keith Lee with the WWE this year. Keith Lee has been having a rougher go at it since he came over to Raw, and even completely disappeared before (and now apparently even after) the events of WrestleMania 37. As one of the more notable recent NXT contenders and call ups, Lee’s recent absence has been notable in the completely negative way. There’s still lots of potential for Lee on either Raw or SmackDown (following the WWE Draft), so now’s the time to get it going before it’s too late.
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Lee is the kind of attraction that you can base any kind of feud around. He doesn’t necessarily need a championship title (or feud) to draw attention to a match, and that makes his current absence even more egregious (unless it’s for health reasons that fans have not been made aware of). With the right opponents, Lee could be a big gain for either show. This must have been the idea behind bringing him over in the first place, so he should close out the year with a new feud of some sort!
Read on to see what matches we would want to see with Keith Lee this year on Raw, SmackDown, or even NXT! Let us know which opponents you would want to see Lee take on in 2021 in the comments!
Bobby Lashley
Keith Lee’s current absence is all the more notable considering he was in the mix of all of this Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Braun Strowman business as well not long ago. Lashley’s feud with McIntyre is thankfully nearing its end one way or the other, and Lashley and Lee would be a fantastic follow up to it. If Lashley’s still champion, it’ll make for a great return feud for Lee even if he loses. If he wins, that would be even better. But to be honest, he’d have a better chance of beating Lashley if Lashley’s not the champion at the time. It’d be a good comeback to bring Lee back into the fold quickly and believably.
Roman Reigns
Speaking of champions, SmackDown’s current Universal Champion would also make for a great feud. Anyone who goes against Reigns these days come out golden after the feud regardless of their loss, and no one would benefit from this more than Keith Lee. It would allow Lee to back up his hype efficiently (much like a feud with Lashley would), and it gives Reigns a huge opponent to bounce off of. His latest string of opponents have all been relatively his size, and it gives Reigns a new level of dominance following a victory over someone so imposing like Lee. They’d both come out looking great.
Damien Priest
Speaking of size, Damien Priest is currently in a major transitional phase. He needs a choice feud in order to really help cement him in one of the title tiers. Priest and Lee had some really fun chemistry in their time together on NXT, so a redux of that for Raw would fit perfectly. The both of them need the kind of lift a successful feud could provide, and Priest and Lee both offer one another a relatively low stakes but high reward kind of back of forth. They would raise one another up, and you need that kind of efficiency.
The New Day
Speaking of low risk, but high reward, a feud between Keith Lee and either Kofi Kingston or Xavier Woods would be fantastic. Not only does this already provide a number of fun options to explore, and lots of fun potential matches, but it could give Lee an edge. Facing off against a team like the New Day would need something big to spark it off, and maybe a more aggressive Lee makes that happen? However it eventually gets to this point, the pure physicality of this trio of athletes alone would make it an exciting feud where it doesn’t really matter who wins at the end of the day. Easy pay-per-view kind of potential.
Rey Mysterio
You can’t really talk about reliable, high reward kind of opponents without considering Rey Mysterio. As one of the big legends of SmackDown, he’s one of the marquee names a victory over could mean a lot. Keith Lee needs these kinds of victories in order to find a place on either roster, so facing off against Rey Mysterio could provide this. Mysterio would also look fantastic in this, especially with a victory. We’d get to see how these two could work with one another, and it would likely result in some really fun matches. Throw Dominick into the mix too for some great heel work from Lee.
Karrion Kross
His matches don’t necessarily have to be on Raw or SmackDown either. Lee could come back to NXT and take on Karrion Kross. These two have barely scratched the surface of their chemistry with one another during their time together before Lee moved onto Raw, and we can finally get to see what a full feud between the two of them could look like. Factoring in more of Scarlett as well and the potential for Kross to come up to Raw instead too, and this would be an excellent feud for both Lee and Kross.
Finn Balor
Speaking of barely scratching the surface, Keith Lee and Finn Balor had some pretty fun matches with one another on NXT. Bring that up to Raw, and not only would it be a great first real feud for Balor’s return (since that’s looking very likely), it’d be a great feud for Lee’s return as well. The timing of this probably would not work work out for their respective returns at first, but this is certainly one we definitely should see later down the line. At the end of the day, Keith Lee just needs some fun opponents really.
