The WWE universe received some unfortunate news from NXT superstar Wes Lee this week, as the fan-favorite star revealed that he would be undergoing surgery for a back injury and would therefore be out of action for quite some time. That also obviously means he won’t be in action at NXT Deadline, where he was supposed to face Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship. During today’s NXT Deadline conference call with Shawn Michaels, Michaels was asked about Lee and how long they knew before the announcement, and while they knew he was struggling for some time the decision surrounding Wes competing at Deadline was close to last minute.
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“Well, the decision with Wes was pretty darn close to last minute. Wes has been struggling for quite some time. I certainly didn’t know the depth of it. I knew, obviously we get medical reports, but it was a decision that Wes made on his own, as he should,” Michaels said. “I mean, clearly he’s a young man that goes out there and just performs like few othersgr, and he had a huge match already going into this Premium Live Event looking for the North American Championship. But just a day or two before we had a long talk and he just did not think he could make it through the match with the pain he was in.”
“And so that was the decision certainly that he and our medical team made. It’s the best decision for Wes, and that’s the only thing in my mind that’s important right now. So look, all of us again, was last minute. Wes to his credit, was certainly doing everything he could do to get himself ready for this, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” Michaels said.
After the decision was made to replace Wes in the match, it was soon decided that Dragon Lee would be the one to step in and face Mysterio at Deadline. When asked why it ended up being Dragon Lee, Michaels revealed several reasons for going that route.
“So, we made the last-minute decision, I guess less than 24 hours with Dragon Lee. And I guess the reason, because I’ll say this, I think there’s obviously a story there from before with Dragon Lee, and just from a selfish standpoint, for me, I was so looking forward and enjoyed having him in NXT, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t have him as long as I wanted to,” Michaels said.
“And so, he’s somebody that again, I felt like would obviously be a fantastic match. He’s somebody that I happen to personally enjoy and not just as a performer, but as a human being. I know there were match-ups that were still sort of on the table for him here in NXT, so, I thought that if there was any possibility of those matches being able to happen, that Dragon Lee would be the best fit,” Michaels said. So, we’ll find out Saturday the ninth if he can become North American Champion. But one way or another, it is great to have him here in NXT, even if it’s just for a little bit longer.”
We wish Wes Lee all the best and a speedy recovery. As for Deadline, you can find the full updated card below.
WWE NXT Deadline:
- WWE NXT Championship Match: Ilja Dragunov (C) vs Baron Corbin
- Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Dijak vs Trick Williams vs Josh Briggs vs Bron Breuker vs Tyler Bate
- Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Tiffany Stratton vs Lash Legend vs Blair Davenport vs Kelani Jordan vs Fallon Henley
- North American Championship Match: Dominik Mysterio (C) vs Dragon Lee
- Steel Cage Match: Roxanne Perez vs Kiana James
NXT Deadline takes place on Saturday, December 9th.
