This past Tuesday night on WWE NXT, Wes Lee gave a tearful address, revealing he is injured and does not know when he will return to action. Due to his injury and inability to compete, he will no longer face Dominik Mysterio for the WWE NXT North American Championship this Saturday night at NXT Deadline. In his place, Dragon Lee, with Rey Mysterio in his corner, will challenge the youngest member of The Judgment Day instead. It is the kind of curveball that Shawn Michaels, who oversees the NXT brand, is getting used to being thrown at him regularly.
On today’s WWE NXT Deadline media call, Michaels addressed Lee’s injury and how quickly he and his team had to pivot once it was decided he could not compete.
“Wes has been struggling for quite some time,” he began. “I certainly didn’t know that 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. I mean, clearly, he’s a young man that goes out there and just performs like few others. 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 a 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 this was last minute. Wes, to his credit, was certainly doing everything he could do to get himself ready for this, but it was just, it just wasn’t meant to be. So we made the last-minute decision.
“I guess, less than 24 hours with Dragon Lee. I guess the reason, I think because I’ll say this: I think there’s there’s obviously a story there from before with Dragon Lee, and just from a selfish standpoint for me, I was so looking forward to 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. And so he’s somebody that, again, I felt would obviously be a fantastic match. He’s somebody that I happen to personally enjoy and like, not just as a performer but as a human being.
“And, again, I know there were matchups that were still sort of on the table for me here in NXT. So I thought if there was any possibility of those matches being able to happen, that Dragon Lee would be the best fit. So we’ll find out Saturday the ninth if he can become the North American Champion, but one way or another, it’s great to have him here in NXT, even if it’s just for a little bit longer.”
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