Keith Lee revealed that AEW President Tony Khan reached out shortly after the Limitless one was released from WWE.
Recent AEW signee Keith Lee was released from his contract with WWE on November 4th, with his non-compete clause expiring 90 days later in early February. He made his AEW debut shortly after the clause expired, and competed at Revolution in the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match, which was ultimately won by Wardlow.
However, speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Keith Lee revealed that AEW President Tony Khan was in touch with him just three days after his November release from the company. While making it clear that no contracts were violated, he said he was impressed with the conversations they had.
“I don’t know if I should even say this stuff, but it’s fine because it wasn’t a business thing or anything. That release happened and within three days, Tony found a way to get in touch with me. I was actually really impressed with that considering we had never spoken before. We had some really laid back conversations and got to know each other a little bit. That’s something that helped because that’s some of my trust that’s a little disgruntled.”
Keith Lee continued, saying that meeting Tony Khan in person convinced him that he was a good person and that he enjoyed their conversations.
“We had a conversation and as time wore on, things got easier and we met up and I have a thing where I must meet a person in person, I’m a ‘people feeler’ as opposed to listening to things. I’m an energy guy. When I did meet him, I decided that he’s a fairly stand up guy and I really enjoyed my time with him, what he’s about, talking football and all that good stuff, especially as a former player. That led into business, but in terms of getting to know him, I had a blast and we had a lot of laughs and jokes. He’s a swell guy.”
When asked about when he decided he wanted to join AEW, Keith Lee said that testimonials from friends that had joined the company definitely helped, and that it just made sense.
“In the grand scheme of things, there are a lot of people I know that were here anyway. Some friends, some associates, some just mere colleagues. I felt like the happiness of people such as Adam Cole, he’s somebody I place a lot of stock in as a human being, there aren’t a lot of people in this industry that you can just trust or get along with at certain levels, but I really like Adam Cole as a person. His testimony for his happiness here was something that made it a little easier.
“In the grand scheme of things, when we got to speaking about business, it made sense for me and my plans. That made it a little easier and when you get along with somebody and it fits your plan and what you want to do in life, it helps and those talks were easier than I thought they would be. It made the decision that much easier.”
After ultimately being unsuccessful at Revolution, Keith Lee found himself embroiled in a storyline with Team Taz, namely Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs. He is set to face Max Caster on the upcoming episode of AEW Rampage.
h/t Fightful