From Roman Reigns to Seth Rollins to Sami Zayn, most of the WWE’s top Superstars have spent the embryonic years of their WWE careers competing on the NXT brand and one recent signing has taken the first steps of his WWE journey by making his in-ring debut.
Dragon Lee makes NXT in-ring debut
Dragon Lee made his debut with CMLL in January 2014 before making his Ring of Honor debut two years later. The second-generation star also found success in New Japan Pro Wrestling where he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. More recently, Lee appeared on AEW Dynamite, teaming with his other brother RUSH and Andrade El Idolo in defeat to The Elite in the AEW World Trios Title Tournament.
Lee announced he would be signing with WWE on December 28th at AAA Noche De Campeones. He made the announcement after teaming with brother Dralistico as they defeated FTR to lift the AAA Tag Team Championship, a title they immediately vacated.
The athletic 27 year old made his on screen debut at last week’s NXT Roadblock event, seated in the crowd, but saw in first in-ring action at an NXT Live Event in St Petersburg, Florida on Saturday. He soared to a debut victory over Eddy Thorpe, the former Karl Fredericks.
Looks like Dragon Lee is working tonight's #WWENXT House Show in St Petersburg, FL.
📸revengexgamer on Twitter pic.twitter.com/atH0SuuNsU
— Joel Pearl | Fightful Overbooked (@JoelPearl) March 12, 2023
Upon signing the Mexican talent, WWE’s Head of Talent Strategy and Operations James Kimball labelled Dragon Lee as a “tremendous talent”:
“Dragon Lee is a tremendous talent that will immediately add value to the NXT roster, This signing is reflective of WWE’s renewed emphasis on globalizing our talent pipeline with Latin America positioned as a focal market.”
In the interview with ESPN, Lee spoke of his excitement and joining WWE and believes he can reach the level of soon-to-be WWE Hall Of Famer Rey Mysterio:
“I think I can become the new Rey Mysterio in WWE, I just need the opportunity. It’s my challenge to learn more about promos. You will never finish learning in pro wrestling. But every time you wrestle, you learn. But about promos, it’s something new for me. I would like to learn something new, how to become not just a wrestler — an artist”