Keith Lee: His Moment Is Now

When WWE made the change from the much-maligned game show concept of NXT into a legitimate developmental territory nearly a decade ago, the idea was to give younger talent a showcase on TV (well, at first Hulu, then the Network before finally settling in on USA as a way to compete against AEW) and prepare them for the main roster and the WWE style. In most cases, the talent that is successful and moved from NXT to the main roster don’t seem to flourish upon the main roster (take a look at former NXT champions such as Bo Dallas, the former Adrian Neville or Bobby Roode) while some undercard NXT wrestlers end up doing even better on the main roster (Baron Corbin and Elias come to mind). But at this point in time, there is one wrestler currently on the NXT roster who has had some exposure to the main roster audience thanks to the brand supremacy battles at Survivor Series and a spotlight moment in this past year’s Royal Rumble who has every single tool and the talent capacity to become one of the biggest stars on any show he is placed upon. Of course, I speak of The Limitless One, Keith Lee. Now is the time to place a serious effort on making Keith Lee the superstar he is capable of becoming.

As our fearless leader Chris Toplack has said on many occasions, Keith Lee is money along with one of the best under the WWE umbrella and needs to be progressively moved up the card at this point. Following NXT TakeOver: In Your House, we now know that Velveteen Dream failed in his quest to become the NXT Champion and can no longer challenge for the title as long as it is around the waist of Adam Cole. While my initial prediction was that Keith would drop the NXT North American Championship to Johnny Gargano, he was able to retain his title as well. This could put Lee into perfect territory for NXT to build a program similar to what we saw at WrestleMania VI with the Ultimate Challenge of midcard titleholder The Ultimate Warrior challenging World Champion Hulk Hogan in a Winner Takes All title. If WWE genuinely wants to establish Lee as a dominating force why not do a similar story with two guys who both have incredible charisma like the WrestleMania main eventers in 1990, except both of these two can actually work a great match not laid out blow for blow by Pat Patterson.

The opportunity now presenting itself would allow WWE to make Lee the first-ever NXT double champion, and then can have him relinquish the North American Title that will allow someone else to shine in a tournament for the vacant strap. This also frees Cole to either move up to the main roster, or for Keith to pounce Cole all the way to Jacksonville. The chance to book Lee as a monster babyface who the crowd already has an intimate connection with is an easy layup. And of course, as the man in NXT this will give Lee even more time to showcase his out of ring likability and have a reign that can build to him making the next guy around the time of WrestleMania weekend, just in time for the main roster call-up.

Granted, a lot of this is all fantasy booking, but at 35 years of age, it almost seems like this is make or break time for WWE to allow Lee with a major opportunity to showcase his skills. Think of the potential matchups that we have to look forward to in the immediate future, through the rest of his NXT run and then depending on whether he ends up on RAW or SmackDown…

NXT

Adam Cole – The obvious one that needs to be done. They have already had several interactions over the past few years while creating the most GIFable wrestling moment since Undertaker’s SummerSlam laugh when Lee pounced Cole directly into the crowd.

Velveteen Dream – Two of the most likeable characters in NXT’s history, a feud and matches between these two would only serve to elevate both talents, while certainly giving Lee even more time to showcase his character abilities.

Karrion Kross – Most likely the obvious pick to be the one to dethrone Lee’s NXT Title reign if he hasn’t already been called up by that point. Kross is at his best when he gets to actually work a match with an opponent that he isn’t simply running through, and there is no intelligent booking that would not have these two work a hard-hitting style match.

RAW

Brock Lesnar – An obvious dream match. Rumours swirled around the time that these two appeared in the Royal Rumble that Brock and Heyman were both big fans of Lee and his work, and a match between these two could be an instant classic if Brock decides to wear his working boots.

Drew McIntyre – Since the Royal Rumble earlier this year, McIntyre has been the man on Monday nights and has excelled in his face turn and main event push. McIntyre isn’t afraid to lay it in and neither is Lee, and a match between Lee and the deceptively big WWE Champion would undoubtedly be great.

Seth Rollins – With the Monday Night Messiah gimmick, Rollins would be the perfect foe who would instantly attempt to recruit Lee only to become resentful once turned down. The numbers advantage would also place additional sympathy on the babyface Lee who could overcome the odds.

SmackDown

Roman Reigns - Naturally, this feud is already built-in following their highly competitive encounter at Survivor Series. Reigns narrowly escaped defeat with Lee pushing him to his limits on multiple occasions throughout the final moments. If Lee were drafted to SmackDown, he could easily call for a one on one contest, with Reigns accepting out of respect.

The Fiend Bray Wyatt - If Keith Lee were drafted to SmackDown, Wyatt could almost immediately toy with the new kid on the block and look to ruin his welcome. A victory over an established veteran such as Wyatt would instantly skyrocket him up the card and establish credibility.

Braun Strowman - Who doesn’t love an epic clash of the big men? With Strowman proclaiming he’s the Monster Among Men, a 6’3’’ 320 Keith Lee could easily take exception to that statement.

(Bonus Choice Cesaro) - Cesaro is virtually incapable of having an underwhelming match and a bout with Keith Lee would treat fans to a hard-hitting affair with beautiful sequences of signature moves mixed with strategic counters. Imagine the best of 5 series featuring those two? One can dream.

Regardless of where Keith Lee ends up, it’s undeniable that moment is now and much like his moniker, his potential is truly limitless.