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Dragon Lee has successfully transitioned from NXT to the WWE main roster in recent weeks, but did he almost sign for All Elite Wrestling last year?
It was announced at the end of 2022 that Lee would be joining WWE at the turn of the new year after a successful career in promotions like CMLL, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Ring of Honor.
But joining WWE wasn't his only option as a move to AEW was also on the cards at one point. However, according to Dave Meltzer in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dragon Lee made his decision based on the fact that All Elite Wrestling already had a lot of luchadors at the time.
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"He was legitimately debating between AEW and WWE last year when both made their offers and WWE did indicate main roster money in the deal for year two. Lee asked around and was told that AEW was oversaturated with talent and WWE would be best for him. In Mexico, a lot of people were looking at how Dragon Lee and Bandido, who started at similar times, did, respectively. Bandido was slowed down by injuries but at this point Lee is ahead." said Dave Meltzer.
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When did Dragon Lee wrestle for AEW?
Due to the fact that he has become fully engrained in WWE at the time of writing, it's easy to forget that a move to All Elite Wrestling wasn't out of the realm of possibility for the masked man considering he had already wrestled in AEW.
Dragon Lee made an appearance at the 2022 ROH Death Before Dishonor event in July against his brother Rush, before teaming up with his brother and Andrade El Idolo on the "House of the Dragon" edition of AEW Dynamite the following month to take on The Elite.
The match was a first-round bout in the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament, designed to determine the first champions. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were eventually victorious in a bout that not only saw Lee's partners turn on him, but was also the match that would lead to Andrade being put on the shelf with a shoulder injury for over six months.
Do you think Dragon Lee should have signed for AEW? Let us know in the comments section below!
Please credit the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.
