Keith Lee recently appeared on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast and talked about his struggle to get into WWE and the company turning him down a few times.
Here is what he had to say:
“About three years in (being a wrestler), some people know him as Lance Archer, some people know him as Lance Hoyt, was in the WWE and said to somebody that I should be one to look out for,” Lee informed. “Then, I got invited to do some work. In my case, I got thrown into a barricade by one Mr. Triple H and also got poked in the eye by Shane McMahon and punched in the face by Vince. That was my introduction to the bosses of today.”
“At some point, I gained interest in that first meeting and ended up with my first try out. That was in 2008. I was turned down. In 2011, I did some extra work, and I got asked to come back for another tryout. I was also turned down. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do-wrestling wise going forward. In 2013, when the Performance Center first opened up in the fall, I was part of that first class. Then, I was turned down a third time, so, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to continue wrestling.”
“Then, I had a conversation with Dusty Rhodes and William Regal and some brief words with Jim Ross. If I hadn’t spoken with those first two (Rhodes and Regal), I don’t think I would have continued wrestling. Eventually, I did enough good deeds and turned a few heads and shocked enough people, that eventually, they (WWE) came looking for me.”
Thanks to WrestlingInc.com for the quotes.
