After WWE let go of Keith Lee, many fans speculated that he would be going to AEW.
During an appearance on AEW Unrestricted, Lee noted that AEW President Tony Khan reached out to him just three days after his WWE release to start talks.
“I don’t know if I should even say this, but it’s fun, because it wasn’t a business thing or anything. But yeah, that release (from WWE) happened, and within three days, Tony found a way to get in touch with me,” he shared.
“I was actually really impressed with that, considering we had never spoken before. You know, we had some really laid back conversations and kind of got to know each other a little bit. I think that’s something that helped, because I think that some of my trust is a little disgruntled.”
“So we had a conversation. Then as time wore on, things got a little easier. We met up. I have this thing where I must meet a person in person. I’m a big people feeler as opposed to listening to things. I’m an energy guy,” Keith continued.
“So when I did meet him, I decided that he’s a fairly stand up guy. I really enjoyed my time with him, getting to know him and what he’s about, talking football and all that good stuff, especially as a former player. Then eventually, you know, that led into business. But in terms of getting to know him, yeah, I had a blast, a lot of laughs, and a lot of jokes. He’s a swell guy, to say the very least.”
Lee also noted that Adam Cole had an influence on his decision to sign with AEW:
“In the grand scheme of things, there’s a lot of people I know that were here anyway, some friends, some associates, some just mere colleagues, but I kind of felt like the happiness of people such as Adam Cole who is somebody that I place a lot of stock in as a human being.”
“There are 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. I think that in the grand scheme of things, business, when we got to speaking about that, made sense for me and my plans.”
“That’s something that makes it a little easier when you get along with somebody and it also fits your plan and what you’re wanting to do in life. It just helps. So those talks were actually easier than I thought that they would be so it kind of made the decision that much easier.”
