Keith Lee Reveals How He Came To Sign With AEW

It was one of the biggest free agent signings of the year, when Keith Lee finally turned up in AEW and punched his ticket for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match with victory over Isiah Kassidy on Dynamite on February 9.

Lee’s release by WWE was widely decried by wrestling fans, and Lee revealed on the AEW Unrestricted podcast that it wasn’t long until he first spoke with Tony Khan:

"I don't know if I should even say this stuff, but it's fine because it wasn't a business thing or anything. That release happened and within three days, Tony found a way to get in touch with me," Lee said. "I was actually really impressed with that considering we had never spoken before. We had some really laid back conversations and got to know each other a little bit. That's something that helped because that's some of my trust that's a little disgruntled. We had a conversation and as time wore on, things got easier and we met up and I have a thing where I must meet a person in person, I'm a 'people feeler' as opposed to listening to things. I'm an energy guy. When I did meet him, I decided that he's a fairly stand up guy and I really enjoyed my time with him, what he's about, talking football and all that good stuff, especially as a former player. That led into business, but in terms of getting to know him, I had a blast and we had a lot of laughs and jokes. He's a swell guy."

Lee’s signing was seen as a no-brainer by many, and the former PWG World Champion knew before long that his future lay in AEW:

"In the grand scheme of things, there are a lot of people I know that were here anyway. Some friends, some associates, some just mere colleagues,” continued Lee. “I felt like the happiness of people such as Adam Cole, he's somebody I place a lot of stock in as a human being, there aren't 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. In the grand scheme of things, when we got to speaking about business, it made sense for me and my plans. That made it a little easier and when you get along with somebody and it fits your plan and what you want to do in life, it helps and those talks were easier than I thought they would be. It made the decision that much easier.”

H/T: Fightful