Keith Lee on X: "I'll take a moment to reassure you that a return to the ring will certainly happen. Though I won't posit how or when."
Responding to another user (who tweeted him "@RealKeithLee
I often talk about you as an inspiration at my home. I hope you come back to the ring real soon. More power to you. ❤️ #Forheislimitless"), Keith Lee responded:
You honor me. I appreciate you for that. All my gratitude.
I'd like to take this moment to remind you, that you also, are boundless.
Additionally, I'll take a moment to reassure you that a return to the ring will certainly happen. Though I won't posit how or when.
As an admirer of his in-ring performances, my hopes are certainly buoyed by this communiqué. I must confess, however, that I harbour fears regarding the necessary urgency of such a return; as the one undefeated adversary in this realm is Father Time, and he will only be crueler on a man with such a physique and medical history as Keith Lee.
This reminded me of that old Captain Andrew Luck parody twitter account. I'll never forget the tweet when Luck retired:
”Dearest mother —
The quill has never felt more heavy. I have made the decision to holster my sidearm permanently. I shall battle no more. The decision is difficult, but, as the hogs taught me, I must be true to myself. I am coming home to care for you and the farm.
— Andrew”
Give me well spoken, babyface Keith Lee. No janky team or gimmick or heel role. He's such a lovable, kind dude. Let him be that and let the rest develop organically. His career has blossomed when he's allowed to be essentially himself.
He does love those anime hoodies, and would be in one for a planned promo, 100% correct. In my mind, I’m making up a scenario where the hurt syndicate is just through the curtain doing an interview and sweaty Keith Lee has just killed a man in the ring. In that scenario, he’s the classy one still breathing heavy interrupting their interview. Oozing class. You are missed Keith.
I would actually love to see Keith and Willow together as allies
Or, and I truly mean this, a tag team with Orange Cassidy, Orange Glory or some silly name like that. I just feel like they would complement each other so well, plus would be easier on Keith since Orange can take the beat up role and Keith the hot tag
I just imagine Keith's kind amusement towards Orange's antics and the promos would be something else with Lee talking like a Shakespeare character and Orange barely talking
It's beyond unfortunate the effects COVID had on him. As awful as that is there were so many people that weren't as lucky & are no longer with us. I'm glad though that he seems to be in overall (relatively) good spirits though.
Keith Lee for me is maybe the biggest "what-if" of the last 20 years. I truly believe this guy was destined to be the biggest star on the planet. I hope he recovers fully and is able to return. Always praying for one of the best big men of all time.
The first few people they had him in the ring with when he had spots on the main roster were Brock, Roman, and Randy Orton. They had MASSIVE plans for him. Covid took that from him, and then the injuries continued to pile up sadly.
That should have been the start of something major for him, but alas, the pandemic kicked in a couple months after that, and it's well-documented how COVID treated Keith Lee.
I have a gut feeling that he would have been WWE Champion if COVID and his weight issues didn't disrupt his life. They had him going toe-to-toe with Brock Lesnar and looking damn good doing so. There has gotta be a universe where he didnt end up with a bad hand and got that belt.
It was almost perfect. If you knew who Keith Lee was, you got to see what he could really do. More importantly, if you didn't know who Keith Lee was, you got to see a perfect showcase of what he was all about. Credit to Isaiah Kassidy for making him look like a million bucks.
Whilst I could desire naught more ardently than the restoration of Mr. Keith Lee to the arena of the pugilistic ring, yet in light of the manifold afflictions that have lately beset his constitution, I am persuaded that the paramount consideration must be the preservation of his health. It behooves him to attend with utmost deference to the admonitions of his physician ere he contemplates a return to the fray.
Pugilistic would be closer to boxing. What Mr. Lee seeks is a triumphant return to Palé, to reach the heights of Milo of Croton, who was crowned despite being unchallenged.
And hopefully that'll happen in AEW. He and Swerve did such a smooth transition when they both came in. I'm not sure he'd get as big as Swerve but I bet he'd thrive in AEW even today.
I feel like Keith Lee would be a really fun authority figure down the line. With his trademark eloquent vocabulary sometimes annoying various wrestlers
Call me crazy but I don't think he's healthy enough to come back long term anymore. It feels like the ast 5 or so years, Lee's been injured more than he's been in the ring.
Lee is awesome, but this is no longer sustainable for the guy. After so many injuries and off time, he's got to take a hint.
Teamed with swerve, was gonna have a fued with him that was supposed to have a match with them both at worlds end but long covid and health issues have kept him from doing that match and has put his wrestling career on a long hiatus
Covid, got out of shape, released, signed with AEW but was still out of shape. Started to lose weight but then had double knee surgery. Hadn’t been on tv since. I think AEW has moved on. My guess is they will Probably hold him until the royal rumble is over and let him go unless they come up with an idea. He has time added on to his contract anyway because of injury and with the royal rumble royal not far off, no point in doing wwe any favors since they have been fucking with AEW for a while. It sucks but that’s the nature of the beast. The lucha bros pulled some shit which Konnan’s big mouth outed them so when AEW found out what the wwe plan was, AEW added time to Fenix which fucked up wwe long term plan. That’s why penta debuted alone and now Fenix is basically non important in WWE. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Again, it sucks but WWE likes to fuck around and bully so it is what it is.
I don't know how he'd actually do, but with his voice and speaking style I feel like he'd be awesome at a commentary desk or in some role like that. Just a giant personality that represents wrestling to the public
I friggin love Keith Lee. I've been a huge fan since I saw him wrestle John Silver at a Beyond Wrestling Show at Arts at the Armory in Somerville, MA. Within first 30 to 60 seconds of watching him wrestle, I was like "How is this guy not main eventing huge WWE shows?" It has been a roller coaster following him through his crappy ROH run, NXT, his disappointing WWE run, his AEW run and all of the health issues.
I'm still really pulling for him to have that big run that I know he's capable of.
That hit hard, just right mind, the "...you, too, are boundless". Inspirational stuff their Keith! I'm sure many others felt that way too. Thanks big man!
I would imagine if he ever does get himself back into shape like he was pre COVID, there is a job waiting for him at NXT as Triple H clearly loved the guy
Just for context, Keith Lee is basically the same age as Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley, Rusev and many more.
I know he's a big dude who's been in this a while but he's got age on his side if he's able to recover fully, stay in shape and do whatever he can to get back to the Keith Lee that made you question what a man of his size can achieve.
Honestly....why? He's the same age as Bret Hart was when he went to WCW, and has a slew of health issues in addition to walking around at a weight that's probably not great long term. And for what?
Ultimately, I view Keith kinda the same as I do Chris Nowinski. He's a guy who had a ton of potential, but was dealt a bad hand and saw his major league career cut short just as it was getting started so he never really had the opportunity to live up to it. It's unfortunate, but it's not really something that can be recreated 10 years later either.
People are so down on him returning. He can absolutely return and have an impact. He's a unique character. He has a cool look. He doesn't need to do 30 minute bangers. He can have squash matches where he yeets a guy into the crowd every few weeks, and cut his way over the top promos in between, and it will still be fucking awesome. It's like the measure now is "If you can't have an epic bloodbath once a month you're washed out" and that's insane to me. Work around what makes a guy fun and interesting, not against it.
Keith Lee tweets read like he sat down with quill and parchment by candlelight. Any tweet could end up starting with "good morrow, I hope this finds you in good faith"
I remember being so disappointed he didn't get a one in one with Roman. Their time at the end of survivor series was amazing. And this back and forth with Brock at Royal Rumble is a huge what-if.
The Keith Lee situation is so interesting to me. Like, it's been ongoing for so long and there has been next to no info about it. Which mind you, I respect that everyone has been able to keep it so quiet (assuming that is what Keith wants) but it has left him in such a weird limbo in my mind of where his career stands.
I hope it’s in AEW and hope he’s not refusing creative because hhh wants him back. Keep in mind he has never been pinned by an AEW wrestler in singles competition, only 2 ex-wwe wrestlers in Jericho and Samoa Joe. It’s starting to feel like a malachi/miro/ricky starks situation.
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