Keith Lee (wrestler)


Keith Lee is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand, and is currently the NXT Champion in his first reign. Lee is also a former NXT North American Champion, as well as the first man to hold both titles simultaneously.
He is known for his work on the independent circuit, where he competed for promotions such as Evolve, All American Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He is a one-time PWG World Champion and a one-time WWN Champion.

Early life

Keith Lee was born on November 8, 1984, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was introduced to professional wrestling at a young age by his grandmother, who was a fan herself, and credits her with inspiring him to pursue a career in professional wrestling. Lee played college football at Texas A&M University, but quit to become a professional wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

Ring of Honor (2015–2017)

During 2015, Lee started making appearances in Ring of Honor with Shane Taylor, calling themselves "Pretty Boy Killers".
On August 27, 2016, during Field of Honor, PBK participated in a gauntlet tag team match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but the match was won by The Addiction. At All Star Extravaganza VIII, PBK wrestled against The All Night Express, War Machine and the team of Colt Cabana and Dalton Castle in a Four Corner Survival match to determine the number one contender for the ROH tag team championship, in a losing effort. In January 2017, Taylor announced the he had signed his first contract with the Ring of Honor. At a January 14 show in Atlanta, PBK entered into a feud with The Briscoe Brothers when Lee and Taylor attacked them and slammed Jay Briscoe through a table. Surprisingly, the next day, Lee announced that he was leaving ROH. On February 3, 2017, they faced The Briscoes, where the match ended in a no contest. This was Lee's last appearance in ROH.

Evolve (2017–2018)

Lee signed with Evolve in January 2017, and made his debut at, losing to Chris Hero. He made his return on February 24 at Evolve 78, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. The following night, at Evolve 79, he defeated Tracy Williams. Lee received his first championship opportunity at Evolve 87 on June 25, when he unsuccessfully challenged Matt Riddle for the WWN Championship. On October 14, at Evolve 94, Lee defeated Riddle to win the WWN Championship. On April 6, 2018, at Evolve 103, he lost the title to Austin Theory.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2017–2018)

Lee made his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut on March 18, 2017, at the Nice Boys event, competing in a triple threat match against Brian Cage and Sami Callihan, won by Cage. At the Game Over, Man event, he lost to Jeff Cobb. On May 19 at Head Like A Cole, he won his first match in PWG, defeating Trevor Lee. He followed this up by defeating Lio Rush and Trent at Pushin Forward Back on July 7. In September, Lee made it to the finals of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles, where he was defeated by Ricochet. Lee's quarterfinal match against Donovan Dijak was awarded a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer. At Time Is a Flat Circle event on March 23, 2018, Lee defeated Chuck Taylor to become the PWG World Champion. On April 21 at All Star Weekend 14, Lee lost the title to Walter in a three-way match, also involving Jonah Rock.

WWE (2018–present)

Debut and first storylines (2018-2020)

Prior to officially signing with WWE, Lee made an appearance on WWE television in 2009 during an angle that featured Triple H, Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon taking on The Legacy. Lee was part of the security team on hand to prevent the McMahon family from attacking The Legacy.
On April 5, 2018, during WrestleMania Axxess weekend, Lee made an appearance for NXT, defeating Kassius Ohno. On May 1, it was announced that Lee had signed a contract with WWE. Lee appeared in attendance for on June 16. On the August 8 episode of NXT, Lee made his in-ring debut, defeating Marcel Barthel. He appeared two weeks later on NXT, defeating Luke Menzies. On the September 26 episode of NXT, an altercation between Lee and Kona Reeves was shown. The two had a match two weeks later, in which Lee was victorious. On the November 21 episode of NXT, Lars Sullivan defeated Keita Murray and attacked him after the match, Lee intervened and chased Sullivan from the ring. The two faced off the following week, in which Lee was defeated. On March 7, 2019, Lee suffered an undisclosed injury. The injury resulted in an early end to his planned feud with Dominik Dijakovic, who he was supposed to face for the next two months. Lee returned to action on April 18, at a house show in Lakeland, Florida.
On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, Lee and Matt Riddle were two of the many NXT wrestlers to invade the show, confronting and ultimately attacking Sami Zayn. Later that night, Lee joined Triple H and the rest of the NXT roster, as they declared war on both Raw and SmackDown, and vowed to win the Survivor Series brand warfare. At the event, Lee and Team SmackDown's Roman Reigns were the last two men standing, with Reigns eventually pinning Lee.

North American and NXT Champion (2020-present)

On the January 8, 2020 episode of NXT, Lee defeated Cameron Grimes, Damian Priest, and Dominik Dijakovic to become the number one contender to the NXT North American Championship. On the January 22 episode of NXT, Lee defeated Roderick Strong to win the NXT North American Championship, marking his first championship win in WWE. Lee participated in the Royal Rumble match and entered at #13 at the namesake pay-per-view but was eliminated by the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. On the February 5 episode of NXT, it was announced that Lee would defend his North American championship against Dijakovic at, where Lee successfully defended his title. On the March 11th episode of NXT, Lee retained the title against Cameron Grimes. On the April 1st episode of NXT, Lee retained the title against Dijakovic and Priest in a Triple Threat match. In early June, Lee began feuding with Johnny Gargano after they traded shots via video promos involving Gargano's wife Candice LeRae and Lee's real-life girlfriend Mia Yim. Lee and Yim would face the Garganos in a mixed tag team match on June 4th where LeRae picked up the victory for the team. Lee would successfully defend the North American Championship against Johnny Gargano at. On the June 25 episode of NXT, Lee defended his North American Championship against Johnny Gargano and Finn Bálor in a match where the winner would face Adam Cole for the NXT Championship in a Winner takes all match at NXT: The Great American Bash. On Night 2 of The Great American Bash, he defeated Cole to win the NXT title, ending Cole's record 403-day reign and becoming a double champion, and the first person to hold both titles simultaneously. He made his first successful defense of both titles against Dominik Dijakovic on the July 16 episode of NXT. On the July 22 episode of NXT, Lee voluntarily relinquished the North American Championship to provide opportunities to other superstars and to solely focus on defending the NXT Championship. On the July 29 episode of NXT, Lee started a feud with Karrion Kross after he made Lee watch as Dominik Dijakovic was being submitted in their match the week before.

Other media

Lee made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K20.

Filmography

Championships and accomplishments