Backstage Details On WWE Signing Dragon Lee

Significant news dropped last night when it was announced that popular AAA Lucha Libre star Dragon Lee is headed to WWE. Shortly after winning the AAA Tag Team Championships with his brother, Dralistico, it was revealed that Lee will relinquish the title and report to Orlando, Florida in January to start for WWE's "NXT" developmental brand. This morning's edition of "Wrestling Observer Radio" shed light on how the deal came about, with Dave Meltzer noting that the deal was made a few weeks ago. However, since the plan was for Dralistico and Lee to win the AAA Tag Team Championship from FTR, Lee was advised to keep the news quiet until after the bout. Both brothers had a tryout with WWE, but only Lee was signed.

According to Meltzer, AEW founder and head booker Tony Khan was aware of the negotiations and put his own offer into the mix for Lee. The promising luchador asked people in his inner circle which would be a better fit for him, WWE or AEW, and the general consensus was WWE. The deal is for more money than Lee was making in Mexico, but there's still plenty of room for his financial situation in WWE to improve since he is starting with a standard "NXT" contract. New Japan Pro-Wrestling also had interest in keeping him around, but since it has such a strong partnership with CMLL, AAA's competitor in Mexico, offering a contract to a well-known AAA star would have raised questions.

Meltzer added that the situation with WWE and AEW extending contract offers to Lee was similar to how things went down with Bandido earlier this year. When AEW put Bandido on television without a contract, WWE scouts were exposed to his talent and reached out with an offer. Bandido ultimately signed with AEW.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc.