Shawn Michaels Welcomes Latest Signee To WWE NXT

On December 28, 2022, at AAA's Gira Aniversario XXX Noche De Campeones event, Dragon Lee and Dralistico defeated FTR to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship. However, directly after the match, Lee announced that he had signed with WWE, leading to the duo immediately vacating the tag title he and Dralistico had just won. Following this announcement, many WWE stars and personalities have commented on the signing of Lee such as Triple H and "NXT" stars Grayson Waller and Joe Gacy.

WWE Hall of Famer and current Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels is another WWE personality that can be added to the list of those hyping up Lee, following the signing, he tweeted out: "Excited to continue building depth and adding talent to the roster. Welcome to NXT @dragonlee95." Michaels has been in charge of "NXT's" creative team for years. Following Triple H suffering a major heart issue and eventually moving up to the main roster to become its Head of Creative and the Head of Talent Relations, Michaels received this role. 

Since Michaels has been in charge of "NXT," the brand has not signed many wrestlers from the independent scene, Japan, or Mexico — with "NXT" Women's Champion Roxanne Perez being one of the exceptions to the rule. The emphasis to sign a majority of college athletes was a decision that was made while Vince McMahon was still in charge of WWE. A recent report suggested that WWE may be looking to sign other talents outside of college athletes in 2023– a vision similar to that of signing talent during the Black and Gold era of "NXT."