Keith Lee was a recent guest on Talk Is Jericho where he spoke about rubbing people up the wrong way. The former NXT Champion believes his personality put people off at the start of his career in NXT.
“I think that my personality is something that kind of threw people off at first. Because I am very to myself and I am very laid back,” he said. “I don’t really seem like what I exude out there, and I think that’s okay. I think it’s okay to turn it on when it’s time to turn on. But that apparently rubbed some people up the wrong way when I got there. You know I wasn’t, ‘hey, hey, how you doing?’ I will shake hands and go about my business, that’s as much as I feel like is needed. But some people took that as maybe disrespect.”
Keith Lee revealed how a discussion with Triple H ended up changing his fortunes within WWE. The Limitless One revealed that the Game told him the handcuffs were off.
“I was just kind of sitting around,” he said. “Until one day, I had a conversation with Hunter, and he wanted things. I told him, ‘I think there’s maybe a difference of understanding, or people don’t trust me here or what have you. But it’s hard for me to do the things you’re asking because I am being asked to do these other things and there are issues.’ After that conversation, it’s like, ‘listen, handcuffs are off, just be you.’”
Keith Lee also reflects on WWE asking him to do less athletic moves. He believes that it was done as a test for him. Keith then revealed that WWE told him to stop doing certain things later on in his career.
“Yeah, and I am 100 percent certain it was some sort of an attempt at a test or such,” he said on being asked to cut down the agility. “Like, ‘I wonder if he will listen to what we say?’ Guys, it doesn’t have to be this complicated, but so it was. And I think there was a test to see if I was trustworthy or what have you.
“So yeah, I stripped everything. Even when I came back for the Bearcat thing, it was similar when I came back. Where the double chop I’ve been known for, they snatched that. They didn’t want me looking at the crowd at all. It’s really hard to say, but I don’t know why these things were a thing.”
Keith Lee revealed more issues WWE took with him at times. This included talking to other people within the ring, which he was doing to keep people safe. Lee stated that he tried to give talent a heads up that something was going to happen, but it became an issue.
“If I need to give directions in the ring because some people get lost, let’s be honest. And sometimes, we ourselves do, ” he added. “We may need to talk to a ref, we may need to talk to an opponent. If I helped them deliver directions, that was a problem. If I took a moment to communicate what was necessary so I didn’t have to ragdoll these people, that’s an easy way for someone to get hurt.
“I understand, I have learned it with my time being there with some of the biggest guys on the planet, obviously, that locker room size is much different than here. But even amongst that, I am abnormal. I figured it out. Me just selfishly doing whatever I want to do in the ring is a sure-fire way for someone to get hurt. That is not a goal of mine, that is not a legacy I want to leave. So I tried to make sure they know what was coming and that was an issue.”
