Dragon Lee’s path on the WWE main roster appears to have shifted significantly, and SmackDown commentator Corey Graves points directly to his work in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide as the turning point.
Speaking on the Mark Hoke Show, Graves revealed that Lee’s stint in AAA forced company management to reconsider how he was being utilized on Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown after initial opportunities remained limited.
Reinventing Himself In Lucha Libre
According to Graves, WWE’s evolving working relationship with AAA has created a crucial dynamic where talent can break out of rigid main roster patterns:
“For a guy like Dom, he’s got the same opportunity that so many have had, and I could name Dom off the top of my head, Dragon Lee, Lola Vice, several WWE superstars who have gone to Triple A and sort of had the chance to kind of reinvent themselves or really get comfortable in a more familiar setting, that being the world of Lucha Libre, and take their game to the next level.”
Graves cited Lola Vice as another prime example, noting that her time working in Mexico helped her adapt to different styles ahead of her upcoming main roster debut:
“Lola Vice is due to arrive on SmackDown, I believe, or Raw, I believe, in the imminent future, maybe the next — maybe Monday in Mexico City, as a matter of fact. We’ve been seeing the teasers all over and she really, as successful as she was in NXT, it was when she went to Triple A that she really cut her teeth and got her feet wet in a different style and got to learn a different style of WWE, of sports entertainment.”
Setting The World On Fire
Turning back to Dragon Lee, Graves explained that his performances in AAA immediately grabbed the attention of WWE management:
“And again, Dragon Lee’s another guy who went to Triple A, they weren’t really doing much with him. He wasn’t getting the opportunities he wanted on Raw and SmackDown. Went to Triple A, pun heavily intended, set the world on fire, and the WWE officials went, ‘Hey, maybe we can put that guy in the Intercontinental Championship picture,’ or, ‘Let’s give Dragon Lee a bit more of a showcase.’ And it’s worked.”
Graves emphasized that the old pipeline—moving strictly from NXT to Raw or SmackDown—is no longer the only trajectory for talent:
“And that’s kind of the beauty of having these different avenues for our superstars and all talent really to explore is you’ve got — it’s no longer linear. You have to go to NXT, then you go to one, then you go to the next. Now you can kind of shuffle around.”
“We just saw Damian Priest, the former World Heavyweight Champion, showed up in Triple A a few weeks ago. And he couldn’t say enough good about how passionate the fans were, how excited he was for the opportunity because as amazing as life within WWE can be, it’s a grind.”
“So I think across the board it’s really provided a really cool platform for everybody involved to try something new, to sort of step out of their comfort zone. And I know for a fact there are a lot of guys and girls on the main roster of Raw and SmackDown who are chomping at the bit for the opportunity to compete in Triple A.”
With Dragon Lee now back in prominent storylines on WWE programming, his experience serves as clear proof that cross-promotional exposure can revitalize a superstar’s career.
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