Shawn Michaels spoke further on Wes Lee’s injury and future absence from Deadline.
On the December 5th episode of NXT, Wes Lee cut a heartfelt promo letting the fans know he was injured and would need back surgery, which will keep him out of action for 8-12 months.
On the Deadline media call, Shawn Michaels pulled back the curtain and shed further light on his knowledge about Wes Lee’s injury and the following decision that saw Dragon Lee being subbed into Wes’ place for the Deadline PLE.
“Well, the decision with Wes was pretty darn close to last minute. Wes has been struggling for quite some time, I certainly didn’t know the depth of it, Obviously, we get medical reports, but it was a decision that Wes made on his own, as he should. Clearly, he’s a young man that goes out there and performs like few others and he had a huge match already going into this premium live event looking for the North American Championship, but just a day or two before, we had a long talk and he just did not think he could make it through the match with the pain that he was in. That was a decision that he and our medical team made, it is the best decision for Wes and that is the only thing in my mind that’s important right now. All of this was last minute, Wes, to his credit, was doing everything he could do to get himself ready for this, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
-Shawn Michaels
Shawn would continue to discuss replacing Wes with Dragon Lee, noting that he didn’t feel as though he had the chance to work with him for as long as he’d liked to.
“So, we made the last-minute decision I guess less than 24 hours with Dragon Lee, I’ll say this, there’s obviously story there from before with Dragon Lee. From a selfish standpoint, for me, I was so looking forward and enjoying having him in NXT, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I didn’t have him as long as I wanted to. He’s something that, again, I felt like would be a fantastic match. He’s somebody that I happen to personally enjoy and like, not just as a performer, but as a human being. I know there were matchups that were still on the table for me in NXT, so I thought that if there was any possibility of those matches being able to happen, that Dragon Lee would be the best fit. It’s great to have him in NXT, even if it’s for just a little bit longer.”
-Shawn Michaels
Dragon Lee, with Rey Mysterio in his corner, will face off against Dominik Mysterio at NXT’s Deadline PLE on Saturday, December 9th, with the NXT North American Championship on the line.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Wes Lee’s injury as soon as we hear more, and we wish him all the best in his recovery.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
