Wes Lee’s Removal From WWE NXT Deadline Was Last-Minute Decision

Ever since his WWE NXT debut as one-half of MSK, Wes Lee’s star has been on a meteoric rise. Within a few weeks after debuting on NXT television, Wes Lee and his tag team partner Nash Carter won the NXT Tag Team Titles, but that’s in the past now. Lee is out of action indefinitely due to injury and now Shawn Michaels has commented on Wes Lee’s injury.

In surprising turn of events on the latest episode of WWE NXT, Wes Lee announced that he had suffered an injury and would require surgery, which will put him on the shelf for 8-12 months.

During the ongoing media call for the upcoming NXT Deadline Premium Live Event, Shawn Michaels was asked about Wes Lee and the timing of the decision to remove him from Deadline. Shawn Michaels shed light on the fact that the decision was made quite close to the eleventh hour.

Wes Lee had been contending with physical challenges for a considerable duration, but the full magnitude of his struggles remained unknown until he decided it was best to simply bow out of NXT Deadline and get surgery.

Through a conversation with Shawn Michaels days before NXT Deadline, Wes concluded that he wouldn’t be able to endure the impending NXT North American Title match due to the overwhelming pain he was grappling with. The decision to withdraw was ultimately made in Wes’s best interests.

Michaels also noted that everything came together in less than 24 hours. He alluded to a prior storyline involving Dragon Lee and Dominik, expressing his desire to have Wes Lee around for a longer period. Michaels was genuinely delighted to have him back and took the opportunity to heap praise on Wes both as a performer and as a person.

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,” Michaels said. “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.

“So, we made the last-minute decision I guess less than 24 hours with Dragon Lee,” he continued. “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.”

We send our best to Wes Lee and pray he will make it back to the squared circle earlier than expected, as fans would love to see him do what he does best – put on instant classic matches in NXT.

What’s your view on this Wes Lee story? Do you feel bad he had to give up such a major opportunity? Let us know in the comments!