Keith Lee is appreciative of what Brock Lesnar did for him.
At the 2020 Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar was on a roll to start the match, eliminating the first twelve competitors by himself. The thirteenth entrant in the bout was the newly minted NXT North American Champion Keith Lee. Lesnar seemed impressed by Lee's size as he walked to the ring and then looked shocked when Lee rocked him with a shoulder tackle. Though neither man would win, their showdown remains one of the more memorable moments of the match.
During a recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Lee recounted his 2020 Rumble appearance and his thoughts leading up to getting in the ring with Lesnar.
"He’s [Brock Lesnar] always been so cool with me. it's not something you expect based on specific stories and what have you. The reality was, I didn't even know I was in the Rumble until like two hours before. They bring in a bunch of people. I'm like, 'I don't want to be in the way,' your back is against the wall, and then you find out you are on. 'Here we go,' I don't know what's going on and then they start sorting out everything and there is a meeting because the Rumble is basically built around Brock. I got to chat with him and we sorted things out. They wanted a moment and I think that moment was probably between myself and Riddle, but he had at that time, so they gave it to me. We didn't really do a lot. Just from the walk...here's what made it, this Rumble happens and everyone has these ideas and Brock's like, 'Cool, awesome, sure thing,' then the bell rings and he's just chucking people. 'Whatever you said you wanted to do doesn't matter because I don't remember or I don't care.' I'm backstage and I'm like, 'That's not what they said, that's not what they said. I'm gonna have to fight him because I'm not about to lose my shit [laughs].' My walk, I had gotten taped up because Undisputed ERA jammed my ankle the week prior. I'm so adrenaline hype because I'm gonna fight this guy. I'm walking out, not selling a thing. The walk wasn't about the Rumble, it was about, 'I might fight this guy.' I get there and it's like, 'Oh, he wants to work. Okay! We'll make it a show.' You can feel it. He's selling me coming down and I'm like, 'That guy did more for me in four seconds than anybody can.' I knew right then, 'Let's make this thing last. Take 40 seconds and stare at each other. Let him make the first move and follow.' It was awesome. Paul (Heyman) is brilliant at what he does. All of it made it a special three minutes. Him and Roman did that and made potential massive matches down the line and....oh well," Lee said.
Lee was released by WWE on November 4, 2021, but has since signed with AEW. He is set to be in action on March 6 at Revolution in the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match.
Lesnar will face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 in a Winner Takes All Match for the WWE and Universal Championships.
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