One year ago today, Keith Lee made NXT history when he unified the North American and NXT Championships. A monumental feat, of course, as it had never been done up until this point. The Limitless One’s road to title unification began at an NXT taping in January of 2020. In a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the NXT North American Championship, Lee defeated Cameron Grimes, Damian Priest and Dominik Dijakovic to earn a shot at Roderick Strong‘s title. Two weeks later, on an episode of NXT, he defeated Strong for the championship – his first in the WWE.
NXT North American Champion
As NXT North American Champion, Keith Lee dominated much of the roster in a fairly short amount of time. Stellar matches against the likes of Johnny Gargano, Finn Balor and Dominik Dijakovic, especially, demonstrated exactly how Limitless Keith Lee is; with his arsenal of moves being far beyond what should be humanly possible for a man of his sheer size. The match with Dijakovic at NXT TakeOver: Portland remains one of the finest displays of big man, slug-fest in modern pro wrestling history. Whereas COVID-19 restrictions meant Lee no longer had fans in attendance to Bask In His Glory throughout 2020, he still continued to entertain and gain plaudits for his legitimacy and his potential for a future main roster run. His talent was and is, quite simply, impossible to ignore. Coupled with the entrance music and his booking in NXT, he was the man. For six months, he dominated the roster.
NXT: The Great American Bash
Eventually, Keith Lee would finally get what he wanted: a one-on-one match with Adam Cole, who was now at the tail-end of his history-making NXT Championship run. At the conclusion of the second night of NXT: The Great American Bash, Lee would bring an end to a recognized 403 day title reign – the longest among male superstars in NXT. The result of the match was never in doubt – all acknowledged that it was Keith Lee’s time to begin a reign as NXT Champion. His superstardom, largely helped by a short cameo run on the main roster, which included memorable Survivor Series and Royal Rumble appearances, had led to Keith Lee becoming the biggest name in NXT. So, of course, Lee ended Adam Cole’s run. July 8, 2020, would go down in history as the night Keith Lee unified NXT’s two men’s singles titles for the first time in the promotion’s history.
NXT TakeOver XXX
The reign as dual-champion would be short. Shortly after, on July 22’s NXT taping, Lee voluntarily vacated the North American Championship – there was simply no reason to continue holding it. Before long, he would be feuding with a man who is the current two-time NXT Champion, Karrion Kross. As Adam Cole recently stated in a fiery promo against Kross ahead of NXT TakeOver: In Your House: “you have the entrance, you have the look and you have the girl (Scarlett Bordeaux)”. If there was anyone Triple H would realistically view as being someone who could dethrone Keith Lee, it was Karrion Kross. At NXT TakeOver XXX on August 22, he would do just that – leaving Lee to debut on Monday Night Raw just three days later. As we are all aware, since then, Keith Lee has had a torrid time – between losing his entrance music, stop-start pushes and tragic health issues which have kept him off TV for months on end. One thing is for certain, though: he is Limitless and his talent is immeasurable. Lee has the potential to be the star he was destined to be and hopefully, soon, he reminds us all of the excitement we felt at NXT: Great American Bash.
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