Former CMLL, NJPW, and AAA luchador Dragon Lee has signed with WWE, according to ESPN. I had previously been told Dragon Lee would start in February; ESPN’s report says January. WWE’s begun producing introductory videos.
WWE has been aware of Dragon Lee for a while but made no recent move to sign him until he appeared on the August 17th AEW Dynamite. (Dragon Lee appeared as part of a ‘House of Dragon’ promotion, which may have meant more for him than it did that show.) WWE reached out to bring Dragon Lee and his older brother Dralistico in for a tryout quickly after that appearance. WWE passed on Dralistico (see note below), brought Dragon Lee back for a second tryout, and offered him a deal. Dragon Lee accepted, and the deal was official earlier this month.
(Edit: After posting the story, an additional source contacted me to disagree that Dralistico had a WWE tryout, saying they believed it was only Dragon Lee who tried out recently.)
Dragon Lee was not under an AEW contract for his Dynamite appearance. I believe he worked with AAA as a non-contracted freelancer, which is common in Mexico. Dragon Lee’s most recent contract was with Ring of Honor, which expired at the end of 2021.
AEW never continued up on the Dragon Lee/LFI storyline and has yet to mention Dragon Lee much recently despite his two brothers teaming there. Dragon Lee last wrestled in on the 12/02 Arena Neza show and has no known bookings past tonight’s AAA Noche de Campeones show. KAOZ Lucha Libre, where Dragon Lee and Dralistico are champions, is advertising Dralistico and only Dralistico for their February show.
Dragon Lee notified AAA of his status well in advance of this show. FTR was also finishing up with AAA on this show, so AAA went with Hermanos Lee getting the win and immediately vacating the belts.
(I have no information on if Dragon Lee will continue to wrestle masked or what name he’ll wrestle under.)
Dralistico’s recent AEW appearances appear connected to Dragon Lee’s WWE deal. Dralistico left CMLL in 2021 with a plan of teaming with his brothers, mostly Dragon Lee. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter previously quoted an AAA source saying Dralistico asked out of a singles tournament because he only wanted to do matches where he teamed with his family. WWE accepting Dragon Lee and not Dralistico ended that plan. Dralistico joining LFI in Mexico and AEW appears to be his new idea. Rush convinced AEW to give Dralistico a tryout, and both brothers have heavily hinted on social media that AEW’s signed Dralistico. AEW hasn’t confirmed that story as accurate.