Dragon Lee has won the gold.
Dominik Mysterio was scheduled to defend the NXT North American Championship against Wes Lee at NXT Deadline on December 9. However, on the December 5 episode of WWE NXT, Lee revealed that he would be unable to compete, as he needed to get surgery. Rey Mysterio then revealed that Dragon Lee would challenge Dominik for the title instead.
Rey came out on crutches ahead of the match on Saturday night, and he joined the commentary team. His presence seemingly distracted Dominik, who looked over at his father and talked some trash throughout the bout. Lee showcased his electric offensive style, and he gained momentum with an eye-opening stomp onto the apron.
In the end, Lee pinned Dominik and won the title.
After the match, Lee went over to the commentary table and celebrated his win with Rey Mysterio. The victory marked Lee’s first title win in WWE. He moved to SmackDown in October, but he returned to NXT at NXT Deadline.
Shawn Michaels On Wes Lee’s Absence From NXT Deadline
Ahead of NXT Deadline, Shawn Michaels addressed Wes Lee’s absence from NXT Deadline. He stated that it was a last-minute call.
“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. I knew — obviously, we get medical reports. But it was a decision that Wes made on his own, and as he should,” Michaels said. “I mean, clearly, he’s a young man that goes out there and performs like few others. He had a huge match already going into this premium live event working towards 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 he was in.
“So 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,” Michaels added. “So all of this was last minute. And Wes, to his credit, was doing everything he could do to get himself ready for this. But it just wasn’t meant to be. We made the last-minute decision, I guess less than 24 hours, with [adding] Dragon Lee [to the match].”
The full video can be seen here:
Catch up on our coverage of WWE NXT Deadline here.
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