Booker T Reacts To Wes Lee’s Surprising WWE Release

A few days ago, WWE released a dozen wrestlers, which included many surprising names. One wrestler that fans didn’t think would get cut was Wes Lee from NXT, who has been one of the top wrestlers on the brand. Lee is a former NXT North American Champion and was regarded by fans as a future main-eventer in the promotion.

It wasn’t just the fans who were surprised by his release. Even the former WWE Hall of Famer Booker T didn’t expect WWE to let go of him. Booker T talked about Lee’s release on his Hall of Fame podcast and shared his thoughts.

Wes Lee Joined NXT In 2020

A lot of wrestlers who are just starting out, or have relatively short experience in the wrestling business, go to NXT and work there for a few years. Some established names, however, skip this step and go directly to the main roster (e.g., AJ Styles and Ronda Rousey).

In Lee’s case, he started wrestling back in the early 2010s. After working in the indies for a few years, Lee found success working for TNA as part of The Rascalz. He joined NXT in 2020 and impressed everyone with his performance inside the ring.

Everyone thought he’d become a major star. But in the past few months, his momentum cooled down, and Lee barely got any screen time. His last televised match took place in July, where he lost to Je’Von Evans.

On October 10, Lee was released by WWE along with many other wrestlers.

Booker T Reacts To Wes Lee’s Surprise NXT Release

On his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T talked about Wes Lee’s release. Booker praised Lee’s talent, but also noted his long stay in the NXT brand made him vulnerable to potential release. He said:

“Wes Lee is a guy that’s highly, highly talented. Wes Lee is a guy that I would have thought would have been safe. But I think also, about what this thing is all about, NXT, being a developmental system.

Wes Lee’s been there for, what, five years. When you’ve been in the developmental system five years and you’re not looked upon as being someone that’s gonna make it on the main roster, you could be one of the guys that’s gonna get cut.

I really feel like this guy, his talent was extraordinary, one of the best North American Champions in NXT, if not the best. A guy who could go out there and fight, and then he could fly and do all of that stuff too.”

Booker T said he’s a big fan of Lee and feels like he’d easily get picked up by TNA or AEW in the future. He also advised other developmental talents to work harder in NXT and think of their developmental window as two and a half years.

“Of course there’s a place for Wes Lee. Of course he could go to TNA, of course AEW would pick a guy up just like that, just because he’s very, very highly talented.

But as far as this developmental system, I would implore guys to think that they’ve got maybe two and a half years at that. So you better be motivated to figure out what this thing is about, and you might not wanna act like the elder statesman.” (H/t Wrestletalk)

Following his release, a lot of fans are hoping Lee will reunite with The Rascalz in TNA, but there’s one problem. The last time Lee interacted with his Rascalz stablemates (Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel), he turned on them after losing the NXT Tag Team Titles match against Nathan Frazer and Axiom. TNA would first need to do a reconciliation storyline before Lee could reunite with Rascalz, or they could just sign him as a singles star.

Where do you think Lee should end up next?