Welp, it's official: The AEW World Trios Championship Tournament has been announced, and fans, as they say, are stoked.
Ari Daivari's Trustbusters will make their Dynamite debut, the Young Bucks will wrestle alongside a mystery opponent who, by his own admission, isn't “Hangman” Adam Page, and Will Ospreay and his Aussie Open buddies are heading back to Tony Khan's company to wrestle against All-Atlantic Champion PAC and his Lucha Brothers in Death Triangle.
But wait, who is that name in the bottom left-hand corner above the Young Bucks, below Andrade El Idolo, and next to “Toro Blanco,” Rush?
That, my friends, is Dragon Lee, and let's just say he won't be wrestling with Andrade and Rush on the forthcoming edition of AEW Dynamite because it's being sponsored by HBO's Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon. No, Lee will be teaming with Ric Flair's son-in-law and his own brother in, um, life(?) because they are all members of La Ingobernables, the umbrella faction that La Faccion Ingobernable calls home.
AEW Galaxy, take notice: If you haven't seen Dragon Lee in the ring before – like in his brother versus brother match at Ring of Honor's Death Before Dishonor 2022 – you are about to be in for a treat.
Signing Toro, touring Dragon.
There was a time when Dragon Lee was one of the hottest names on the wrestling free agent market. He drew interest from Ring of Honor, interest from New Japan, and even interest from the WWE, before ultimately agreeing to a deal with ROH, the company that already employed his brother Rush and his father, La Bestia del Ring, in part thanks to the encouragement of Andrade. Here's what Dave Meltzer had to say on the matter back in 2020, when both of the brothers were free agents as aggregated by Cultaholic.
“So, obviously, they have signed for another year, and their father is going to be a regular in their program… WWE was after Rush and Dragon Lee, especially Dragon Lee, and he decided to stay. I mean Dragon Lee, his thing is he wanted to work New Japan and, obviously, this year it was impossible because of COVID to do that.”
So what gives? Rush, Lee, La Bestia, and every other member of La Faccion/Ring of Honor for that matter, had their contracts terminated at the end of 2021, and here we are, August of 2022, and Dragon remains unsigned in the American market.
While Lee has wrestled 23 matches in 2022, only four, a match with Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Guerrera, and Super Crazy for Expo Lucha, with Dralistico versus The Mane Event at HOG Judas, with Gralistico again versus Space Godz at JCW The Great American Birthday Bash, and in his brotherly bout with Rush at Death Before Dishonor last month were in the U.S. Is Lee simply turning his attention to wrestling for Lucha Libre AAA full-time, or has he just failed to find the “right” opportunity post-ROH?
Fortunately, it would appear the answer is the latter, as Lee's place in the AEW/ROH universe is looking more and more secure with each passing day.
AEW is about to Enter the Dragon.
So what can fans expect from Dragon Lee in his Round 1 bout against Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson, and another wrestler who “totally isn't ‘Hangman' Adam Page?” Is his in-ring style similar to that of Rush? Or does he approach the wrestling game in a different way, say, as a Zach Sabre Jr.-style Techniker or an Erick Redbeard-sized Powerhouse?
Well, have you ever seen Rey Fenix wrestle a match? If so, you've seen the sort of dynamic athleticism Lee brings to the table.
One of the premier high-flyers in the game right up there with Fenix, Lee, and the current AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo, Lee has an incredible in-ring style built on strong chops, high flips, and the sort of fast-paced, energetic offensive moves that dazzled fans at the Target Center in Minnesota during the Lucha Brothers-La Faccion Ingobernables match on Quake by the Lake.
If Lee can match wits with Nick Jackson during his first-round bout versus The Young Bucks Plus-1 in the first round of the AEW World Trios Tournament, it'll go a long way in defining his future in Tony Khan's company and maybe set up a few matches with the likes of PAC, Dante Martin, and Fenix too, whom he as already wrestled on eight occasions including as a tag team at Wrestling In Mexicali versus Bandido and Mr. 450 according to Cagematch. At this point, I think fans are due for a ninth-bout stat.