2022 was a year of ups and downs for Wes Lee.

A tag team specialist dating all the way back to his time on the indies, Lee and his partner Nash Carter saw their second reign with the NXT Tag Team Championship belts dashed due to the latter being released from the promotion due to allegations of domestic abuse and for taking a picture doing a Nazi Salute with a small square mustache, leaving some to wonder what the future held for the 5-foot-9 high-flyer from Dayton, Ohio.

Fortunately, Lee was able to rebound due in no small part to the help of coaches at the performance center, and come the fall, he became the North American Champion, holding the belt for 269 days until “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio took it from him on July 18th. Discussing the tumultuous period of time in his career as part of an interview with Phil Strum on Under The Ring, Lee explained how he was able to keep his head down through controversy and ultimately come out the other end better off.

“Coach Terry Taylor and Coach Steve Corino. They have been major crutches for me. When the separation of MSK happened, I was inside of coach Terry Taylor's class. He made sure that I knew it was going to be okay and that even though you have this major obstacle in front of you, it's not something that should deter you from wanting to still become the best. He pushed me and made sure that I knew that I had the capabilities within my body to be able to produce what I wanted to do in my head,” Wes Lee said via Fightful.

“As I transitioned from his class over to coach Corino's class, that's when my mind was able to be expanded upon. The environment and atmosphere that coach Corino created that allows for your creativity to truly flourish and shine and also create in an atmosphere that you feel comfortable to be able to talk, understanding the value in vocalizing how you feel on the inside. As most men, we don't necessarily deal with our emotions the best, but having somebody there that you can vent to and express how you are feeling definitely helps. I hope that more men are able to understand that you should reach out to somebody and speak about how you're feeling so that you do not venture down a negative path and end up hurting yourself or other individuals. I have to greatly, greatly, deeply, the most sincere that I possibly can, thank coach Terry Taylor and coach Steve Corino for breathing new life into me right when I desperately needed it.”

Would it have been cool to see MSK make it onto the main roster? You bet; WWE hasn't had many new tag teams make their way onto the main roster, and the dynamic between the two former Rascalz was incredibly fun to watch. But in the end, Lee turned himself into a very compelling babyface singles star, and his ceiling has been elevated as a result.

Wes Lee has a fan in NXT commentator Booker T.

While Wes Lee clearly has supporters in WWE's Performance Center, he also has one in the NXT commentary booth, as Booker T has become a massive fan of the former North American Champion during their shared time in developmental.

Discussing Lee, among other things, on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker noted that, while he wasn't initially a Lee guy, the cruiserweight has thoroughly won him over.

“Wes Lee, such a performer, man. That dude is an extraordinary talent. Wes Lee, he's a guy that he didn't, I'm gonna tell you, Wes Lee didn't have my vote when I first came to NXT,” Booker T said via Wrestling News. “He just wasn't a guy on my radar or anything like that. I just thought he was a one-dimensional guy that was gonna go out there and do flips, and pretty much that was it, but Wes Lee, you could tell Wes Lee had been in a fight before. You know, you could tell he's been in a couple of scraps, and his performance definitely tells me that, so when he goes out and does it the way he's done it over these last, what, three, four or five months? Good God, man, he's delivering some of the most awesome performances. So I give Wes Lee top-notch, dude, in NXT. Seriously.”

What does the future hold for Lee? Will he get back into the NA Title picture? Or could he maybe land a spot in the tag team division once more, forming a pairing with someone like Dragon Lee to take a shot at Gallus? Either, way, the future looks incredibly bright on the “Wes Side.”