Since signing with WWE in December of 2022, Dragon Lee has been tabbed the “future of lucha libre” by pretty much any member of the promotion willing to speak on the record about his upside.
A former champion in CMLL, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Lucha Libre AAA, Lee comes from a great lucha family with his father La Bestia del Ring a Mexican standout, and his brothers, Rush and Dralistico, currently working for AEW as part of La Faccion Ingobernable, Lee checks pretty much every box one could expect from a luchador, with the athleticism to dazzle as a high flyer and the intangibles to consistently get over with fans as a tecnico.
Discussing how quickly Lee has acclimated to the WWE ecosystem as part of an interview with Baker Banter, Mysterio gave his biggest endorsement yet to the 28-year-old star, declaring that he sees a lot of himself in the second-generation star.
“I see a lot of a young me in Dragon Lee,” Dragon Lee said via Fightful. “He is very unique with his style. Of course, he carries a tradition of lucha libre, which is the mask. The mask represents something way beyond just putting on a mask. It transforms you. It gives you a certain power of representation to our culture, representation to our sport. Overall, he has the heart and determination to go in the ring and put it all on the line. I’ve seen that every time he steps in the ring. I endorse, myself, Dragon Lee to be the next superstar within WWE that’s a luchador. It’s been quite a while. We’ve had several luchadors in WWE that have been given opportunities, but Dragon Lee is captivating and taking full advantage of this opportunity. He already beat Dominik for the North American Title. You can already see he’s going very big.”
On paper, one could say things aren't going too well for Lee at the moment, as he lost to Santos Escobar in the United States Championship #1 Contendership Tournament on SmackDown, had visa issues that kept him off of New Year's Evil, and lost the NXT North American Championship to Oba Femi one month after winning it off of Dominik Mysterio at Deadline. Then again, many of these issues were out of his control, as Lee was already announced as a member of the SmackDown roster before having to jump back to NXT due to a Wes Lee injury. With that obligation now completed, things should be looking up for Lee on the main roster as a full-time player.
Santos Escobar sees great things in Dragon Lee too.
Speaking of LWO members, current and former, who see great things in Dragon Lee, Santos Escobar talked about the second-generation luchador after their match in December and let it be known that he thinks the 28-year-old from Tala, Jalisco, Mexico, might just be the future of lucha libre in WWE too.
“Dragon Lee is going to be a big star. It’s pretty obvious that he’s got something going on. He’s been on the main roster for less than two months. He already had his first one-on-one at a premium live event. (We have) crazy chemistry,” Santos Escobar told Freddie Prinze Jr. on his Wrestling With Freddie podcast via Wrestling Headlines. “Triple H said it in the press conference after. Two lucha guys that bring more than just being two lucha guys. That’s what I wanted. That was my vision. I know the urge is there, you have 12 to 15 minutes, to go out and just do crazy stuff, but the truth is, if you stay lucha, you stay lucha. I want to create a hybrid, much like we did with Lucha Underground and other places. Try to bring my style with the American style, so anyone that watches the show will connect and understand what I’m trying to do. Also, because I want to work with Randy [Randy Orton], I want to work with Roman [Roman Reigns], I want to work with everyone out there. Keeping myself in a box is not going to help me. I needed to portray this and share this vision. Dragon Lee, he got it.”
Since signing with WWE the first time around, Rey Mysterio has watched dozens of masked luchadors come and go to varying degrees of success, with basically none of them rising to the same level as “The Mystery.” If Dragon Lee can buck that trend and have show-stealing matches with performers like Escobar moving forward, it will go a long way in defining the future of lucha libre in the biggest wrestling company in the world.