Keith Lee's Contract Is "Very Exclusive" To AEW

By Andy H Murray / March 21, 2022

In a comment that appears to have largely slipped under the radar since he made it, Keith Lee has claimed that contract-wise, he is "very exclusive" to All Elite Wrestling.

The big man said as much in an interview with Bleacher Report's Chris Mueller published on 3 March. When asked about potentially stepping through the Forbidden Door and working in other companies, Lee said that while he is focused primarily on AEW, he would consider collaboration opportunities that would benefit himself and the promotion involved:-

"It's hard to say because my deal is very exclusive to AEW, and for good reason. But, you know, if something came up, that was beneficial for both myself and the company, and also for the potential collaborative companies, maybe I will consider it."

Elaborating, Lee indicated that even his long-held goal of wrestling in Japan would depend on the circumstances:-

"The only thing that really comes to mind as a place that I would just want to go, and this is where I was originally going to go before I ever went to the other company, and that's Japan. But even then, it really comes down to what's beneficial, because the exclusivity of what I signed is pretty tight."

Lee is currently sitting on an AEW win/loss record of 4-1 since debuting as Isiah Kassidy's mystery opponent on the 9 February episode of Dynamite, doing so within days of his WWE non-compete clause expiring. Last week's episode of Rampage appeared to set up a tag bout pitting Lee and Swerve Strickland against Team Taz's Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs following the heels' latest ambush (and Strickland's save) of the former NXT Champion.

Beyond appearing in promotions like NJPW, who enjoy a formal working relationship with AEW, many wrestlers contracted to Tony Khan's promotion enjoy the freedom to work independent dates on top of their All Elite commitments. For now, this doesn't appear to be something that Keith Lee is particularly interested in.