10 Terrible Wrestling Moments (That Were Almost Even Worse)
7. Bearcat Lee Was Nearly Managed By...
Adam Cole, baybay!
The short-lived Bearcat Lee character was a terrible choice with - to put it euphemistically - very suboptimal optics. This wasn't, per his Talk Is Jericho podcast appearance, Keith Lee's own homage to Bearcat Wright. The character was Vince's vision for what Keith Lee should be like and act like: intense and angry. Lee revealed that Vince thought he also sounded "too smart for his own good".
In short, the Keith Lee that got over everywhere - even in f*cking WWE, gauging by that electrifying atmosphere at Survivor Series 2019 - wasn't what Vince wanted. Vince wanted a 1980s heel. All Vince ever wants is a 1980s heel, a commentator he can call a c*nt, and an incest angle.
Weirdly, a manager never appears on that list - probably because Vince is a cheap, cheap man - but he will make an exception when the most over wrestler in most buildings is available to play that role.
Of, to reiterate, a manager.
Reports from the Wrestling Observer circulated that Vince wanted to recast Adam Cole as Lee's manager. Subsequent reports very quickly followed that Adam Cole was getting the f*ck out of there, funnily enough.
Cole was also reportedly set for a haircut and a name change. Can't have people confusing him for Michael Cole, even though one person gets people to scream and the other one just screams, even if he's calling a f*cking chinlock. Which he never actually calls.
Rather easy to tell the difference.