The Problem With Keith Lee That No One Wants To Talk About
22 September saw the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer come through with a new report on WWE's plans for Lee, stating that the promotion wanted to keep presenting him as something resembling a top star without scripting anything specific to him.
This is another red flag.
WWE books for goldfish, largely dropping long-term planning for moment-to-moment pops, hoping their audience will conveniently forget about Raw and SmackDown's weekly logic leaps. This has created a toxic fan culture in which anyone who points these logic leaps out is accused of overanalysing things and told to "just enjoy" weak storytelling, which is absurd. Audiences deserve more than to be taken as absent-minded children.
"Make him look like a star" is too vague and unassertive to yield positive results, particularly in this universe, where great long-term stories like Bayley vs. Sasha Banks are the exception rather than the rule. Keith needs something concrete. Rubbing shoulders with main-eventers for six straight weeks doesn't constitute a rub in itself, though successfully following up on Payback would have.
WWE didn't do that, though. Instead, they had this potential "top star" wallow through the muck of three non-finishes in a row, then slip back down the ladder, left drifting towards a midcard ocean few are ever fortunate to truly break away from.
CONT'd...