As PWMania.com previously reported, Dragon Lee recently announced his signing with WWE following his match with Dralistico at AAA Noche De Campeones.
He will begin training at the Performance Center in January and will work in NXT. This comes after WWE was initially uninterested in him until they discovered he was working on AEW television without a contract, at which point they invited him to a tryout and signed him to an NXT contract.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW also made him an offer to sign a full-time contract with them.
His WWE contract pays more than he did in Mexico, and “the WWE offer was above the standard NXT-level money, but not main roster money.”
WWE contracts include a confidentiality clause that prohibits talent and their representatives from disclosing the dollar amount. If he is called up to the main roster, the minimum salary for the main roster is $250,000 per year.
Meltzer reported, “The belief is that he would be the highest-paid NXT wrestler now that Mandy Rose is no longer working with the brand. It’s a three-year deal and does call for pay increases with each year, but the hope and certainly the feeling he was given is he would have a main roster contract and be brought up in 2024.”
Meltzer also revealed why Lee chose WWE over AEW for a full-time contract.
WWE hopes he can be their next big Hispanic star, and the company also hopes to sign other “standout” talent in early 2023.
