Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Big Show, keith lee, tommy dreamer, wrestling, wwe

Tommy Dreamer Explains Why WWE Sent Keith Lee Back to Wrestling School

The wrestling world was shocked last week when WWE Superstar Keith Lee, respected as a great worker during his time in NXT, was sent back to remedial wrestling class along with other big guys like Smackdown's Otis due to Vince McMahon reportedly "throwing a fit" about how bad they all were at wrestling. The news came after Lee confirmed in an interview he was forbidden from baring his breasts on WWE television, so overall not a great couple of weeks for him. On a recent episode of the Busted Open podcast, Tommy Dreamer got right to the heart of the matter when asked about the shocking news.

"You are now on a different platform with a different coach watching him," said Dreamer of Lee moving up to the main roster. "That coach is also the owner. And if they want to do something with you, maybe for the future, maybe also to help, because first of all, everybody can improve. What was what made Keith Lee so unique was the fact that he was so big and could do things that big guys or guys his size do not do, but you also need the right opponents to do that with."

Alright, we think we follow. Tommy Dreamer is saying that Keith Lee knows how to work, but maybe that he doesn't know how to work with the sort of opponents that are on the WWE main roster? Is that it?

"If you look at what made Mike Awesome so awesome in ECW, you also had a bunch of crazy people that were willing to let him throw you from the ring to the floor with a powerbomb or do a sit-out powerbomb on an apron because he used to do it to me all the time, through tables, sometimes through no tables." Dreamer continued. "But then when he went to WCW, he was now in the land of the giants because in ECW he was the tallest guy to work there. And then when he left, he wasn't made to be as special. So maybe it's to show you to go down there, to make you be as special."

Okay. So we're talking about going from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond? But Keith Lee is still one of the biggest guys on the main roster, so…

"Big Show has talked about it," said Dreamer. "Big Show used to do the drop kick off the top rope. He wanted to do it all the time. And they're like, are you kidding me? You do that against Hulk Hogan. You do that against somebody. I body slammed the Big Show, and he got in so much trouble for it. Because they're like, you let him body slam you? Because I didn't matter that way. And it was on a house show. And we did it to entertain people. And he even did it the great way where he charged me and I moved so that momentum, and he turned around and I just… It wasn't like… I couldn't pick him up if I didn't want to. Yes, he helped me. And yes, I sold it like it was Hulk Hogan versus Andre. And I actually think I went for the leg drop. I did go for the leg drop. And he kicked out. Because they weren't doing anything with Big Show at the time."

Uhhh…

"For Keith Lee, when he came up, he was plucked out of the system too soon," said Dreamer. "He really was. For NXT, they did a disservice by pulling him out of NXT too soon, because then he comes up, he has done nothing of merit or value since he's been called up. That's not on him. That's on creative. But then, yes, if there are holes in his game that your boss, coach, see, then, yeah, you're not going to get used. And so you have to, like we were talking about Carmela, they're going to make him go away and be forgotten so he comes back with more umph. I saw holes in his game as well. I saw this is not the same Keith Lee I saw in NXT. Why? Like I said, for a lot of the reasons and I'll tell the nation this."

Ah, now we're getting to the heart of the… god dammit!

"Was ECW Tommy Dreamer the same Tommy Dreamer in WWE? No. It's a brand new system," Dreamer continued, once again going off on a tangent. "At one point, they had sent me Stevie Richards, Raven, Bill DeMott, all these other guys down to Cincinnati and OVW, which was their AAA and AA affiliates. And at first, I looked at as a real demotion, and they looked at it like, hey, you could help the future of this business, because we want your knowledge to go down there and plus we're paying you. So it's either get fired or go down there and help."

Wait, what were they talking about again?

"I watch and I always go to it, Andre the Giant versus Jerry Blackwell," explained Dreamer. "Andre the Giant sold his ass off when the time was right for Jerry Blackwell, who was five foot eight. Yes, he was wide, but he was short. And I watched Andre the Giant take a backdrop from Jerry Blackwell. And when everyone says, oh, I'm too big to take a bump, and I'll go, well, here's the biggest guy in wrestling and he took a bump for this person, because he could because he was athletic."

And then Dreamer brought it all home.

"Same with Big Show," he said. "Should Big Show have taken a body slam from Tommy Dreamer on a house show? Did it change the landscape of his career or wrestling? Did it shit all over the business? Absolutely not. It was believable. I literally did hold him up there and turned him and placed him nicely."

So there you have it, folks. Keith Lee was sent back to wrestling school because Tommy Dreamer could body slam the Big Show, god damn it! He could pick him and slam him perfectly and the crowd loved it and it was believable and dont' let anyone try to tell you any differently!

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!