Keith Lee

Keith Lee (born November 8, 1984) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

Keith Lee was born on November 8, 1984, in Wichita Falls, Texas.

He was introduced to professional wrestling at a young age by his grandmother, who was a fan herself, and credits her with inspiring him to pursue a career in professional wrestling.

Lee played college football at Texas A&M University, but quit to become a professional wrestler.

Lee was trained by Tim Brooks and debuted on the independent circuit in 2005 under the ring name "Kevin Paine".

In 2008, he began wrestling under his birth name.

For the first 10 years of his career, Lee wrestled almost exclusively in his home state of Texas, appearing with promotions such as Professional Championship Wrestling (Arlington); Xtreme Championship Wrestling (Denton); North American Wrestling Allegiance (Waxahachie); Metroplex Wrestling (Bedford); and River City Wrestling (San Antonio).

During this time, Lee won the North American Wrestling Allegiance Tag Team Championship with Li Fang and the Xtreme Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship and TNT Championship.

Prior to officially signing with WWE, Lee received a tryout in 2008, although this did not result in him being hired.

He appeared as an extra on the March 30, 2009 episode of Raw, playing a security guard.

Beginning in 2015, Lee began wrestling more frequently outside of Texas.

During 2015, Lee started making appearances in Ring of Honor with Shane Taylor, calling themselves "Pretty Boy Killers" (PBK).

On August 27, 2016, during Field of Honor, PBK participated in a gauntlet tag team match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but the match was won by The Addiction.

At All Star Extravaganza VIII, PBK wrestled against The All Night Express, War Machine and the team of Colt Cabana and Dalton Castle in a Four Corner Survival match to determine the number one contender for the ROH tag team championship, in a losing effort.

In January 2017, Taylor announced that he had signed his first contract with the Ring of Honor.

At a January 14 show in Atlanta, PBK entered into a feud with the Briscoe Brothers when Lee and Taylor attacked them and slammed Jay Briscoe through a table.

Surprisingly, the next day, Lee announced that he was leaving ROH.

On February 3, 2017, they faced The Briscoes, where the match ended in a no contest.

This was Lee's last appearance in ROH until 2022.

Lee signed with Evolve in January 2017, and made his debut at Evolve 76, losing to Chris Hero.

He made his return on February 24 at Evolve 78, defeating Zack Sabre Jr.. The following night, at Evolve 79, he defeated Tracy Williams.

Lee received his first championship opportunity at Evolve 87 on June 25, when he unsuccessfully challenged Matt Riddle for the WWN Championship.

On October 14, at Evolve 94, Lee defeated Riddle to win the WWN Championship.

Lee made his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) debut on March 18, 2017, at the Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock N' Roll) event, competing in a triple threat match against Brian Cage and Sami Callihan, won by Cage.

At the Game Over, Man event, he lost to Jeff Cobb.

On May 19 at Head Like A Cole, he won his first match in PWG, defeating Trevor Lee.

He followed this up by defeating Lio Rush and Trent at Pushin Forward Back on July 7.

In September, Lee made it to the finals of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles, where he was defeated by Ricochet.

Lee's quarterfinal match against Donovan Dijak was awarded a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer.

He is also known for his time in WWE from 2018 to 2021 and Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as on the independent circuit with promotions such as Evolve, All American Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (where he held the PWG World Championship).

Lee signed with WWE in May 2018 and was assigned to the developmental brand, NXT, where he won the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship, and became the first person to hold both titles simultaneously.

On April 6, 2018, at Evolve 103, he lost the title to Austin Theory.

At Time Is a Flat Circle event on March 23, 2018, Lee defeated Chuck Taylor to become the PWG World Champion.

On April 21 at All Star Weekend 14, Lee lost the title to Walter in a three-way match, also involving Jonah Rock.

On April 5, 2018, during WrestleMania Axxess weekend, Lee made an appearance for NXT, defeating Kassius Ohno.

On May 1, it was announced that Lee had signed a contract with WWE.

Lee appeared in attendance for NXT TakeOver: Chicago II on June 16.

On the August 8 episode of NXT, Lee made his televised in-ring debut for WWE, defeating Marcel Barthel.

Lee began appearing on the Raw brand in August 2020, where he faced AJ Styles and Drew McIntyre in WWE Championship matches.

Lee left WWE in November 2021, debuting in AEW the following February and winning the AEW World Tag Team Championship later that year.