Keith Lee returned to WWE on 19th July, having been away due to medical issues relating to his heart. However, after just wrestling three times on television, he has found himself again off TV. Thankfully, there hasn’t been any reoccurrence of his health problems, but instead, he is wrestling dark matches ahead of a potential heel turn with management feeling he needs to practice being a heel. Now, before this week’s Raw, he was introduced with a new nickname, being called Keith “Bearcat” Lee.
The belief is the name “Bearcat” is in reference to Edward Wright, who wrestled in the 50s, 60s, and 70s as Bearcat Wright. Wright holds the distinction of being the first-ever black World Champion after defeating Freddie Blassie by count-out in 1963. The title he won was the WWA World Heavyweight Championship based out of Los Angles, and Wright would refuse to lose the belt when the time came.
With a reputation of going into business for himself, judo champion Gene LeBell was brought in to get the belt off him by any means necessary. Bearcat would subsequently refuse to compete, resulting in him being stripped of the championship. Despite a poor backstage reputation, he would still get plenty of bookings due to his drawing ability and was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the Legacy wing in 2017.
