For those fans hoping to see Keith Lee lace up his boots once more and crack some skulls in AEW, it appears that Limitless’ time as an active competitor has come to an end.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez said that, from speaking to people within the industry, the belief is that Keith is now retired. Alvarez added that this isn’t a case of Lee looking to continue his career elsewhere once his time with AEW is up, but it’s instead understood that he’s completely done with his in-ring career.
Having signed with AEW in early 2022, Keith Lee last wrestled in December 2023, picking up a Collision win over Brian Cage. A planned Worlds End match against Swerve Strickland later that month was scrapped due to an unspecified injury to Keith, and he’d undergo what was reported as “double surgeries” the following month. Despite regular rumblings of a return, the charismatic powerhouse has yet to resurface on AEW programming in the years since.
Prior to signing with AEW, Lee had a massively successful run in NXT, winning both the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship, though his time on the WWE main roster quickly soured when he was given the “Bearcat” Lee moniker. The Dallas native also later revealed that he suffered from heart inflammation during this time after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
If this really is it for Keith Lee’s pro wrestling career, it brings an end to a career that began in 2005, with him becoming one of the hottest names on the independent scene prior to signing with WWE in 2018, making his mark in the likes of PWG, ROH, EVOLVE, PROGRESS, and Beyond Wrestling.
