Keith Lee was born on November 8, 1984, in
Wichita Falls, Texas.[4] 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.[5][6]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2005–2015)
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).[7] 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.[8][9][10] Beginning in 2015, Lee began wrestling more frequently outside of Texas.[7]
Ring of Honor (2015–2017)
During 2015, Lee started making appearances in
Ring of Honor with
Shane Taylor, calling themselves "Pretty Boy Killers" (PBK).[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] In January 2017, Taylor announced that he had signed his first contract with the Ring of Honor.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16]
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.[23] At the Game Over, Man event, he lost to
Jeff Cobb.[24] On May 19 at Head Like A Cole, he won his first match in PWG, defeating
Trevor Lee.[25] He followed this up by defeating
Lio Rush and
Trent at Pushin Forward Back on July 7.[26] In September, Lee made it to the finals of the
2017 Battle of Los Angeles, where he was defeated by
Ricochet.[27] Lee's quarterfinal match against
Donovan Dijak was awarded a five-star rating by
Dave Meltzer.[28] 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.
WWE (2018–2021)
Beginnings (2018–2019)
Prior to officially signing with
WWE, Lee received a tryout in 2008, although this did not result in him being hired.[29] He appeared as an
extra on the March 30, 2009 episode of Raw, playing a security guard.[30][31] On April 5, 2018, during
WrestleMania Axxess weekend, Lee made an appearance for
NXT, defeating
Kassius Ohno.[32] On May 1, it was announced that Lee had signed a contract with WWE.[33] Lee appeared in attendance for
NXT TakeOver: Chicago II on June 16.[34] On the August 8 episode of NXT, Lee made his televised in-ring debut for WWE, defeating
Marcel Barthel.[35] Throughout the rest of 2018, Lee wrestled sporadically on NXT, defeating the likes of
Luke Menzies,[36]Kona Reeves,[37] but losing to
Lars Sullivan.[38]
On the January 8, 2020 episode of NXT, Lee won a fatal-four way match over
Cameron Grimes,
Damian Priest, and Dominik Dijakovic to become the number one contender to the
NXT North American Championship,[44] and defeated Roderick Strong on the January 22 episode of NXT to win the championship.[45] On January 26, Lee participated in the
Royal Rumble match at the
Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but was eliminated by the
WWE ChampionBrock Lesnar.[46] Lee then successfully defended his title against Dominik Dijakovic at
NXT TakeOver: Portland[47] and Johnny Gargano at
TakeOver: In Your House.[48] During the second night of
The Great American Bash on July 8, Lee defeated
Adam Cole to win the
NXT Championship, becoming a double champion, and the first person to hold the NXT and North American Championships simultaneously.[49] On the July 22 episode of NXT, Lee voluntarily relinquished the North American Championship,[50] and started a feud with
Karrion Kross over the NXT Championship.[51][52] At
NXT TakeOver XXX on August 22, Lee lost the NXT Championship to Kross in what would be his final match in NXT.[53]
Lee would enter contention for the WWE Championship, participating in a triple threat match, where the winner would receive a WWE Championship match at
TLC, but lost against AJ Styles.[58] On the January 4, 2021 episode of Raw, Lee unsuccessfully faced Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship.[59] The following month, Lee was scheduled to face Riddle and
Bobby Lashley for the
United States Championship at the
Elimination Chamber event,[60] but was pulled from the event due to an injury.[61][62]
Lee was absent for five months due to a
COVID-19 diagnosis, followed by heart inflammation.[63] He returned on the July 19 episode of Raw, accepting WWE Champion Bobby Lashley's open challenge match but was defeated.[64] During the following months, Lee began to work as Keith "Bearcat" Lee or Bearcat Lee (a homage to
Bearcat Wright) as part of a gimmick change,[65][66][67] but on November 4, Lee was released from his WWE contract.[68]
All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2022–present)
On the February 9, 2022, episode of AEW Dynamite, Lee made his surprise debut for
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) defeating
Isiah Kassidy to qualify for the "Face of the Revolution"
ladder match at
Revolution, which would eventually be won by
Wardlow.[69] Later on that month, Lee would form an alliance with
Swerve Strickland when Swerve came to Lee's aid after he was attacked by
Team Taz (
Powerhouse Hobbs and
Ricky Starks). The two would begin tag teaming, dubbing themselves "Swerve in Our Glory".[70] At
Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 1 on July 13, Swerve In Our Glory defeated defending champions
The Young Bucks and Team Taz in a
Triple or Nothing tag team match to win the
AEW World Tag Team Championship.[71] They had successful title defenses against the likes of
The Lucha Brothers and the Gunn Club (
Colten &
Austin Gunn). They would then enter a three match series with The Acclaimed (
Max Caster &
Anthony Bowens), defeating them at
All Out, losing the belts to them in a rematch at Dynamite: Grand Slam, and losing to them once more at
Full Gear after Strickland slapped Lee when Lee refused to use a pair of pliers as a weapon, causing Lee to walk out on the match. In December 2022, Lee made his return to ROH for the first time in five years at
Final Battle, as Swerve In Our Glory defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (
Shane Taylor and JD Griffey). On the December 21 edition of Dynamite, Strickland formed a new stable, Mogul Affiliates, with
Parker Boudreaux, Granden Goetzman, and famed rapper
Rick Ross. Strickland, Boudreaux, and Goetzman all attacked Lee, effectively ending the Swerve In Our Glory team, laying him out on the steel ring stairs with Strickland delivering his Swerve Stomp finishing move through a cinder block on Lee's chest.[71][72] He was later scheduled to face off against Strickland in a match at
Worlds End though he was later pulled out due to an undisclosed injury and underwent "double surgeries" in January 2024 relating to it.[73][74]