Tony Khan, Swerve Strickland Open Up About Keith Lee Being Pulled From AEW Worlds End

Ahead of AEW's Worlds End pay-per-view, it was revealed that Keith Lee was not medically cleared to face Swerve Strickland on the show. Instead, Strickland went up against Dustin Rhodes. Strickland spoke about Lee being pulled from the match during the Worlds End post-show media scrum. "It's quite unfortunate," Strickland said. "I'm done waiting, though. I don't wait on anybody. For me, I've been waiting for a while now, and now I have my sights set on something else, and that's championship gold. So either Keith's gonna have to work harder than ever in 2024 to reach me at that point, or reach to the championship, or do something, but I'm not waiting on anybody. And if the match happens, he's gonna have to work hard to get to me at this point."

AEW CEO Tony Khan followed up by saying that Lee wanted to wrestle at Worlds End, but his undisclosed injury worsened during the week leading up to the show. The doctor involved ultimately did not clear Lee. Khan said he respected the medical team's decision and altered Strickland's match. He also mentioned that Lee had been working through his injury recently, and that's why he has been absent from television sometimes.

Before being pulled from Worlds End, Lee wrote on social media that his injury has been ongoing since he and Strickland challenged The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam" in 2022. He added that his injury had gotten worse since facing Shane Taylor at ROH Final Battle last month.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.