Dragon Lee announced in late December that he had signed a contract with the WWE that would bring him to its NXT development roster. But even though there’s a lot of hype surrounding the decorated luchador, he’s yet to appear on NXT. Many expected him to show up in the audience at Saturday night’s NXT Vengeance Day event in Charlotte, but to no avail. According to Dave Meltzer of the Observer wrestling, Lee’s move to the roster is apparently held back by visa issues. Lee made his in-ring debut for Mexican luchador promotion CMLL in 2014 and would establish himself as one of the best high-flyers in the world with runs in Ring of Honor, New Japan and Lucha Libre AAA.

“Dragon Lee is a tremendous talent that will immediately add value to the NXT roster,” said Jason Kimball, WWE’s head of talent and strategy operations, shortly after Lee’s signing. “This signing is a reflection of WWE’s renewed emphasis on globalizing our talent pipeline with Latin America positioned as a focus market.”

As Lee makes his way to NXT’s main roster, many assume he will play a huge role in the planned NXT Mexico branch. Shawn Michaels, who oversees NXT, has openly discussed those plans in recent interviews.

“When it comes to expanding NXT outside of the US, NXT Europe is coming in 2023 and I know there have been talks about NXT Japan and NXT Mexico,” Michaels said at a post-show media conference. NXT Halloween Havoc. “Those are probably further down the road, but my understanding is that these are some of the announcements that shouldn’t be too far down the road in 2023. The one thing everyone is excited about is that this business never sleeps and we’re constantly trying and expand I have no doubt I can’t tell you how I know but I know a guy who is quite interested in NXT and its expansion I’m sure those things aren’t far down the road at all are. “