Dragon Lee had a front row seat to the end of AJ Styles’ career, and he says he was one of the few people who knew it was coming.
The two won the World Tag Team Championship together on the October 20, 2025 episode of Raw, beating Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh. Speaking on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Dragon Lee said Styles told him about his plans around the time their reign ended.
“I realized the day we lost the title. He told me, I’m gonna retire, and I had to keep that secret,” Dragon Lee said. “I thought like WrestleMania. No, not even Royal Rumble. Nobody expected it.”
Styles retired at the Royal Rumble in January after a career-on-the-line loss to Gunther.
That timing cut short something Dragon Lee had bigger plans for, including a name he had pitched for the team, which fans had taken to calling AJ Lee.
“I pitched this name and I think it would have been so great. The Phenomenal Dragons,” Dragon Lee said. “AJ Styles has a logo, and I would say this logo becomes kind of like a dragon around, something like that we can do. But I didn’t realize that he wouldn’t have enough time. He would be retired.”
The pairing itself, he said, was never planned out.
“That was organic. I don’t know what’s going on with that. I never ask. I never ask about story and everything,” Dragon Lee said. “I never realized that we would be a tag team, and then champions. This tag team comes from nothing.”
Dragon Lee said working with Styles changed him beyond the ring.
“He really pushed me to the next level. I’m very grateful with him,” Dragon Lee said. “I learned from him in general, as a man, the way he is as a father.”
He also could not quite believe the title win as it happened.
“That moment when we grabbed the titles, honestly, I was like, is this really true? He just grabbed me like this and crossed the title, like wake up, yes, we won,” Dragon Lee said.
One of the highlights of the run was a finish Dragon Lee pitched himself against The New Day.
“That finish that we did with Kofi Kingston, oh my gosh, incredible. I pitched that idea, and they really liked it,” Dragon Lee said, describing the sequence that saw him stomp Kingston into a Styles Clash.
Dragon Lee was also part of Styles’ final championship reign and John Cena’s farewell show, teaming with Styles to beat Je’Von Evans and Leon Slater on the December 2025 Saturday Night’s Main Event where Cena wrestled his last match.
“I feel honored to be part of his last matches, and even John Cena’s last match. I was part of that too,” Dragon Lee said.
He has a sense of humor about the nickname fans landed on for the team.
“AJ Lee, right? It was fun,” Dragon Lee said. “Fortunately, we got the picture with AJ Lee together. He told me, hey, you got the picture. Yes, we had to. So I got to be your nephew. My aunt, AJ Lee.”
