WWE Rumors: Vince McMahon may be planning a Keith Lee heel turn

Keith Lee made his WWE Raw debut on the episode after SummerSlam, immediately taking aim at Randy Orton.

After Randy Orton punted Drew McIntyre twice on Raw after losing his WWE Title match to McIntyre at SummerSlam, he was interrupted by the debuting Keith Lee in a promo later in the show. Lee challenged Orton to a match, which took place later that night.

As you’d expect, the match never reached its conclusion, as McIntyre attacked Orton. But Orton got his revenge, punting McIntyre again backstage. And on Sunday at Payback, Lee and Orton will go at it once more so that Lee can get revenge on behalf of his friend.

Lee vs. Orton could function as means of getting Lee into a WWE Title Triple Threat at Clash of Champions, because it’s hard seeing Lee lose that match. PWInsider.com’s Mike Johnson has reported that WWE want to push Lee as one of their top babyfaces on Raw, which seems clear if he’s going up against Orton on PPV.

However, there’s another interesting report on Lee. WrestlingNews.Co’s Paul Davis writes that there is a plan to turn him heel and feud with a babyface WWE Champion.

Could we get a WWE Title feud between Keith Lee and Drew McIntyre?

Well, the current babyface WWE Champion is Drew McIntyre, and the only foreseeable babyface champion would be a returning Edge after he defeats Orton to finish their rivalry.

Lee vs. McIntyre is a logical program in 2021, perhaps as a WrestleMania 37 or post-WrestleMania rivalry. It will take some time to build Lee into someone who can win the championship, but since he was a double-champion in NXT (albeit far too briefly), it shouldn’t take that much to get him in a position to win the title.

Turning Lee heel is a surprising plan, since the man is such an incredible babyface and so well-liked by the fans. But if there’s a sign Vince McMahon wants to turn him heel in the coming months, then it is the otherwise baffling decision for Vince to take Lee’s popular theme song and replace it with a generic rock song. Or maybe that was just WWE being WWE again, which is honestly more likely given their track record.

Lee a heel? I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens in the future to set up a feud with McIntyre in which Lee wins the title, but there’s still a lot of time. And we all know how quickly Vince likes to rip up ideas – even his own.