Dragon Lee: Why does WWE build him up just to let him (and us) down?

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JULY 6: Rusev breaks Dragon Lee’s heart, back, and spirit during a tag team match on Raw. | (Photo: Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images) “To you I’m a toy, but I could be the boy you adore” are lyrics from The Foundations’ 1968 hit “Build Me Up Buttercup,” a song about a man yearning for love from a partner who builds them up just to let them down. In 2026, that enduring classic aptly describes Dragon Lee’s woeful year in WWE. You see, Lee could be the boy we all adore. Hell, WWE tells us that every week, calling the Mexican star “the future of lucha libre” every chance it gets. And then the bell rings, and he gets beaten like a drum. Case in point. Monday on Raw, Lee tapped like he was Gregory Hines as Rusev locked in the Accolade, giving him and Ethan Page a win over Lee and the newly canonized patron saint of luchadores, Chad Gable. It’s not so much that Lee lost that bothers me. I expect it these days. Rather, it’s how he lost and when that bugs me. Last Th