Go Back to Your Grave, Mr. Lee

Memento Mori? No, this is Capcomland, where nobody dies!

Street Fighter V released artwork of all of the SF1 cast, including several never seen in years. They also revealed where the characters are now. Other companies/franchises should take this pointer. At least the comics reveal where many lost Sonic characters are now... but not all of them (three have cropped up again in STC-O, and apparently at least a few are outright banned from the comic). Mario is really guilty of forgetting good characters. The Paper Mario partners were only referenced in Sticker Star, and also not in the Japanese version. Madame Clairvoya also seems to be gone. Nintendo basically killed Krystal in cold blood and set back Star Fox evolution back to the cartridge days. Bomberman was rather guilty of this as well.

But on the other hand, some characters are just trash and can easily be dropped. Apparently, Ian Flynn can't make the Deadly Six good (let's see Fleetway try, but I hope they succeed), so he shut them all up. However, Capcom left us assuming Lee was dead, but they brought him back to do nothing. This reminds me: Capcom also brought back Charlie, and nullified his sacrifice even more than SEGA did Shadow's. They said his Alpha 2 ending was canon. The one where he's betrayed and shot down. Hence, no sacrifice. Seriously, Charlie and Nash may as well be separate characters at this rate!

If SFV was a "dream match", then I would not be very bothered. But this is canon. And it's set before III. Why do you insist on staying before III? I want to see what happens after III. Lots of people do. Does the timeline end with Streetwise? That game that you erased for being a turd of a GTA ripoff?  Is Captain Commando still canon to the SF Universe? I honestly don't know. Punch-Out is more clearly in the Mario universe than this game (and Rival Schools, but it has been decreed an alternate canon) is in the Street Fighter universe.