AJ Lee: A Unique Superhero

“Do you wanna know what I see when I look in that ring? Honestly? A bunch of cheap, interchangeable, expendable, useless women. Women who have turned to reality television 'cause they just weren't gifted enough to be actresses. And they just weren't talented enough to be champion. I have done more in one year than all of you have done in your entire collective careers. I have saved your Divas division, I have shattered glass ceilings, I have broken down doors. Why? So, so, a bunch of ungrateful, stiff, plastic mannequins can waltz on through without even getting as much of a thank you? You guys can't even go backstage and shake my hand and look at me in the eyes because you know that I worked my entire life to get here, I gave my life to this, and you were just handed fifteen minutes of fame. I didn't get here because I was cute, or because I came from a famous wrestling family, or because I sucked up to the right people. I got here because I am good. I earned this Championship and no matter how many red carpets you guys wanna walk in your four thousand dollars ridiculous heels, you will never be able to lace up my Chuck Taylors.” - AJ Lee’s PipeBombshell on August 26th, 2013 episode of RAW.

April Mendez born March 19th, 1987 inspires many women in wrestling and in general. April grew up in a Puerto Rican household in Union City, New Jersey. Her family grew up in poverty, she described her living experience with her family as “having to live in motels and other people’s homes”. She also has stated that she and her family also struggled with mental health and addiction. April grew up watching wrestling with her brother. She cites her brother’s interest in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on her decision to become a pro wrestler. She cites Lita, another inspirational woman in WWE as her inspiration. Once April graduated high school in 2005, she attended New York University’s Tisch School of Arts where she majored in film and television production until she had to drop out six months later due to family and financial issues. Around the age of 20, April was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She was previously misdiagnosed with depression and overdosed on antidepressants and painkillers. She considers this to be a suicide attempt. It caused her to seek help, proper treatment and the right diagnosis. She credits the condition for giving her the bravery to achieve her goals.

When April had enough money, she eventually started to research wrestling schools near her in 2007. She enrolled herself at the ACE Wrestling Academy in Union City, NJ. She became an official wrestling student in March 2007. On October 10th, 2008 she entered under the ring name Miss April and made her debut for Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU). On February 7th, 2009, Miss April and her tag partner, Brooke Carter defeated the Beatdown Betties to win the WSU Tag Team Championship. Later on April 11th, Miss April was crowned WSU Queen of The Ring. After her short run at WSU from late 2008 to early 2009, she signed a contract with WWE. She was then assigned to FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) which was WWE’s developmental system. She made her FCW TV debut on August 14, 2009, under the name April Lee. In September 2009 she finally changed her name to who she is known as today, AJ Lee. She won Queen of FCW on February 4th, 2010. In June 2010, she started to appear in Raw House acting as a hostess. AJ eventually lost her Queen of FCW title on November 18th and then became FCW Divas Champion on December 16th. She was the first FCW Diva to hold the FCW Divas Championship and Queen of FCW titles. She then lost the title to Aksana on April 7th. 

AJ entered the third season of NXT under the name AJ with Primo as her Pro. She was eliminated from NXT on November 23rd. She made her WWE debut on the May 27th, 2011 episode of SmackDown, when she and Kaitlyn, known as “The Chickbusters” lost to Alicia Fox and Tamina. AJ’s first victory came on June 10th of SmackDown. It would be a long paragraph to go into detail about AJ’s WWE career since she accomplished a lot during the five years she was there. But her most memorable feuds came later in her career. Sure, she did have other memorable moments such as the CM Punk and Daniel Bryan (+ Kane) love triangle, square and then back to triangle storyline which gave her the spotlight and even made her Raw General Manager at some point and we cannot forget her WrestleMania 28 kiss to Daniel Bryan. Then the storyline ended with AJ leaving Bryan at the altar for the GM job. She would then leave the GM job on October 22nd. She would later go on to have a small thing with John Cena, betray him and then go to Dolph Ziggler. But finally, we arrived in 2013. AJ won a Battle Royal on April 22nd, 2013, to become the number one contender for Kaitlyn’s (who is now her ex-best friend) Diva’s Championship. Insert the Kaitlyn secret admirer storyline where the admirer was revealed to be Big E. At the Payback pay-per-view, AJ would defeat Kaitlyn to capture her first Divas Championship. Dolph and AJ would come to an end after AJ cost Dolph his rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship. The AJ-Kaitlyn feud came to an end at SummerSlam. 

Let us keep this short as her feuds with the Bella Twins, Paige, etc would take up pages. AJ would have a memorable feud with the Total Divas cast members, especially the Bella Twins. She would enlist Tamina as her bodyguard. AJ became the longest reigning Divas Champion in mid-January after surpassing Maryse’s reign. AJ went on to become the first woman to defend and retain the Divas Championship at WrestleMania 30. The Monday Raw after, she lost her title to a debuting Paige. AJ’s reign lasted 295 days. AJ went on to win the title two more times (at Battleground and Night of Champions in 2014). AJ and Paige’s feud ended in a Hell in a Cell match. November 23rd, at Survivor Series, was the last time AJ held the title and then lost it to Nikki Bella. AJ took a leave for three months due to a neck injury and then returned on March 2nd, 2015. She would team with former rival Paige to defeat the Bella Twins at WrestleMania 31. On April 3rd, WWE announced AJ decided to retire from the company.  It is unsure why AJ left the company as there are many reasons which are considered reasonable for her. Currently, AJ has the second longest reign as Divas Champion (295 days) but holds the longest combining reigning Divas Champion for days in total (405 days). She and Eve Torres are the only three-time Divas Champions. 

AJ Lee left an impact on the women’s division despite WWE trying to cover it up, making it seem like she never existed the moment she quietly retired. However, many women wrestlers including the first woman to become a grand slam champion, Bayley credit AJ as an influence. Other women include Cora Jade, two-time NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez, Mercedes Mone (fka Sasha Banks) and others. Even women wrestlers in the Indies credit her. Outside of wrestling, AJ according to people did not have the look of a Diva. She remembers that she was told to dye her hair and many other “improvements”. This is ironic since AJ is one of the Divas that a lot of women wrestlers and fans could compare themselves to. AJ considered herself weird, geeky, etc and she proved that those types of women can be wrestlers as well. Many women in wrestling and even fans looked up to her for that too. As of recently, AJ has been name-dropped in WWE (thanks to her husband, CM Punk coming back). This is an improvement, even though many people want AJ back as soon as possible, it is important to honour her name and accomplishments before she returns. It is also important to highlight that AJ is technically involved in a storyline with CM Punk and Drew McIntryre, making it her first storyline in almost ten years. 

From a personal standpoint, I was not a huge wrestling fan around the time of the Divas era but I loved watching the women, especially AJ Lee. I saw myself in AJ Lee mainly because she was different from the other Divas. AJ wrestled in jean shorts, knee-high Converse, the list goes on. Her sense of fashion and a bit of the way she acted reminded me of myself. To younger me, she stood out as a role model and to this day she still stands out as a role model to me. She proved that women like her and me who were seen as “outcasts” can have success as well. I am not a wrestler, but I was a former athlete struggling with my mental health and performance in sports. When I learnt AJ went through slightly similar experiences to mine with her mental health and that she is an advocate, it reminded me of why she is a role model inside and outside of wrestling. She puts her mental health first and reminds other athletes and people to do the same which is highly important especially if you are struggling. I would love to see her back in the ring one more time just to get that feeling of being a child and watching her matches back in 2013-2015 again, but it is important to me and many other AJ fans right now that she is being acknowledged in WWE. She is finally getting her flowers. 

AJ Lee has had herself the life and career. From entering the WWE to being in the love triangle to becoming a Divas Champion to injuries to become one out of two women to win the Divas Championship twice to retirement to opening up with mental health struggles, the list goes on. She constantly proved that women considered as “outcasts” in the Diva/women’s division can wrestle and have success and that women who are considered as “outcasts” in general, myself included, can have success in anything they do if they put their mind to it. As of recently, AJ advocates for mental health and how important it is to put your mental health first. To me and many other fans and people, this is important and should be talked about more in sports and in general. We need more superheroes like or similar to AJ Lee.

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Sources

AJ Lee. (n.d.). GetFandom. Retrieved from https://prowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/AJ_Lee

AJ Lee (n.d.). The Smackdown Hotel. Retrieved from https://www.thesmackdownhotel.com/wrestlers/aj-lee

Beaston. E. (2015). Full Career Retrospective and Greatest Moments for AJ Lee. Bleacher Report. Retrieved from https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2423671-full-career-retrospective-and-greatest-moments-for-aj-lee