AJ Lee Explains Why It Felt Like The Right Time For WWE Return
AJ Lee has opened up about why 2025 felt like the right time for her WWE return.
At the age of 38, AJ Lee is back in WWE after more than a decade. She’s not at an age where people would think she is past her prime, because when she had her first WWE run, she was in her early to mid-20s, which is a lot earlier than most people.
As AJ Lee mentioned on the September 8th edition of WWE Raw, she needed time away from pro wrestling because she needed to heal physically and emotionally. During her promo, she mentioned how much therapy helped her, and it even led to a “therapy” chant from the fans.
When CM Punk came back to WWE in November 2023 after nearly 10 years away, it was a celebration for a WWE legend. He also got asked often about his wife AJ Lee returning to WWE as well, but Punk maintained it was up to her.
Now that Lee is back in a WWE ring, the same love that WWE fans had for Punk is being shown to her. There are also many wrestlers in WWE, like Roxanne Perez, who grew up watching Lee during her first run in the early 2010s, and love that they get to work with her now.
AJ Lee Is Ready To Start A New Chapter
The in-ring WWE return of AJ Lee will take place this Saturday, September 20th, at Wrestlepalooza when she teams up with her husband, CM Punk, against Women’s Intercontinental Champion, Becky Lynch, and her husband, Seth Rollins, who is the World Heavyweight Champion and Punk’s biggest rival.
So why now? ESPN interviewed AJ Lee and spoke about how WWE PLEs starting to air on ESPN in the US for Wrestlepalooza made it feel like the right time for a comeback.
“It’s sort of been something that was in the air for the past couple of years as an option. However, when I retired, I was very comfortable staying retired, and I felt very complete in my career. I’ve always set to do something, to embark on a new journey, it has to feel brand new and feel like I’m needed and exciting and kind of scary.
Starting this new chapter on ESPN feels like a whole new mountain the company needs to climb, and I was flattered that they believed that I could help draw eyeballs in that way.
Also, Becky is very interesting to me. I think she’s wonderful in the ring and we have a lot of similarities. She would not be an easy person to get back in the ring with. That was exciting.”
WWE Wrestlepalooza takes place on September 20th. Here’s the lineup so far.
- John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
- Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
- CM Punk & AJ Lee vs. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch
- For the Vacant Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky
- The Usos – Jimmy & Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker
You can watch Wrestlepalooza, streaming LIVE Saturday, September 20, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN in the United States and on Netflix everywhere else.