AJ Lee Career Retrospective

AJ LEE

A look back into the Black Widow’s Web

Hey there folks, Jordan Bass here once again! Today, in honor of her birthday, I will be bringing you a blog dedicated to the former 3 time Divas Champion and one of the greatest WWE Divas of all time, AJ Lee!

If you follow me on Instagram (@jordanjomo), you are totally aware that AJ Lee is my favorite diva of all time. Now, why is that exactly? Well, that’s what I’ll be explaining today is this blog looking back at AJ’s WWE career.
AJ Lee made her main roster debut as a part of NXT Season 3. For those who don’t know, NXT hasn’t always been the developmental show for WWE. NXT for a period of time was a competition show where they pulled up talent from their then developmental system FCW to compete on the show where the winner would get a spot on either Raw or Smackdown. All the wrestlers had pro’s (established main roster superstars or divas) to coach them along the way, AJ’s happened to be Primo (now known as Diego as one half of Los Matadores). AJ Lee immediately caught my attention on the show because she was so different. I had already seen bits and pieces of her WWE career as I had watched a few of her FCW matches, including a great match with Naomi. AJ stuck out above the other women on the show because she didn’t seem like your typical WWE Diva at the time. At that point in WWE we had the likes of Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, LayCool, and The Bella Twins running the division, so we weren’t used to seeing someone like AJ Lee. AJ Lee didn’t look like your typical barbie doll figured diva that we were used to in the WWE. AJ was rough around the edges, with tomboy like attributes, unlike the other divas before her, therefore it appeared she had to work harder for her posistion. Also, it was evident that becoming a professional wrestler, and working for the WWE were not just an opportunity for her, but a dream she had been passionate about due to growing up as a fan. It was those things that appealed to me about AJ, and I was rooting for her to win.

AJ placed 3^rd runner up on the show but still ended up as a member of the Smackdown roster months later. AJ was immediately paired up with the winner of NXT season 3, Kaitlyn, and Natalya was their mentor. They didn’t have much success together, though AJ did pick up a huge singles win over her future bodyguard Tamina. Eventually Natalya ended up turning on AJ and beating her in a one on one match. It didn’t matter much to me, as I was just happy to see AJ Lee on the main roster. It was very visible to me that AJ Lee was getting comfortable with her wrestling ability, and adding new moves to her style. I was and always will be a huge fan of AJ’s wrestling ability and style. I was excited to see what the future had in store for AJ Lee and admired her ability to be on the main roster, but still stay true to herself, by not overly adapting her look or changing her personality to fit in amongst the other divas.

The next significant thing in AJ’s career on Smackdown was becoming the on-screen girlfriend of Daniel Bryan. AJ played that role until after Wrestlemania 28 where at the show of shows, a kiss with Bryan cost the American Dragon his World Championship in 18 seconds against Sheamus. This led to an on screen breakup with Bryan. Therefore, leading AJ Lee’s character to evolve into a broken hearted girl who started to lose her mind and basically started to act “crazy”. Soon enough, the broken heart and craziness lead to AJ assaulting her friend Kaitlyn, refusing her help as a friend and making out with the likes of CM Punk and Kane to make Bryan jealous and just stir the pot. It was then when AJ started rising to prominence, as she started becoming involved with the main eventers and the WWE Championship storylines. The WWE Championship storyline involved her future real-life husband CM Punk, who was the champion and her on-screen ex boyfriend Daniel Bryan.

The storyline concluded when AJ Lee was announced the General Manager of Raw on the 1000^th episode, during her on-screen wedding to Daniel Bryan. The best thing about her run as GM was seeing AJ in hot business suits every week. AJ resigned from that position as general manager in October and then turned heel in December when she pushed John Cena off of a ladder in a match against Dolph Ziggler at TLC with the Money in the Bank briefcase on the line, which began the on-screen relationship between Ziggler and Lee. I was a big fan of this pairing which soon turned into a group when they added the muscle, Big E Langston. AJ still characterized her Harley Quinn like personality and played the crazy heel girlfriend role so well. AJ Lee’s WWE career only kept moving in one direction from here, that was forward.

In June, AJ Lee finally captured the Divas Championship on pay-per-view at Payback in a match against her old best friend and former “Chickbuster” teammate Kaitlyn. This match was so memorable and the storytelling was impeccable. It’s my favorite Divas match in WWE history. These two put it all on the line and it was a very emotional moment. AJ went on to defeat the likes of Brie Bella, Natalya, Cameron, and the entire Divas division at Wrestlemania in her first Divas Championship reign. It was during this reign that we saw AJ Lee became one of the most popular superstars or divas on the main roster. AJ Lee, at this point in her career was putting on great matches as well as memorable promos. This initial reign as Divas champion was the longest reign in WWE history for the Divas title until Nikki Bella broke it last year by six days.

The night after Wrestlemania 30, AJ dropped the title to the debuting Paige in an impromptu match and then took some time off after that. AJ returned in July as a babyface, and defeated Paige rather quickly on Raw, in similar fashion to how Paige defeated her the night following Wrestlemania 30. Therefore, regaining the Divas Championship to begin her second reign with the title, and entering in an official feud with Paige over the title. AJ Lee and Paige feuded for several months, and I really enjoyed it. Both women got lots of mic time and were able to progress on their characters during the feud. AJ dropped the title back to Paige at Summerslam 2014 before winning it back at Night of Champions in a triple threat match with Paige and Nikki Bella. By this point, AJ had already cemented her legendary status by becoming a three time Divas Champion.

This final reign ended when AJ Lee dropped the title to Nikki Bella at Survivor Series due to a kiss from Brie Bella (Daniel Bryan’s real-life husband) which was similar to the kiss that AJ gave to Bryan before he lost the World Title to Sheamus at Wrestlemania 28. Moving forward, AJ lost again to Nikki Bella in their rematch at TLC, due to outside interference, before taking more time off to nurse an injury. Finally, AJ Lee made one last return during the buildup to Wrestlemania 31 to help Paige fight off the Bella Twins. AJ Lee then teamed with Paige at the grandest stage of them all, in a winning effort over the Bella Twins. The night after Mania she was on the winning team in a 6 Diva tag team match where Paige, Naomi and herself defeated the Bella Twins and Natalya. It was announced days later that she was retiring from wrestling. This news broke my heart as she was and had been my favorite Diva on the roster.

Overall, AJ Lee had one of the most successful careers for a diva in WWE history. AJ Lee made a huge fan out of me and left a mark on WWE. AJ’s a future hall of famer for sure in my eyes and I still hold hope that one day she will decide to return to the ring for another run with the WWE. I would love to see AJ Lee wrestle Sasha Banks, if I had one dream feud to choose her to return for. In my mind, AJ Lee had lived her dream, but at the same time left a legacy behind that impacted the Divas Division. AJ changed the landscape of the Division and made it clear, that it was okay to be “different”, or “weird”, or not your typical “girly-girl” but still achieve great heights in the WWE and still being able to achieve your dreams. Thank You AJ Lee & Happy Birthday.

Top 5 AJ Lee matches you should watch:

#5 – AJ Lee vs. Bayley for the Divas Championship from NXT (http://youtu.be/wZOdkNt1_Ds)

#4- AJ Lee vs. Paige vs. Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship at Night Of Champions 2014 (can be found on WWE Network)

#3- AJ Lee vs. Natalya for the Divas Championship from TLC 2013 (can be found on WWE Network)

#2- AJ Lee vs. Natalya for the Divas Championship from Main Event 3/11/14 (can be found on WWE Network)

#1- AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn for the Divas Championship from Payback 2013 (can be found on WWE Network)

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