According to The Wrestling Observer, AJ Lee’s Tweet to Stephanie McMahon was something AJ did completely on her own, and it was said to have totally blindsided WWE. Stephanie McMahon was reportedly “furious” when she saw the Tweet, as she felt she was being made to look bad on Twitter and was “shown up” by one of her employees. Vince McMahon, seeing the bigger (likely PR related) picture, instructed Stephanie to simply thank AJ in response.
Regarding AJ Lee’s merchandise claims, while she was a good merchandise seller when she was being pushed, the same formula is used for everyone on the roster, with certain top superstars getting higher percentages. That said, WWE Divas do not draw nearly as high as top men on the roster.
As for talent pay, while there are exceptions, it is a general rule in WWE that the Divas on the main roster are paid significantly less than the men. That is reportedly not the case in NXT as the Divas there make more than the men because so many of the men came from indy backgrounds and are willing to take low pay just to be a part of WWE.
AJ Lee also made the claim that Divas have “starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times,” however generally when that was the case AJ was working main event segments with top stars such as Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, and those segments always did well.