WRESTLEZONE RECAP

–Your Sunday Paper for Pro Wrestling News–

April 5, 2015

WWE announced on April 3 the release of 28-year-old April Jeanette Brooks, who has been working with the promotion as “AJ Lee” since the 2010 all-female edition of NXT. She finished third in a competition that also included Karlee Perez (Lucha Underground manager Catrina), Aksana, Trinity Fatu (Naomi), and season winner Celeste Bonin (Kaitlyn). 

AJ made her main roster debut on Smackdown alongside Kaitlyn as the “Chickbusters”, who primarily portrayed themselves as best friend anti-Divas. Their first program was with the “Divas of Doom”, Natalya and Beth Phoenix. Her first major role on TV came as the unrequited love interest of Daniel Bryan, who would use her as a human shield during his run as a heel World Heavyweight Champion. 

The theme of AJ falling for various WWE Superstars is one that would continue for all of 2012 and into 2013. The on-off relationship with Daniel Bryan and involvement in Bryan’s feud with CM Punk resulted in her emerging “unstable” character being named the General Manager of RAW. Her time as GM ended in October when it was revealed she had a storyline “affair” with the company’s top star, John Cena. The two began a brief relationship that ended in AJ turning on John during his Money in the Bank ladder match with Dolph Ziggler. 

She would go on to win her first WWE Divas Championship at the Payback pay-per-view in mid-2013, holding the title for a record 295 days. During her reign, AJ began a campaign against the entire cast of Total Divas, ridiculing them for being “reality stars” instead of actual pro wrestlers. She would successfully defend the title against Brie Bella, Natalya, Naomi between August and January, before retaining in a 13-Diva “invitational” at WrestleMania, that was designed by Vickie Guerrero to pit the entire female roster against her.

Paige, the first-even NXT Women’s Champion, made her main roster debut the night after WrestleMania, coercing AJ Lee into defended her title on-the-spot and ultimately taking the Divas Championship. The two would trade the belt several times over summer 2014, making her a three-time champion.

AJ married former WWE Champion and current UFC trainee Phil “CM Punk” Brooks on June 13, 2014. Punk claimed in his controversial podcast with Colt Cabana that he received his termination papers on his wedding day. 

Late into the year she took several months off to recover from a neck injury, returning alongside Paige to compete against and defeat the Bella Twins at WrestleMania 31. Rumors of AJ ran rampant in 2014, including false reports about a pregnancy and speculation that her 35-second loss at Survivor Series would set up her final match with the company at TLC. In reality, it was only six matches off.

It was announced on April 3 through the WWE Twitter account that AJ Lee had decided to retire from in-ring competition. She will remain an employee with the company until her contract officially expires.