AJ Lee has opened up about why she largely avoided professional wrestling during her decade away from the ring, comparing her relationship with the industry to a painful breakup.
Lee retired from wrestling in 2015 and turned her attention toward her mental health and other projects before eventually returning to WWE in 2025.
During an appearance on Mind Over Mountain with Cheryl Strayed, Lee was asked whether she continued following wrestling during her lengthy absence. She revealed that she deliberately kept her distance. “It felt like a relationship,” Lee said. “I’m not the type of person that is going to stalk my ex on social media. I never watched any wrestling, and I stayed far away from it.”
Lee explained that while she had fallen deeply in love with professional wrestling, her previous experiences in the business also left her dealing with difficult memories and a sense of heartbreak. “A piece of me was like, so much of my heart was in it, and I fell in love with it, and there was a lot of trauma back then,” she continued. “It wasn’t a very healthy place. A little bit of it was that I had a broken heart.”
Her perspective began to change after her husband, CM Punk, returned to wrestling. Lee eventually watched one of his WWE appearances and came away particularly impressed by the women’s division. However, Punk suffered an injury during the show, and Lee jokingly admitted that she began associating her decision to watch with what happened. “Did I want to go there and think about it? My husband went back to wrestling,” Lee said. “I watched a show that he did. The women were so amazing, and it was like, ‘This is really cool.’ He got hurt on that show, and I was like, ‘I’m never f**king watching again.’ I thought it was bad juju. ‘I shouldn’t have.’ I got really weird about it then, and I didn’t want to watch.”
Lee ultimately overcame that distance from wrestling and returned to WWE in 2025, teaming with Punk against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at the inaugural WWE WrestlePalooza premium live event.
After competing again during her comeback run, Lee stepped away from the ring following her match at WrestleMania 42.
