Former three-time Divas Champion AJ Lee has opened up about the motivation behind her shocking WWE return earlier this month. Speaking with ESPN’s Vibe Check, Lee revealed that while she once felt her retirement was final, fan support and a fresh challenge ultimately drew her back to the ring.
Lee explained that she was fully content with her original retirement in 2015.
“Honestly, when I retired, I was very sure that was the end. I felt very complete. I had this sort of pitch-perfect career and executed all of my dreams in a way I felt like I manifested, because it was done so perfectly. And so, I was done.”
However, with CM Punk’s WWE comeback in 2023 and her growing presence on the Comic Con circuit, Lee began to reconsider.
“Over the past couple of years, since my husband’s been back, it’s sort of been in the air as an option. I wasn’t really considering it until I started to get back on the Comic Con circuit. I wrote my first original graphic novel and started to do signings, and I realized that there were so many fans still out there who were so loyal and kind, and have been with me for a decade. To go to a Comic Con and have like a seven-hour line of people, I realized, ‘Oh, I owe them a little something, and I take them with me.’ So, I would like to give them something in return.”
For Lee, the chance to return on a major stage while helping launch WWE’s new partnership with ESPN was the deciding factor.
“This opportunity, being a new event with ESPN, that was interesting. That is a new mountain to climb. That’s not just jumping back into the fold—that’s kind of starting to build something brand new. And that’s exciting. I like a challenge.”
AJ Lee is set to team with CM Punk against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at Wrestlepalooza on September 20 in what will be her first WWE match in over a decade.
