AJ Lee
| AJ Lee | |
|---|---|
 AJ in 2021 | |
| Birth name | April Jeanette Mendez |
| Born | March 19, 1987 Union City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Website | TheAJMendez.com  |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
|
| Billed height | 5 ft 3 in (160 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 115 lb (52 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Union City, New Jersey[2] |
| Trained by | |
| Debut | 2007 |
April Jeanette "AJ" Mendez (born March 19, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE under the ring name AJ Lee. Considered by many to be one of the greatest women’s wrestlers of all time, AJ Lee was the trailblazer that sparked the turning point in women’s wrestling. She competed on the third season of NXT but finished fourth overall. Even though she did not win NXT she was still given a contract with the WWE and debuted in her first match for the SmackDown brand on May 27, 2011 edition where she teamed with Kaitlyn in a losing effort against Alicia Fox and Tamina.
AJ Lee held the Divas Championship 3 times in WWE, successfully retaining her title at WrestleMania XXX. the night after on Raw she was defeated and lost her title to NXT Women's Champion, Paige. On the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, Lee returned to the WWE. She challenged Paige for the Divas Championship and won her second championship.[4]
On April 3, 2015, it was announced that AJ decided to retire from the company.[5]
On the September 8, 2025, episode of SmackDown, AJ Lee returned to WWE after 10 years, confronted and attacked Becky Lynch, who had been indirectly feuding with AJ’s husband, CM Punk, via her own husband Seth Rollins. AJ’s first return match took place Wrestlepalooza on September 20, where she and Punk defeated Lynch and Rollins in a mixed tag team match after she forced Lynch to submit.[6]
Championships and accomplishments
[change | change source]- Florida Championship Wrestling
- FCW Divas Championship (1 time)
- Queen of FCW (1 time)
- Guinness World Records
- Most wins of the WWE Divas Championship (3 times) tied with Eve Torres
- First female WWE Superstar Challenge winner (2012)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked her #43 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2013
- Women Superstars Uncensored
- WSU Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Brooke Carter
- WSU/NWS King and Queen of the Ring (2004) — with Jay Lethal
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Worst Worked Match of the Year (2013) with Aksana, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae and Tamina Snuka vs. Cameron, Eva Marie, JoJo, Naomi, Natalya and The Bella Twins at Survivor Series on November 24
- WWE
- WWE Divas Championship (3 times)
- WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
- Slammy Award for Diva of the Year (2012, 2014)
- Slammy Award for Kiss of the Year (2012) — with John Cena
- Other awards and honors
- National Alliance on Mental Illness Multicultural Outreach Award (2018)
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "AJ bio". Florida Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on February 24, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- 1 2 "AJ Lee bio". WWE. Archived from the original on April 6, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
- ↑ Wortman, James (May 15, 2013). "The spider's bite: AJ Lee on her excruciating 'Black Widow' submission move". WWE. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
- ↑ "AJ Lee def. Paige to become the new Divas Champion". WWE. Archived from the original on 2014-07-06. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
- ↑ "AJ Lee retires from WWE". WWE. 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
- ↑ "AJ Lee Comments On WWE Return". sports.yahoo.com. September 8, 2025.[permanent dead link]
Other websites
[change | change source]
This short article about a person from the United States can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.