Earlier this year, there was a trend swirling around social media, the gist being to look back a decade, comparing 2026 to 2016 — a lifetime ago in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nature of today’s internet.
There are few, if any, wrestlers on the WrestleMania 42 card who would have more diametrically opposed lives when comparing 2016 and 2026 than AJ Lee.
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Lee, one of the most popular wrestlers in the early 2010s, left WWE in 2015 for myriad reasons, including injuries, feeling accomplished in her career, and her husband, CM Punk’s, split with WWE in 2014.
Before her departure, however, Lee helped ignite what would soon become known as the Women’s Revolution in WWE. A tweet response to Stephanie McMahon in February of that year called out the inequalities that existed between male and female talent in WWE at the time, giving rise to the #GiveDivasAChance movement and effectively paving the way for talent such as Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Becky Lynch — the latter of whom just so happens to be Lee’s WrestleMania opponent this weekend.
It was a seismic shift in not just WWE, but the entire industry. It was also one that Lee didn’t get to see or experience firsthand, having voluntarily removed herself from all things wrestling for the better part of the past decade.
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“I’ve been very honest and talked about how when I left, I did not keep in touch at all with wrestling,” Lee told Uncrowned. “I was retired and that was it. When my husband came back was when I sort of started to see it on TV again. I think that has been the coolest way to enter the new generation, to have this gap, because I knew what it was during mine and now to see what the women are doing now, it was like ‘Woah, that is what evolution is all about.’ They have grown into my wildest dreams.”
When Lee finally returned last September, she immediately inserted herself into the seemingly forever feud between her husband and Seth Rollins. While Punk’s return to WWE in 2023 was a major surprise, Lee’s was a bit more telegraphed. With Rollins’ wife, Lynch, getting involved in the on-screen rivalry, “SmackDown” being held in Lee’s adopted hometown of Chicago, and partially due to a social-media slip-up, the proverbial cat was somewhat out of the bag.
That didn’t mean it was easy.
“I’ve always heard that nerves are good because it means that you care,” Lee said. “That’s one of the things about performing, you always feel that right before you go out. I will always feel nerves when it comes to performing, because I care about it and I care about the fans and my opponents.
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“It was especially nerve-wracking when I came back, because I didn’t know what I was going to get. I could hear the crowd being really supportive that whole show, chanting my name, which was a bit calming. It kind of felt like diving into a pool and not knowing how shallow the water was going to be.”
Naturally, the crowd erupted when those familiar notes of “Let’s Light It Up” played. The pop crescendoed as Lee emerged and made her way to the ring. After a decade away, your favorite wrestler’s favorite wrestler was back and immediately part of one of the most high-profile storylines in WWE. She never skipped a beat — pun intended.
Two weeks after her return, Lee and Punk defeated Lynch and Rollins at Wrestlepalooza. She followed that up with a successful night at Survivor Series in the women’s WarGames match and then, three months later, began her march to WrestleMania by dethroning Lynch as the Women’s Intercontinental Champion at Elimination Chamber — coincidentally also in Chicago.
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“I keep saying that all of the opportunities that have been coming my way have been very unexpected,” Lee said. “I always refer to it as the sprinkles on top of the cupcake of my career. I came back and really didn’t have expectations, so this is really going above and beyond.”
Lee’s presence back in WWE goes beyond what she does in the ring, on the microphone or during television and premium live events. As one of the driving forces advocating for the women’s division more than a decade ago, there’s a reality wherein the countless milestones and accomplishments that have been achieved by her peers may not have happened without her. She humbly won’t name names, but her influence is readily evident in future Hall of Famers like Bayley and rising stars like Roxanne Perez.
Bayley and AJ Lee have influenced countless women in the wrestling business over the years.
(WWE via Getty Images)
“The wonderful thing about women wrestlers is that they don’t have ego in the way of not giving you your flowers,” Lee said. “All of the women have been really kind and open-hearted, giving me my flowers in person and letting me know that I’ve inspired them or have been a tiny part of their journey in any way.
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“When it was us back in the day, really fighting for what we really felt we could do and deserved — to see how evolved these women are 1776283526 and to see how they have really earned these opportunities, created these spaces for themselves, it was kind of what I dreamt of. To see it in real-life has been so moving, even from the outside. Now, I get to go play with these toys — what?! That has been really a beautiful thing to witness.”
While Lee — and other legends like the recently reunited Bella Twins — wanting to be back and mixing it up has added a layer of pride to the current generation of female stars, Lee also hasn’t forgotten the lessons she learned when she broke into WWE as a 22-year-old, and is bringing them into a locker room that is remarkably strong.
“I always remember the kindness the veterans gave me when I was starting out,” Lee said. “I always refer to Beth Phoenix very much being kind and taking care of me, Layla and Michelle [McCool] making sure I was OK, Mickie James embracing me when I was on the road. That kindness, it stays with you 15 years later.
“It is the thing that makes you want to make the next generation also feel safe. Walking into that locker room, Bayley is the leader of that locker room and she makes everyone feel really safe and heard and seen. You can go to her if you need anything. It makes me so proud to see what that locker room has become.”
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As beloved by the fans and the locker room as Lee is, WrestleMania 42 marks the first time in her career that she’ll be in a WrestleMania singles match. Her previous two matches at WrestleMania were a successful Divas Championship defense in a multi-woman match and a tag-team victory with Paige against the Bella Twins.
April 4, 2014: AJ Lee celebrates her win during WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans.
(WWE via Getty Images)
If anything, the fact that Lee is walking into Allegiant Stadium as the Women’s Intercontinental Champion — a title that was still a decade away from existing when she first left — is a representation of the advancement for women and pro-wrestling.
“The stakes are really cool to me,” Lee said. “I went to WrestleMania 20 as a fan and I had nosebleed seats, telling myself one day I was going to be in that ring. A decade after that, I walked in and out of WrestleMania as the Divas Champion, which was a really cool full-circle moment. I don’t know if I would have ever guessed that after more than another decade, I would be walking in as the champion — a whole new champion with a title that didn’t exist.”
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Lee may be 2-0 at the “Showcase of the Immortals,” but that doesn’t mean she’ll be measuring success by whether she defeats Lynch for the fourth time since returning. The last time Lee competed at WrestleMania, her match was the only women’s bout on the main card. Now, 11 years later there are four, all for championships.
Simply put, she’s just happy to be back.
“All of this is unexpected and a very fun opportunity that feels like bonus points, extra credit,” she said. “I am not going into this thinking that I need to feel happy or successful, so really just stepping out on the stage is going to feel like such a cool thing, because it’s been 11 years since the last time.”