On Friday afternoon, WWE.com announced that AJ Lee has not just left WWE, but retired from in-ring competition. The statement read as follows:
"AJ Lee (April Mendez) has decided to retire from in-ring competition with WWE. We wish AJ the very best."
Many people won't be surprised by her leaving WWE, as rumors had flown for months that she wasn't happy with the company, particularly after everything that happened with her husband, CM Punk. However the announcement that she retired instead of asking for her release is a surprising one.
AJ debuted on WWE television on the divas season of NXT (before NXT became what it is now). She was called up to the main roster and was loosely involved in various storylines until she started a relationship angle with Daniel Bryan. It was there where she started to show her personality, first as the typical valet with a jerk boyfriend. However, it was after Bryan left her that she really started to shine, and probably her most well-known storylines. She started a "crazy girl" character, working with Bryan, CM Punk and Kane, and even became General Manager of RAW over the summer. Eventually she would work with John Cena and Dolph Ziggler before breaking out as one of the cornerstone divas of the division.
Once she began being a full-time in-ring competitor, as opposed to a valet, she quickly became divas champion, and held the belt for nearly a year between mid-2013 until April 2014, where she lost the belt to Paige. She started an "anti-diva" character during this time, and was beloved by a large segment of fans both for her in-ring ability,a nd the fact that her character went after the "Total Divas" like the Bellas.
She'll be remembered as a diva that excelled both in the valet role as well as in-ring. As much as what she did in the ring though, it's what she represented that she will likely be remembered for, a diva, much like her husband, that defied authority both in-character and out, and that openly campaigned out of character to "Give Divas a Chance." Her future, whether she makes it back to the ring or not, will be fascinating to watch.
Thoughts? Favorite memories of AJ? Leave them in the comment section, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster. You can also hear me on "Jobbing Out" a new podcast, which you can find here: http://www.glennclarkradio.com/2015/04/03/jobbing-out-episode-4-features-a-special-guest-appearance-from-hall-of-famer-jim-ross