AJ Lee
Real name: April Jeanette Mendez
Height: 5’2″
Weight: 107 lbs.
Date of birth: March 19, 1987
Hometown: Union City, NJ
Pro debut: September 29, 2007
Trained by: Jay Lethal
Finishing move: Shining Wizard
Biography
– In September 2007, Mendez debuted on the Northeastern indy circuit
– In late 2007, Mendez began competing for WSU as ‘Miss April’
– On February 7, 2009, The AC Express (Miss April & Brooke Carter) defeated The Beatdown Betties (Roxie Cotton & Annie Social) to win the WSU Tag Team Titles
– On March 7, 2009, The AC Express defeated The Beatdown Betties (Rick Cataldo & Roxie Cotton) to retain the WSU Tag Team Titles
– On April 11, 2009, April & Jay Lethal defeated Damien Demento & Jana to win the WSU King & Queen of the Ring Tournament
– In May 2009, Mendez signed a WWE development deal and was assigned to FCW, adopting the persona of ‘AJ Lee’
– On July 30, 2009, AJ, Angela Fong & Tiffany defeated Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes & Serena Deeb (AJ’s FCW debut)
– On February 4, 2010, AJ defeated Serena to win the Queen of FCW Title
– On February 25, 2010, AJ defeated Naomi Night to retain the Queen of FCW Title
– On August 12, 2010, AJ fought Naomi Night to a double countout in a Champion vs Champion Match. As a result, both women retained their respective titles
– On August 31, 2010, AJ Lee was announced as a competitor on NXT Season 3, with Primo as her pro. She started competing as ‘AJ’ during this run
– On September 7, 2010, AJ & Primo defeated Aksana & Goldust (AJ’s NXT debut)
– On November 23, 2010, AJ was eliminated from NXT Season 3, placing third in the competition
– On December 16, 2010, AJ defeated Naomi Night to win the FCW Divas Title, thus becoming the first to hold both FCW Women’s Titles
– On February 3, 2011, AJ defeated Naomi to retain the FCW Divas Title
– On May 24, 2011, AJ made her Smackdown debut, competing alongside Kaitlyn in a losing effort to Alicia Fox & Tamina
– On June 7, 2011, AJ defeated Tamina
– In November 2011, AJ began a romance storyline with Daniel Bryan
– On January 13, 2012, Daniel Bryan fought The Big Show to a no contest after Show accidentally ran into AJ, causing her (kayfabe) serious injury
– On February 3, 2012, AJ returned to Smackdown, protecting Bryan from Show
– On March 13, 2012, AJ defeated Brie Bella to earn her first WWE Divas Title shot
– During the Summer of 2012, Vince McMahon named AJ the new Raw general manager
– At Payback ’13 in Chicago, IL, AJ defeated Kaitlyn to win the WWE divas title
– At Money In The Bank ’13, AJ defeated Kaitlyn to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At Night of Champions ’13, AJ defeated Brie Bella, Naomi & Natalya in a Fatal 4-Way Match to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At Battleground ’13, AJ defeated Brie Bella to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At Hell In A Cell ’13, AJ again defeated Brie Bella to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At TLC ’13, AJ defeated Natalya to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At Elimination Chamber ’14, AJ retained her WWE Divas Title, losing to Cameron by DQ
– At WrestleMania XXX, AJ won the Vickie Guerrero Invitational Match, defeating 13 other Divas to retain her WWE Divas Title
– The next night on Raw, AJ lost the Divas Title to Paige, ending her reign at 295 days, by far the longest reign at the time of writing. AJ took time away from WWE following this match
– On June 13, 2014, AJ married longtime boyfriend Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks
– On June 30, 2014, AJ returned to Raw and defeated Paige to win her second WWE Divas Title
– At Battleground ’14, AJ defeated Paige to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At Night of Champions ’14, AJ defeated Paige & Nikki Bella in a Triple Threat Match to regain the WWE Divas Title only a month after losing it to Paige
– At Hell In A Cell ’14, AJ defeated Paige to retain the WWE Divas Title
– At Wrestlemania 31, AJ and Paige defeated the Bella Twins
– Days later, Lee left WWE
– AJ married fellow wrestler Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks on June 13, 2014
– In 2021, AJ made a surprise return to the wrestling business, signing up with the revived WOW promotion as a producer and commentator
