AJ Lee is opening up about what ultimately brought her back to WWE, crediting the fans for playing a major role in her long-awaited return while also reflecting on sharing the ring with a generation she helped inspire.
During an appearance on The Takedown on SI, Lee spoke candidly about how fan support during her time away from wrestling helped solidify her decision to come back.
She pointed to meet-and-greet experiences tied to her outside projects, where overwhelming turnout made it clear her connection with the audience hadn’t faded.
“I knew that coming back was the right decision because of my fans,” stated Lee.
The lines, she explained, told the real story.
“I was getting these lines that were legitimately seven hours long and that’s when I realized, ‘oh, they’re still here’. There’s still this hunger here. This support that only comes with wrestling. It only comes with this really loyal fanbase who watched me from day one, were a part of the mission statement of underdogs for the win and stuck with me, and were waiting for me to come back. And… to be able to give them a title run and a Mania match, has been incredibly meaningful.”
That perspective has only deepened since returning.
Lee also reflected on the legacy she left behind after stepping away in 2015, particularly within the women’s division, and what it’s like now to work alongside talent influenced by her run.
“It’s kind of like being at your own funeral a little bit,” Lee said with a laugh. “Everyone has something really nice to say about how I helped them in their career, and it’s just meaningful and very surreal and cool.”
Now back in the mix, Lee says she’s approaching her career with a completely different mindset than before.
“I know who I am. I know what I’ve done. I can walk into this place with a new kind of confidence and a calmness of just being a grown-ass woman. And there is a different level to performing that way, with that mindset of, yeah, I know what I can do. And so it makes it a little bit more fun. I get to really just enjoy and soak up the moments versus feeling like you were scrapping every day back then.”
Lee’s return quickly turned into a major storyline, as she aligned with CM Punk in his rivalry involving Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch in September 2025.
That momentum carried into a featured singles feud, where Lee challenged Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. She would go on to defeat “The Man” to capture her first singles WWE title in over a decade at Elimination Chamber.
Big moment.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Lee laid down the challenge for a rematch against Lynch at WrestleMania 42. Lynch accepted, noting it played directly into her plan to provoke the showdown.
The match is set for Night One of WrestleMania 42 and will mark Lee’s first appearance on “The Grandest Stage of Them All” since WrestleMania 31.
