AJ Lee has opened up about why she avoided watching professional wrestling during her decade away from the ring.
Lee retired from wrestling in 2015, shifting her attention toward her mental health and other projects. She eventually returned to WWE in 2025, teaming with her husband, CM Punk, against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.
During an appearance on Mind Over Mountain with Cheryl Strayed (see video below), Lee was asked whether she kept up with wrestling during her time away. She compared her relationship with the industry to a painful breakup.
“It felt like a relationship,” Lee said. “I’m not the type of person that is going to stalk my ex on social media. I never watched any wrestling, and I stayed far away from it.”
Lee explained that although she had fallen in love with wrestling, her time in the business also included difficult experiences that left her heartbroken.
“A piece of me was like, so much of my heart was in it, and I fell in love with it, and there was a lot of trauma back then,” she continued. “It wasn’t a very healthy place. A little bit of it was that I had a broken heart.”
Lee later decided to watch one of Punk’s WWE appearances and was impressed by the company’s women’s division. However, Punk suffered an injury during the show, leading her to stop watching again.
“Did I want to go there and think about it? My husband went back to wrestling,” Lee said. “I watched a show that he did. The women were so amazing, and it was like, ‘This is really cool.’ He got hurt on that show, and I was like, ‘I’m never f**king watching again.’ I thought it was bad juju. ‘I shouldn’t have.’ I got really weird about it then, and I didn’t want to watch.”
Lee ultimately returned to WWE after more than a decade away, joining CM Punk against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at the inaugural WWE WrestlePalooza premium live event. She later stepped away from the ring again following her match at WrestleMania 42.
Also during the interview, AJ Lee revealed what it would take to convince her to make another WWE comeback.
