The September 5, 2025, episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown saw AJ Lee make her shocking return to WWE after over a decade. Following her epic comeback, she has now explained why she returned in the first place.
While speaking to ESPN, AJ Lee explained that her WWE return had been an idea floating around for a couple of years, but she was completely content with retirement and felt her career was complete. For her to step back into wrestling, it needed to feel entirely new, necessary, exciting and even a little scary.
Lee stated that joining WWE again as part of its new chapter with ESPN felt like climbing a brand-new mountain and she was honored that the company trusted her to help draw attention in this way.
Another big reason for her return was Becky Lynch. AJ admires Becky’s in-ring talent, sees many similarities between them. She views a match as a great challenge, making the opportunity too exciting to pass up.
“Gosh, it’s sort of been something that was in the air for the past couple of years as an option. However, when I retired, I was very comfortable staying retired and I felt very complete in my career.
So, I’ve always said to do something—to embark on a new journey—it has to feel brand new. It has to feel like I’m needed. It has to feel exciting and kind of scary. And so starting this new chapter on ESPN feels like a whole new mountain the company needs to climb. And I was flattered that they believed that I could help sort of draw eyeballs in that way.
But also, like Becky is very interesting to me. I think that she’s wonderful in the ring and we have a lot of similarities, and she would not be an easy person to get back in the ring with. So, that was exciting.”
CM Punk and AJ Lee are set to square off against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at WWE Wrestlepalooza, so we’ll have to wait and see whether Punk and Lee will manage to beat Rollins and Lynch in the end.
Are you excited to see AJ Lee finally step back inside a WWE ring? Do you think her team with CM Punk can defeat Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at Wrestlepalooza? Sound off in the comments.
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September 17, 2025 4:24 pm
