AJ Lee

In November 2011, AJ Lee began a romantic storyline with Daniel Bryan, a World Heavyweight Championship title holder. The relationship hit the rocks when Bryan blamed AJ for his loss of the title to Sheamus after a ‘good luck kiss’ by her distracted him.

Distraught by the breakup, AJ turned her affection to Bryan's rival and WWE Champion CM Punk, and later to another WWE title contender, Kane. Meanwhile, Bryan reconciled with AJ and proposed marriage to her.

It was during the exchange of vows at Raw 1000 that AJ left Bryan at the altar to take up a job as Raw General Manager. Following this, she was involved in romantic storylines with John Cena and later with Dolph Ziggler, both of which ended hastily.

AJ Lee was born as April Jeanette (AJ) Mendez, on March 19, 1987, in Union City, New Jersey. Of Puerto Rican descent, Mendez has two older siblings, Erica and Robert.

It was her brother’s interest in WWE that influenced AJ to pursue professional wrestling as a career. At the young age of 12, she cemented her decision to become a professional wrestler.

In 2005, she graduated from Memorial High School. Later on, she enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts to study film and television production and writing, but dropped out of the same in six months. She then took up part-time jobs to support her family financially and save for an enrollment in a wrestling school.

In 2007, AJ Mendez enrolled in a wrestling school. By March, she was training under Jay Lethal. The same year, in September, Mendez made her official entry in the ring under the name of Miss April, wrestling on the New Jersey independent circuit.

In 2008, Miss April joined the New Jersey-based promotion Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU). She lost her debut match to Jana. Unable to make it to the inaugural WSU Tag Team Champions, she formed a tag team with Brooke Carter. In 2009, they captured the tag titles by defeating the Beatdown Betties.

Together with Jay Lethal, Miss April won the 2009 WSU/NWS King and Queen Ring of the Tournament. In May 2009, she left WSU to sign a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), she made her debut under the ring name April Lee in a televised match. It was shortly thereafter that she changed her ring name to AJ Lee that stuck to her for long.

In February 2010, AJ defeated Serena Mancini to win the Queen of FCW title. However, she could not retain the title for long and lost it to Rosa Mendes in November. In December, she bounced back to defeat Naomi for the FCW Divas Championship title. The victory made her the first FCW's female wrestler to win both the titles. She held the title until April 2011, finally losing it to Aksana.

AJ Lee won the Diva of the Year Slammy Award in 2012 and 2014.

She was voted Woman of the Year by readers of ‘Pro Wrestling Illustrated’ for an unprecedented three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014.