In a breaking report coming out of WWE today, WWE Diva AJ Lee has decided to retire from in-ring competition. AJ Lee’s contract with WWE was set to expire this year. We all knew her relationship with CM Punk was going to lead to her leaving when her deal was up. However, it appears that she has decided to leave a bit early.
WWE’s Twitter account broke the news today, saying:
“BREAKING: AJ Lee (April Mendez) has decided to retire from in-ring competition with WWE. We wish AJ the very best.”
What makes this a big deal is because AJ Lee just worked WrestleMania 31, and is only 28 years old. She has no real bad injury putting her in a position of needing to go, so it does appear that her relationship with Punk led to the move. AJ did take a lot of random time off as of late to nurse nagging injuries as well as spend time with her husband.
AJ Lee, real name April Mendez, has been a big part of WWE programming for almost six years. She has held the WWE Diva’s Championship three times, which ties for the most. On top of this, she has held the WWE Diva’s Title longer than any woman in WWE history.
AJ has not yet commented on her departure from the squared circle, but one can assume she will do so in the future. Her departure has been foreshadowed for some time, as she has opened up website under her name of AJ Brooks. She has even gone into ventures under her real name. When accepting her Diva of the Year Award for 2014, AJ sort of gave hints that she’d be gone in 2015 as well.
That said, everyone assumed this would happen but it is quite a blow to her fans.
Will AJ come back in the future? Who knows? WWE was specific to say that AJ was “retiring” from in-ring competition. Not that she was simply leaving WWE.
Many were hoping that AJ would have one final, big match before leaving. However, she did get to work a WrestleMania match where she won. So she did go out as a winner.
[IMG Credit: WWE.com]
