Looking Back At AJ Lee

I will spend today looking back at a former WWE female talent, AJ Lee. AJ Lee debuted during the second dark age of the diva era. The WWE had failed to create a successor to Trish Stratus. All their attempts flopped. And they never bothered to create another Lita. That is to say, a female wrestler pushed as a top star in the periphery. AJ was that new Lita. She had a huge push in the periphery, getting angles alongside Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, John Cena, and other men. That transitioned into her getting a couple runs with the Diva's Championship. She also took a few breaks from the WWE. During one of those breaks, The Bellas really rose in prominence. It would have been interesting to see whether Nikki Bella or AJ Lee would have been the long-term centerpiece the WWE would have planned to go with. Instead of ever finding out, AJ Lee retired and chose CM Punk over the WWE.

I would say AJ Lee was definitely overrated when her WWE career first started. Before she even debuted, dirtsheets sold her as the successor to Mickie James. AJ Lee had never even done anything up to that point. She then was involved in NXT, back when it was a competition. She didn't win. She didn't even get in the final two. When she came to the main roster, she didn't really look like someone that would break out.

What helped her was the WWE giving her the freedom to be a psychotic character. Unlike what happened with Mickie James, this was not a psychotic character designed to put over some other woman meant to be the centerpiece. This was a periphery angle. They made AJ Lee into a star. And you could see her become more confident with that character. Her in-ring ability was okay, but I do think some people overrate that. You could definitely list a number of women better than her in the ring. But it was her character that really helped her be a star. And because she had some pro wrestling background prior to the WWE, that helped to connect her with some wrestling fans.

Staying on things that are overrated, I would still say her pipebomb was overrated. She was holding the title at the time, had been pushed harder than any woman in years, already had more fans buying into her than any other woman on the roster, and she was going out there and slamming women that had never been given the kind of opportunities she had been given and were just trying to make the most of what they were getting. Isn't it better for a pipebomb to come from an underdog or some kind of victim of the system? AJ Lee was the top star of the division, with or without the title, and the system helped her to be that star.

Thinking about that promo again, however, I do have to give her some credit. I don't think I was that much of a fan of the execution back then. Looking at other women, and even men, these days that do these self-righteous promos, AJ Lee at least did a better job making it entertaining than a lot of what I see these days. "Entertaining" these days is just pandering to smarks and saying what they want to hear. All you have to do is remember your lines. Maybe a little difficult for Roman Reigns. Regardless, too many fans see being confident as being great on the mic. There is more to it than that. Even if you find wrestlers that have that confidence, a lot of them don't do enough to make their promos entertaining. A lot of the blame can go on the writers, but some blame also has to go on the workers for not at least trying to be fun. Then again, some fans would probably not appreciate it and even think the performer is drunk.

Overall, I now look at AJ Lee in a more favorable light than I did back then. She was okay in the ring. She was cute and had an appealing look. And she was definitely charismatic. What changed? Does absence make the heart grow fonder? I think the issue was that the way she was booked back then just annoyed me. Booking someone too strongly can hurt them. Annoying booking of Charlotte last year did not make me a fan of her. Annoying booking of Alexa Bliss this year has not made me a fan of her. Look at Roman Reigns. I remember a depush actually helping him get better reactions a few years ago. Now that time has passed, I can just think back on AJ Lee as a performer. My opinion has definitely changed.

I would say part of the reason for the change of heart is that the women today are just so bland. Most of them do not have proper gimmicks. They have nicknames. The have funny-colored hair. They have male legends they latch onto. In terms of their characters, they lack creativity. There are too many self-righteous, feminist characters. Too much complaining. A lot of hype, but a lack of real character substance. At least when AJ Lee did this kind of thing, she still kept some of that crazy personality she had developed in her periphery angle. That makes her fun to watch. More of the young women in the WWE today need to work putting more personality into their matches and promos. It isn't what you do. It is how you do it.

The WWE also needs to step up and present more women in unique ways like they did AJ Lee. I would say it definitely helped her. She would have flopped without that big push in the periphery. She just didn't look too interesting. Even if they did try to push her as a credible jobber, I don't think she was good enough in the ring to really work out with that kind of career very well. But she had potential to be a great character. A lot of other women today can be great characters. Getting them away from the inefficient women's division might help them. None of the women today are that over. Even if you want to talk about Alexa Bliss, a lot of wrestling fans have a distaste for her. And her booking is also a source of annoyance. Let her character shine in the periphery, as I have said before. Mickie James could also benefit from this type of push. She has shown potential for years to play entertaining characters. In that sense, she has been underutilized. The women's revolution is just not enough to create stars and create an entertaining women's division. The WWE should look back the success of AJ Lee, a success they wanted, and not be afraid to create that kind of thing again.

There are a few women I have not been that big of a fan of that I have softened on over the years. AJ Lee is definitely one of those women. Again, one of the reasons might just be that things are so uninteresting to me these days, that AJ Lee just looks better to me. I would not mind if she did decide to come back. Her in-ring ability may not be on the same level as the NXT elite, but her presence and character would be refreshing. The WWE might ruin her with too many storylines about the women's revolution, but I think she would still let her own personality shine with what she has to work with. And unlike Mickie James, AJ Lee would be someone more likely to be featured well by the WWE, if she returns.