Years active: 2007 - present (started around 20 years old; 17 years in the business)
About AJ Lee
April Jeanette Mendez is an American author, screenwriter and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name AJ Lee from 2009 to 2015.
Mendez began her professional wrestling career in 2007 in New Jersey's independent circuit. She signed with WWE in 2009 and spent two years in its developmental branch, Florida Championship Wrestling, before her promotion to the main roster. In 2012, she rose to prominence through storylines with her "mentally unstable" character, such as high-profile relationships and a three-month stint as the General Manager of Raw. In subsequent years, she won the Divas Championship a record-tying three times and held the title for an overall record of 406 days. She also won the Slammy Award for Diva of the Year in 2012 and 2014, and readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated voted her Woman of the Year from 2012 to 2014. She retired from in-ring performing in 2015. Mendez's 2017 memoir, Crazy Is My Superpower, was a New York Times Best Seller.
An advocate for mental health awareness and animal welfare, Mendez has served as an ambassador for organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Jed Foundation, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 2018, she was awarded with NAMI's Multicultural Outreach Award.
Mendez regards herself as a tomboy and has an interest in comic books, anime, and video games. She has the numerical date of her first WWE Divas Championship win tattooed in tally marks on the back of her neck.
Mendez is of Puerto Rican descent. She married fellow professional wrestler Phil Brooks, better known as CM Punk, on June 13, 2014. As of April 2024, she has amassed 1.1 million Instagram followers.
