AJ Lee on Her In-Ring Wrestling Career Future & Her Reasons Why She Returned To WWE In 2025

A recent episode of the Mind Over Mountain with Cheryl Strayed podcast featured AJ Lee as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Lee’s thoughts about the future of her in-ring wrestling career.

“We’ll see. There was a piece of me where I was just like, ‘I just need a little time.’ When I did, I was like, ‘I’m still kind of killing it.’ I’m confident in what I can bring, but I feel like I’m also story-driven. If there is a story there, that’s going to be the thing that excites me. If it’s something new that I haven’t done and feels like breaking ground, that is what is interesting to me. We’ll see. I’m going to keep writing, working out, and staying ready.”

Lee also gave her thoughts about her reasons for her decision return to wrestling and WWE in 2025 after walking away from wrestling for ten years.

“I always use the analogy that I went to this really poor high school and we didn’t even have a field for sports. We had to go borrow other schools’ fields for games. I graduated and a year later they got a field. I never thought, ‘I’m gonna be a fifth-year senior and enjoy this field.’ No, my time passed and I hope these kids enjoy this extra wonderful thing that they have. That’s how I always thought about wrestling. ‘I didn’t get it, but I’m so happy that I could do anything in the fight for you to get that one day.’ I didn’t think of it in terms of me at all. Then, they called.”

Lee also gave her thoughts about what the conversation was about between her and WWE for her return.

“I guess the story was there. My business sense says there was a new TV show that they needed to promote, a new relationship with ESPN. I’ve always been a character who has delivered very high ratings and merchandise sales. There is a reliability to this character, and God bless my fans. In any business I’ve gone to, they’ve followed me and supported me consistently. That’s never wavered. I think they knew I would bring that support to this event that needed more eyeballs. The story was there.”

Lee also gave her thoughts about if she immediately said yes for WWE’s offer for her to return.

“I took a second. I took a minute. It wasn’t for me at first. I felt like I had such a wonderful career and I didn’t want to mess with that. I didn’t think that they needed me. It was kind of a ‘no’ for a while. I do remember that I had dental surgery and I got a call and I was like, ‘How high am I? I’ve been gone for ten years.’ It was a weirdly bizarre time. The more I talked to them…the biggest hesitation on my part was my mental health was so bad that last year. I was really afraid of backsliding because I had done ten years of work to get myself healthy and be happy in life. Coming from a place of not having a list of things to check off and I wasn’t desperate for it, it was coming from a place that I’m so complete, whole, and happy. It was actually the perfect headspace to go in and feel healthy and safe. They very much told me that my mental health was going to be a priority.”

Lee last appeared for WWE at this past April’s WrestleMania 42 Night 1 event.

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2