Add as a preferred source on Google AJ Lee’s second WWE run has been very different from her first, but that does not mean her return came without concerns behind the scenes.
During a recent appearance on Maurice Benard’s State of Mind, AJ opened up about her fear of getting back in the ring after ten years away. The main concern was understanding how that level of exposure could affect her mental health.
“A big fear was coming back to the spotlight and wrestling again. […] My brain was at my lowest when it seemed like I was on top of the world, and I was a champion, all this stuff. So, taking 10 years and really taking care of myself and feeling the healthiest I’ve ever felt, then being like, ‘Okay, now go back into wrestling,’ I was really scared of, ‘Well, what’s that going to do?'”
Those comments connect to other recent remarks from AJ. In an interview with The Match-Up, she said she was positively surprised to see a change in how mental health is handled in pro wrestling, something she said was very different during her first WWE run.
AJ also revealed that protecting her mental health was one of the first issues discussed before her return. She said it is now part of her contract, something she never would have imagined ten years ago.
The former champion officially returned to WWE in September 2025, appearing for the first time in more than a decade during CM Punk’s rivalry with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. Not long after her return, she and Punk challenged Rollins and Lynch to a mixed tag team match at Wrestlepalooza.
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