Just shy of one week after WrestleMania 31, AJ Lee (real name April Mendez) has decided to call it quits, legitimately retiring from in-ring competition with the World Wrestling Entertainment.
BREAKING: AJ Lee (April Mendez) has decided to retire from in-ring competition with WWE. We wish AJ the very best.
— WWE (@WWE) April 3, 2015
This announcement should come as no surprise, as the bridge between AJ and the company was severely crumbling. Rumors circulated earlier in 2014 when reports were released that AJ was disgruntled with the company and asked for time off. Adding fuel to the fire, a photo circulated of AJ and her now-husband CM Punk, embracing each other at the airport. With Punk’s history and departure from the company, many expected Mendez to follow suit and leave the company to be with her husband, as he embarks on a new journey with the UFC.
More heat was drawn on to Mendez in the months leading up to WrestleMania 31. First, the release of her personal website, which sold her own brand of merchandise. Following that came a one-sided war of words on Twitter. After Stephanie McMahon gave thanks to a celebrity that gave a speech empowering women all over the globe, Mendez was quick to point out the irony behind that by airing out the grievances of the Divas division, and setting a worldwide trend of #GiveDivasAChance. Despite a passive aggressive response from McMahon, thanking her for the response, it was rumored that there was monumental heat between her and AJ after the exchange.
Despite all the backstage reports, AJ Lee still went on to team with Paige to take on the team of Nikki and Brie Bella at WrestleMania 31, where they went on to defeat the twins. The two would go on to wrestle the next night on Raw, teaming up with Naomi in a six-Divas tag team match, a bout where they won. A send-off of WrestleMania and Raw victories is surely not a shabby way of departing from the company but I believe there has to be more to this story than originally led off.
For instance, the article WWE released clearly states that AJ will be retiring from in-ring action with the WWE. There are several options of possibilities in that brief quote. For one, in-ring action is just a part of the company’s entertainment show. There’s still a chance that she could be back at another capacity, possibly a backstage role, woman of power type scenario. On the other hand, they make sure to point out that she is retiring solely from the WWE and not from all of wrestling. Could it be that AJ is done with wrestling for WWE, but could be eyeing another promotion to take her talents to? If so, where would she go? TNA has a lighter travel schedule, which could allow Mendez to continue wrestling while spending more time with her hubby.
Then again, Mendez may just call it quits entirely and I am reading too much into this. After all, the money her and husband CM Punk have to fall back on is almost endless and that’s not counting Punk’s pay day from his UFC appearances. With money not being an issue, it comes down to whether Mendez wants to continue wrestling or if she’s fallen out of love with the sport and just wants to go on to live a normal life.
Or, could the rumors of her being pregnant be true this time around? The only reason this possibility could have some ground to it is the sudden announcement, following her appearances this past week at Mania and Raw. Only time will tell, but at this time we’d like to wish Mrs. April Mendez the best of luck with her future, wherever that may take her.
