AJ Lee Is Happy For CM Punk In AEW, His Return Didn't Spark Anything For Her To

[Liz]

When CM Punk returned to wrestling in August 2021, joining AEW, many wondered if his wife AJ Lee (AJ Mendez) would be far behind.

Lee signed on with Women of Wrestling to serve as an executive producer and commentator, which only fueled fans desire to see her compete again.

Speaking to Renee Paquette on The Sessions, Lee discussed Punk's return and how she feels fulfilled in WOW.

"The conversation was a conversation that was way longer than people knew, with many things happening in the universe. There were many options. It was a very long time of, 'what's the right route? What's the safest route? What does it look like?' It was something I was scared of, just seeing what would emotionally happen. That was more or less for his stuff. To me, I retired and I retired," she stated.

Lee continued, "I always say, 'never say never, but don't hold your breath' and everyone holds on to the 'never say never.' [laughing] Don't hold your breath, you're going to die. I just wanted him to be emotionally safe and protected. That's been the coolest thing about his experience. It feels like he's always in a safe space and has a good group of people around him in AEW, that makes me very happy. There was a lot of 'Let's go!' To me, that didn't spark anything in me, but the combination of wrestling and writing, wrestling and producing, that was more comfortable and more exciting because it was a challenge.

"I always felt great about the timing of when I retired. You never want to be the last girl at the party, you want to go out on top. Everything felt so perfect and tied up in a bow. I know his experience is different. To me, I didn't want him, or me with WOW, anything to feel like you were the person going back to hang out with high school kids. I was hoping it wasn't that and it seems to not be."

WOW has taped future episodes, but no premiere date has been announced for the series. Scheduled early June tapings were postponed due to a positive COVID test.