AJ Lee is considered queen bee in WWE’s Divas division. Unlike many of her colleagues, she isn’t the stereotypical mannequin many fans had grown accustomed to. There isn’t the slightest thing stereotypical about the chick sitting atop of the Divas division.
AJ, with her devil-may-care attitude, rocking jean shorts and skipping to the ring in her Chuck Taylors, is just part of the reason why she has become such a fan favorite.
Despite only a few years in WWE, she is already the record-holder for the longest and most reigns as Divas champion, but her energetic style in the ring and way with words is what has resonated with fans.
The Rivalry
CraveOnline: You and Paige have developed quite the rivalry over the past six months swapping the Divas championship back in forth. What do you think makes the WWE fans so interested in your rivalry?
AJ Lee: Its very cool because everyone in the wrestling community knew who she was but she was a new talent and so for them to kind of jump on board that people didn’t know is a testament to how good she is and the chemistry we have. The last time I got to do something that lasted more than a month was with Kaitlyn and I think people are really interested in a story when you know, there’s a really good story to it and there’s chemistry and you kind of want to see new people be married for awhile. We’re going on four months now and kind of excited to see where it goes from here.
Hell In A Cell
CraveOnline: What can fans expect from your championship match at Hell In A Cell? Do you have anything special planned because you raised the bar with your title win at NOC?
AJ Lee: Gosh, I don’t know. That’s the thing. Thank you for liking that and the mention. I’m so proud of that. We basically raise the bar and every time I’ve defended the title against Paige I’ve lost so I’m nervous. Its going to be interesting to see what we do that’s different and how we raise the bar this time and increase the intensity. We’re pretty unpredictable and prone to violence so we’ll see what happens [laughs].
She’s A Bad Girl
CraveOnline: Last year, you dropped that hilariously brutal promo on the Total Divas cast. Did any of them take that personal? And is there any chance we will see you on the Total Divas in the future?
AJ Lee: Well, you know I was a bad guy. I’m a good guy now [laughs]. That kind of came about because the second season they asked me to replace JoJo and to jump on and its just not something I’m interested in. I want to be known for this character on TV two nights a week and then I want to go away and live my life in private. So it’s just not my cup of tea but it’s okay that it’s other people’s cup of tea. I think its funny doing that ‘pipe bombshell’ [promo on Total Divas cast] as I call it. It kind of made people pick a side and get mad and go “Yeah, good for you for not being in it.” In reality, it’s a good opportunity for these girls and you got someone like Paige joining it this year to give their own spice and flavor. It’s something that’s interesting and helps the women in our company have something fun to do and make names for themselves. I’m just interested in myself only wrestling and have a nice quiet private life…as much as I can [laughs].
CraveOnline: There are a lot of divas tags as of late. Can you see a divas tag title taking off or would you rather the divas title be the focus?
AJ Lee: There have definitely been times when you have little cliques that work well together like Summer [Rae] and Layla and then you have the Bella’s and who knows if me and Paige can get on the same page, no pun intended, one day. That’d be a cool team. That would be cool to see more of those solidified teams and not just random Divas tags but I don’t know if titles would work. I think its fun to have this one prize that we all covet and are fighting for. But it would be cool to see some alliances.
Who’s Got Next?
AJ Lee: I’m not the greatest at following it. What have I seen is when I’ve actually been there to have a match myself and I got to work with Bayley. As a person she is amazing and as a wrestler she is amazing. She knows who she is. She has an amazing character. I want the world for her. People I’d say to look out for her are Bayley, Lana, Summer, and Emma. Those are girls who I think has so much potential.
On Gaming
CraveOnline: I know you’re a gamer so I have to ask, will you be getting WWE2K15 for the PS4 or Xbox One?
AJ Lee: PS4. I don’t want to alienate my Xbox fans. I love Xbox. I’m still waiting to get Xbox One but it’s so cool to see yourself in a video game.
CraveOnline: How biased are you in your gameplay? Does AJ Lee have every title?
AJ Lee: [Laughs] I think last year I started as the champion. I don’t know what its like this year. I would still like to be.
CraveOnline: My buddy, Sam, is a big fan of Metal Gear Solid like yourself and would kill me if I didn’t ask you about the game. Are you looking forward to the new entry and who is your favorite character of the series besides Solid Snake?
AJ Lee: Ooh. I don’t understand this when I say this and maybe now she wouldn’t be but the girl I got special love for is Meryl, just because she’s the female protagonist in Metal Gear Solid. She was so cute and I always tried to keep her alive [laughs]. She’s my pick…her and Sniper Wolf. I’ve got little action figures of them all over the place. So yeah, I’d have to go with them.
Dream Job
CraveOnline: We’ve all seen the footage of you meeting Lita as a kid. What’s it like now to be on the other side of that with little girls now looking up to you?
AJ Lee: It’s insane because you don’t think you’re going to have that type of reach or that kind of affect on people. The affect of having your dream job is that it influences people and that’s the best thing I will have ever done with my life is have these little kids look up to me and embrace their individuality because of me, to think its okay to be a wonderful weirdo and be proud of that and be proud to wear sneakers, be little tomboys, or whatever it is that they are and feel different. I hope they can look at me and know its okay to be different and that’s what kind of message I get when I have these signings through WWE and I meet these girls and they tell me that I help them be comfortable in their own skin. That will be the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.
CraveOnline: We know you actually grew up as a wrestling fan, which is a rarity with girls. What was it like being a female wrestling fan at school?
AJ Lee: There weren’t many of us [laughs]. It determined where I sat at lunch because I’d have a bunch of guys that liked wrestling and those were my buddies. Girls didn’t get it. So from a very young age I was alienating myself. But it was cool. That was my little clique and I’m at 12 saying “Yeah, I’m going to do it” and everyone kind of grows up and changes their mind but its in my yearbooks that everyone thought I was still going to do it. I was the last one standing.
CraveOnline: Do you have a dream match scenario?
AJ Lee: Oh, man. Hmm. I think my dream match scenario happened already. It was me and Kaitlyn when I won the title. We kind of come into the show together and done NXT and had this amazing story leading up to it. That’s my favorite match of all time as well. So my dream scenario would have to be with my best friend when I won the title for the first time. I don’t think it gets better than that.
Staying In Shape
AJ Lee: Being on the road in general, it’s harder to get your workouts in and eat right especially when you’re on three hours of sleep. Anyone that can make pain while on the road is impressive. Its one of things you have to be on top of and force yourself to work out. No one ever wants to. You don’t want to sweat and workout and be tired but you have to.
TMNT?
CraveOnline: If you could put one celebrity outside of WWE into the Black Widow, who would it be?
AJ Lee: [Laughs] I don’t know.
CraveOnline: With Halloween coming up and you being kind of a nerd and having a knack for cool costumes in the past, do you have any special costume planned this year?
AJ Lee: The fun thing about our show is that we occasionally get to have reasons to dress up. I got to do Raphael from Ninja Turtles and Kitana from Mortal Kombat and an unsuccessful try to fan lift in the middle of the ring but that’s one of my most proud moments [laughs]. But I’ve always wanted to get a Harley Quinn outfit out there. I don’t know if its going to happen but that’s kind of my goal.
CraveOnline: What can your fans expect from AJ Lee in the future?
AJ Lee: Oh, man. I don’t know. That’s the fun thing. You never really know. Week-to-week you don’t know what you’re going to get. I’m going to try and keep the title on me this Sunday. Every time I’ve tried to defend against Paige, she’s won [laughs] so I’m a little nervous. Hopefully we can keep that title one me and go for another 295 day run.
WWE Hell in a Cell will be live on WWE Network on Sunday October 26th from American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
Photos courtesy of WWE
Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline Sports, a surfing enthusiast, an unhealthy sports fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like”CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
