The World is Healing: The Return of AJ Lee

The year is 2015. I had just went to my first ever rave and was celebrating my huge accomplishment of garnering two degrees from Cal State Long Beach by…bartending. My world was simple; work for money, spend said money on wrestling and whiskey, and find comfort and solace in the world amongst friends and peers who did the same. A simple man with simple likes. My personality firmly established, I had become a burgeoning flower in the garden that is 411mania.com, holding onto the adoration of one AJ Lee as a defining factor of my person – a gimmick, if you will. Ah yes, pay no nevermind to my writing skills or perfunctory prose, it was the overt love for one wrestler who, even with a small frame and even smaller stature, stood above all else in the world of giants known as the WWE. I will not wax poetic, but suffice to say, I was a fan.

That very year, I wrote this:

A Hole in the Heart: Goodbye to AJ Lee

Image Credit: WWE

---

Two years later, almost to the day, I was happy to post a review of her memoir:

Crazy is My Superpower Review

Image Credit: Crown

---

And now here we are, ten years later, to speak the unspeakable, appreciate the impossible, and bask in the glory that is AJ Lee.

If you have been here long, you know what you got yourself into the moment you clicked the link. If you are new here, hello, I am Tony Acero, and although I haven’t been around much recently, I am somewhat of a mainstay here on 411. Yes, for every Len and Larry, there is at least one Acero and Ornelas – which is to say, I am the annoying uncle who is cool at first glance until you realize he never really leaves the house and is still unmarried. But enough about me, we’ve got a return to celebrate!

AJ Lee is back, y’all! I needed a few hours to recuperate from the heart attack that comes after such an event. The ticker is ticking and the fingers are clicking, so I thought now is as good a time as any to look at where we were in 2015 and how we are faring today – what world, exactly, is AJ Lee entering, because it damn sure is not the same (which, to be fair, is possibly the biggest reason for her return.

Image Credit: WWE

2015
In 2015, let’s face it – if you wanted quality wrestling, you’d look no further than the black and gold brand that was NXT. Owens, Zayn, and Balor were tearing up the main event while Blake & Murphy, The Vaudevillians, and The Revival were putting on bangers in the tag division. Sasha and Bayley were revitalizing women’s wrestling at every encounter, and it was perhaps only then that you realized AJ Lee’s NXT versus what was being produced during this time had nothing similar but perhaps that the ropes were yellow.
If you look at the main roster, you’d be hard pressed to find any redeemable qualities. Roman Reigns was being pushed nonsensically, Brock Lesnar returned for the umpteenth time, Nikki Bella had a stronghold on the Divas Division, Machine Gun Kelly existed on WWE television, and ya boy Tony Acero was struggling covering a show that just had no creative oomph anywhere. Oh and wasn’t this the year of Corporate Kane? Yeesh.

Let’s not even talk about 411 who had Watry, Wyatt, AND Byers writing all that year! (I kid Byers, you’re alright by me.)

Ok, it wasn’t ALL bad. We had Fandango, Rollins was cracking that shell, and…um…Tough Enough?

Yes, 2015 was not nearly as bad as it would become, but also just not great. Matches ended in DQs and rollups. Women were getting three to five minutes for a feud whose typical high point was one woman calling the other woman a bitch.

Even though the product was rough, it wasn’t necessarily the product that made her leave. Click the link above for a thorough look at her illustrious career, but it had become too daunting a task for her mentally, and she perhaps did all she wanted to do at the time. Away from the ring, the formerly known AJ Lee would partake and create projects more to her liking, and it was nice to see someone coming out of the business with a plan and with still so much more to give to the world – she had given us enough.

Image Credit: WWE

2025
It’s 2025, and at first glance, you may think the landscape hasn’t changed at all. Cena is there, Nikki is there, Brock Lesnar just shows up whenever he wants, Triple H is still bald and in a suit. Even the 411 offices look the same; Coffeemate coffee machine, empty ice trays, and a rug with a stain whose source is still unknown after all these years.
But the truth is the change is immense, and welcomed, and amazing. A large part of my stepping away from the RAW Report was my work life, but in truth, there was also this sense of my time being done out of sheer enjoyment of the show. I found myself wanting more and more to simply be immersed in it and minimize the analysis, the fantasy booking, the critique. It was enjoyable, it was lovely, it was wrestling.

Matches are longer, stories take their time, motivations of characters are consistent and have implications for the future. Sure, I can harp on negatives, but compared to 2015, this is Scorsese levels of cinema we are getting.

AJ Lee has always been a champion for the rights and recognition of the women on the roster, even at a time when the quality between the rings was akin to the Shein version of what other places were doing. She did so much in such a short period of time, but continued to be a proponent for longer matches, higher percentage of merch sales, and overall equality for the women in the business. She let the business eat her alive and walked away with the scars to prove it. One would think a return was just unlikely, especially considering how long Punk has been back.

And yet, here we are – September 5, 2025, and AJ Lee is back. A whole ten years later. The return is being lauded everywhere by those in the industry. Women new and old admiring the return, popping like a superfan, and praising her everywhere. Honestly, the only negative things I have seen are from the fans, and that’s just par for the course really.

2025 is just not Vince’s WWE. We have had returns just like AJ’s that we never thought possible, an influx of new and old fans that have taken the WWE to new heights. Ticket prices that are higher than RVD and Matt Riddle on a right-wing podcast, and an overall sheen on the product that has established itself as a powerhouse moreso than ever before. Moreover, we have alternatives to said product. If it’s too clean, AEW is just a couple days away, full of stuff to enjoy. Being a wrestling fan is so easy right now. The stigma is damn near gone, hell we are about to be on ESPN!!! Like wtf, y’all! This ain’t grandpa’s WWE (Shit…am I grandpa? Are WE?!?! Holy fuck…). Wrestlers are healthier, mental health matters, people care, and the fans are freakin DIE HARD!

We are in a new era of wrestling. Sure, some may sour on the show exposing kayfabe. Yeah, we still have to deal with Nikki Bella promos. Ok, sometimes Triple H and creative think they’re the smartest guys in the room sometimes. But when you are forced to cover a show weekly that had pretty much nothing going for it, the product we are getting right now all over the world is quite possibly the best that wrestling has ever been, and at least for a few years, it just got better.

---

Tony Acero is a published author and owner of publishing company Behind Closed Doors. His first fiction book, What Happens After releases October 22, 2025, and is avaiable for pre-order right now. Tony Acero also loves speaking in third person at the end of his one-time-a-year columns to shamelessly shill his personal work to his wrestling fan cronies that have supported him for years. Tony Acero also sleeps with socks on.