Tag: April Mendez

AJ Lee Speaks Out About Her Suicide Attempt And How A Stranger Saved Her Life

The former WWE Superstar planned on committing suicide in 2014 but was saved by a stranger on the other end of the phone.

Trigger warning: this article includes discussions about suicidal feelings and a suicide attempt.

The women’s division in WWE has come a long way over the course of the past six years or so. While the likes of Paige, Charlotte Flair, and Bayley quite rightly get a lot of the credit for that, there are quite a few others who were around beforehand who are yet to really reap the rewards. Perhaps most notably AJ Lee who left WWE, possibly never to return, in 2015.

Lee arguably left at the top of her game, something most wrestlers can only dream of. She won her final match, not to mention the match the night before at WrestleMania, and held the Divas Title on three occasions during the year prior to her departure. She also married CM Punk during that period, which is why it might surprise fans to hear Lee’s life was far from perfect at the time.

Lee planned to take her own life in 2014 while Divas Champion and after getting married. The former WWE Superstar recently opened up about her suicide attempt for the first time during an appearance on Maurice Benard: State Of Mind. You can check out the whole episode below in which Lee discusses her bipolar disorder and how nobody knew she had gone to a hotel with the intention of ending her life.

“It was my bipolar disorder couldn’t handle it. It was too much for me,” Lee explained, laying out the highs of her titles wins and getting married to the lows of getting hurt and having to undergo multiple surgeries. “The only solution to me, the only thing I could do was just, I booked a hotel room and that was my plan.”

Something in Lee’s brain told her to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline. Since she was in a different area, the person on the other end urged her to call the number linked to the area she was in for the purposes of needing to potentially call an ambulance. Lee saw that as a sign she should go through with her suicide attempt, but at the last moment she called 311 to get the other number. A man at the end of the 311 call listened to Lee as she poured her heart out. The retired wrestler credits him with saving her life. She doesn’t know his name or who he is, but she can still hear his voice all these years later.

Source: TheSportster – Josh Coulson

After six years away from the wrestling industry, AJ Lee (April Mendez Brooks) joined the WOW – Women of Wrestling promotion as an executive producer in October 2021, serving alongside Jeanie Buss. This announcement coincided with WOW entering into a multi-year distribution agreement with ViacomCBS, the biggest distribution opportunity in the U.S. and abroad in the history of women’s professional wrestling. Mendez will also provide color commentary for their upcoming weekly program beginning in late 2022.

11 Year Old Fan Interviews AJ Lee About Summerslam For LA Times

Recently, Hannah Mitchell, the 11-year-old daughter of Show Tracker’s “Monday Night Raw” recapper Houston Mitchell, was able to interview some WWE superstars about this Sunday’s pay-per-view event, SummerSlam. Here is the interview conducted with AJ.

Q: Who is the greatest GM in “Monday Night Raw” history?

AJ: I hope in time I can say me, but I think the greatest of all time, “Raw” or “Smackdown,” would probably be Stephanie McMahon. I was a huge fan of hers when she was in charge. Actually, I will cheat and say myself.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of skipping to the ring?

AJ: Nobody did it before! It’s fun to be in a business suit and be dressed all serious, but I’m skipping!

Q: What advice would you give to a young girl trying to become a pro wrestler?

AJ: I decided to be a wrestler when I was 12. I just knew it in my heart. And maybe that’s the secret. Know what is in your heart. But definitely go to school and learn as much as you can and if wrestling is still what you want, find a good wrestling school and kind of learn as much information about it as you can. If I did it, this tiny thing, anyone can do it.

Q: Daniel Bryan, CM Punk or Kane. If you HAD to marry one, which would you pick?

AJ: Oh my gosh! No one has ever asked me that before! That’s a hard question. OK, let’s rule Kane out because he lives in a boiler room and I don’t want to live there. I came close to marrying Daniel Bryan but that didn’t really work out and I don’t think CM Punk is the marrying type, so I don’t seem to have a lot of options. So I will say none of the above.

Q: What was your reaction when you were first told you would be general manager of “Raw”?

AJ: At first I was happy and then I was terrified. The first thought that popped in my head was, “Can I do that?” So I think I doubted myself all day, and I think I was unsure the entire week and wasn’t feeling that confident, but after the first day I started feeling better about it each day and now I love it.

Original Source: LA Times

 

AJ’s “Last Name” Is Not New

There are alot of reports regarding the WWE’s choice to use “Lee” as the last name for April Mendez’s character of “AJ” now that she is the on-screen general manager of Raw.

Many reports are saying that it is a new last name when in reality she was given the last name of “Lee” starting during her time at FCW the WWE’s developmental training wrestling promotion based in Tampa Florida.

The last name was used for a short time during her NXT period before the WWE dropped it and simply called her “A.J.

 

 

 

 

 

See the FCW video below.

Countdown To The AJ Raw Era: Flashback April Mendez Leaves Local Promotion After Signing With WWE

The year was 2009 and after wrestling with WSU wrestling April Mendez who at the time was going by the ring name “Miss April” officially announces she is leaving the promotion after signing her developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. Which lead her to move to Florida where she began her time in WWE’s training territory of FCW before making her WWE debut in 2011.

As much as April and her tag team partner Brooke Carter tried to make this a promo it was obviously emotional as you can hear April get emotional at the very end as she says “I’m going to miss you”