The Trentonian – Jersey native A.J. Lee living the dream as WWE Raw GM

Jersey native A.J. Lee living the dream as WWE Raw GM

By SAMANTHA SINCLAIR – For The Trentonian

It wasn’t long ago that a 12-year-old A.J. Lee was sitting with her older brother Robert watching WWE Raw and proclaiming one day she would be a wrestler like Molly Holly, Lita and Trish Stratus.

Now, at the age of 25, she’s coming back home to New Jersey, not only as a WWE Diva, but general manager of the Raw brand. Raw is stopping in Trenton Friday with a show at the Sun Bank Center at 7 p.m. before heading to the Izod Center in East Rutherford for the Monday Night Raw television broadcast.

A.J. is one of just three women to hold the title of Raw General Manager, the other two being Stephanie McMahon and Vickie Guerrero. She was named to the position in July on the 1,000th episode of Raw.

“To be trusted with something and be put in the same category as them is so bizarre,” A.J. said. “I feel like I’m the luckiest person on Earth.”

Trenton’s show is scheduled to feature three title matches, with the Tag Team Championship match being the one A.J. is looking forward to most. The champions are Team Hell No, consisting of Kane and Daniel Bryan, two men A.J. has had history with and put into therapy to work out their issues. Their comical progress through their therapy sessions has been a highlight of the past few weeks on Raw.

While the general manager typically doesn’t get to wrestle, A.J. is sure to make her presence known at the Sun Bank Center.

After all, this is the same woman who, just months ago, briefly distracted the men wrestling by skipping around the ring in clothing to show her appreciation to Kane, but looking more like Harley Quinn from the Batman comics.

A.J., a comic book fan, says that wasn’t an accident.

“I think that’s someone I can relate to,” A.J. said of the Gotham psychiatrist turned bad after falling for The Joker. “Everyone thinks she’s mad, but she’s really kind of a genius.”

To put things in comic book context, superstar John Cena has been compared to Superman and WWE Champion C.M. Punk has compared himself to Batman.

As a child, A.J. was a tomboy who did everything her brother did, including watching wrestling. When she was little, she was a big fan of Miss Elizabeth and Macho Man Randy Savage. By the time she was 12, the women were starting to make a bigger impact in the ring as wrestlers, and she decided this was the career she wanted. Then at age 20, the 5-foot-3 Jersey girl enrolled in wrestling school.

“I had no idea how small I was until I got into wrestling school,” she said, noting she’s actually the tall one in her family.

And, she knows she made the right career choice.

“I don’t feel like I’m working,” she said. “I get to travel and see the world. I feel like I have a huge family now.”

Behind the scenes, A.J. is still training and hoping her role as general manager is not making her rusty.

A.J. is especially looking forward to performing at WrestleMania 29 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. Originally from Union City, wrestling’s biggest show is coming to her backyard.

“I’d like to still be general manager and put myself in a match,” she said. “I’m loving every second of (being general manager), but I really want to wrestle in New Jersey,” she said.

In fact, if she could put any match on the card right now, it would be herself facing Eve Torres for the Divas Championship. She thinks that while the two of them have had similar rises to the top, they are polar opposites and should make for an entertaining match.

Earlier this year, in the week leading up to WrestleMania, A.J. proved her gaming skills and won the THQ Superstar Challenge video game tournament. She is the first female winner of the tournament, in which 16 Superstars played WWE ‘12.

On Oct. 30, WWE ‘13 will be released with her as a playable character, and earlier this month, A.J. got to test out the game and her character. She hopes at the next tournament she can play as herself — she won playing as Randy Orton this year.

She said the Divas look more realistic this year, and that her character even has her walk.

“It was just so surreal,” she said. “I haven’t been able to absorb any of the wonderful things that have happened to me this year.”