The legacy of AJ Lee

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

So the women's wrestling thread elsewhere in this subforum has wandered over to AJ Lee.

My partners are quite recent wrestling marks so I often have to kind of update them on who wrestlers are what they've done and what their reputations are based on.

I thought I had pretty warm memories of AJ as being a better wrestler than the other women, but they're totally unspecific ones - other than Paige, did she actually demonstrate any good wrestling skills? I am genuinely asking, because I can't remember.

AJ was a huge mover and shaker for a non-McMahon-related woman, and her prominence really does make her a trailblazer, but as others have pointed out - her most notable promo was a hypocritical screed against the Diva wrestlers basically accusing them of screwing their way to the top when her character was written as being more promiscuous than they were?

Also she was super over, so we should bear that in mind too.

What is the legacy of AJ Lee? All I can remember now is her doing the Mortal Kombat fans thing in a battle royal.

[Deleted]

A pretty decent wrestler who, if she was coming up now, would really shine with the likes of Io, Sasha, and Bayley to wrestle against. People here have compared her to Alexa Bliss and I don't think the comparison's that far off, though AJ was a much better wrestler. I hated her rivalry with Paige, but the feud with Kaitlyn was one of the few good women's feuds from that 2012-2015 period before The Women's Revolution.

[GuyOfOwnage]

She definitely had a natural charisma to her, great character work, and solid in-ring skills to back it up. I think she'd fit right in in the present day division.

[Shark]

She has an interesting place because she certainly paved a way forward for women in WWE, but she maybe didn't really finish what she started in a way. She showed that a woman can be a big draw. Aj's segments were highly rated and she moved a lot of merchandise and had an obvious following. She was capable of doing something good with her promo time which women didn't really get back then. So she showed that Divas could be more than they were presented as. However, she didn't do as much in the ring, like her big standout match was with Kaitlyn. She was capable in the ring, but not spectacular, IMO. It is like she was a server at a restaurant who starts a table, but leaves mart way through your dining experience. So she'll take your oder and bring you your drinks and you'll remember her fondly, but then the server taking over for her actually brings you that final meal so you remember that second server more because she gave you that delicious food.

[The Rick Jericho]

Definitely a WWE Hall of Famer if they could ever mend that bridge.

[Ben Wyatt]

I may be the minority here but I think she'd be vastly outclassed in terms of in ring ability in today's landscape

For her time, she was good in a sea of mostly bad. Ironically the Bellas, who she famously ran down in her promo, managed to outshine her in the end

[Deleted]

She IMO has an extremely unique place and that is being the bridge between what was the divas division and the womens evolution.

She was there while the likes of the 4H were tearing it up in NXT but left just as they were arriving to the main roster.

While not a top tier in-ring worker even though the title match at Payback showed she was wholely capable she was easily the best woman as far as character work , charisma and on the mic during that period IMO.

[A Platypus Rave]

she'd likely be on the lower end of the spectrum of in ring workers now...

at the time she had a character when most really didn't have any...

Also somehow she gets both too much credit for and not enough credit for the improvement of the women's division >_>

[The Ichi]

Good wrestler, had a fanbase, seems like a really nice person IRL.

The most irritating character in wrestling history.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Booooooooooooo

AJ.

[eJm]

I just wanted to throw in that I had never been prouder of a fan base when #AJALL won one of the online polls during the show.

Yes, I know the implications and all that and it is not the greatest thing in the world but when you’re used to fans voting wrongly in online polls (We could have had Dude Love vs. Carlito, YOU DUMB MOTHER F***ERS!), the small victories feel more important.

[Push R Truth]

Aug 24, 2020 19:02:58 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

I may be the minority here but I think she'd be vastly outclassed in terms of in ring ability in today's landscape

For her time, she was good in a sea of mostly bad. Ironically the Bellas, who she famously ran down in her promo, managed to outshine her in the end

That's where I am at. She was good. But she has an annoying high ratio of Praise to Actual Accomplishment Ratio. She's my WWE Woman prototype answer for a B player being morphed into a solid A retroactively.

[rnrk supports BLM]

A lot of her stuff feels like it's dated incredibly fast due to all the strides in recent years towards taking womens' wrestling seriously, but really AJ Lee's legacy is dragging WWE's standards for sex appeal beyond last century's busty faux-Pamela Andersons into a new era of quirky geeky faux-Olivia Munns. And it's stuck; the biggest womens' star in wrestling today got over pitching herself as a steampunk cosplayer. Even a more traditional cheerleader type like Alexa does the whole hot topic goth clown superheroine thing nowadays.

That might not sound as glamorous as getting over on the merits of your in-ring ability, but getting over enough to make WWE reevaluate ANYTHING about its presentation that's still mired in the '90s is an extraordinary, herculean achievement.

[Tyrannosaurus Sex]

She'd handle herself fine, there's been equal or worse than her on the active roster in terms of in-ring quality that have been doing okay for themselves, and it's easy to retroactively say she wasn't that good when she never got to interact with the current generation barring a match with early Bayley on NXT and left literally months before women's matches got taken more seriously with the 4HW coming to the main roster. For all we know, she could have stepped up her game with the higher tier competition, not be at the level of the best, but be capable at worst. And obviously as a character, there would have been a lot of interesting potential with feuds and interactions.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Aug 24, 2020 19:16:50 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

Good wrestler, had a fanbase, seems like a really nice person IRL.

The most irritating character in wrestling history.

The guest host period was the first crack in my wrestling fandom, where I'd still tune in every week for the show but would end up drifting out and turning it off early.

AJ Lee becoming the central figure on Raw in the spring/summer of 2012 was the next huge crack, where I began skipping a week or two of watching at all. I just found her so annoying/obnoxious and not in that "Well, then she's doing her job as a heel!" way; in a "I've been watching since 1985 and this woman makes me want to stop" way.

[Sponsored by Groose Wipes]

I know I'm in the minority here but I think if AJ Lee was around now with the Women's Revolution era, she would get exposed and not be seen as one of the greatest as she is now. She was a good not great thing when everything else was bad in the woman's division in comparison so she stood out. She was fine in small doses but not when half of RAW was "The AJ Lee Show".

As for her legacy she will be remembered as one of the greats and if things are patched, will likely get in the HoF, but honesty she benefited from "right place right time".

[XIII]

Solid worker but has nothing on the vast majority of ladies in the WWE today. Received a huge and sustained push and that definitely helped her be seen as more than she was. Overall I was never a fan and at times she was outright annoying, but she is a bridge to the ladies of today. Quite overrated, but she has her place in the history of the wwe.

[Mister Pigwell]

She was just "ok". A different side to the same coin that was the Bellas. I'd argue Nikki outclassed her by the end in every regard even.

[agent817]

Aug 24, 2020 20:32:20 GMT -5 Sponsored by Groose Wipes said:

I know I'm in the minority here but I think if AJ Lee was around now with the Women's Revolution era, she would get exposed and not be seen as one of the greatest as she is now. She was a good not great thing when everything else was bad in the woman's division in comparison so she stood out. She was fine in small doses but not when half of RAW was "The AJ Lee Show".

As for her legacy she will be remembered as one of the greats and if things are patched, will likely get in the HoF, but honesty she benefited from "right place right time".

Funny how some things have gone from the early-2010s until now. You are right about how Raw was "The AJ Lee Show," especially when she was given the GM role. I did like how she dressed as Kane that one time, though.

[Kevin Hamilton]

She was very popular at the time&she was quite good at everything she did.

That said, legacy wise I can't say she has much of one, especially when compared to just how much she was featured for a bit. I guess you'd say she was a bright spot in a fairly dire divison&if you want to be generous she was a herald of better things to come for the women.