Would AJ Lee be at the level of WWE women's division now?

[hijuko]

She had come and gone before the Divas Revolution when the women roster was still very poor, so she seemed like the golden nugget of the time, but if she had wrestled against wrestlers of the level of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Bianca Belair or Sasha Banks, would she be up to it?

[Deleted]

I think AJ could keep up with the current crop of women but wouldn't necessarily be at their level in-ring, if that makes sense. Like she wouldn't drag a match down but wouldn't put on bangers like Asuka etc.

On the mic, though? Her only competition would be Becky and maaaaybe Alexa.

[The Legend of Groose]

She likely would have got the Bliss/Lily gimmick to be honest and would be at about that level. Maybe a title run or 2 but nothing more. Would not put her in the Becky/Charlotte/Asuka talk.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

She would be very over and would cut good promos, but wouldn't be much of a workrate talent, she only seemed like one in such a poor division

[Bo Rida]

It's hard to tell. Did Bayley or Sasha have more raw talent? Or did they benefit from a better environment to train and improve in.
Would they have been as good if they came in a few years earlier like AJ and Kaitlyn?

[Kevin Hamilton]

She'd be smack in the middle wrestling wise, but her mic skills would elevate her to one of the top spots

[Hit Girl]

She'd be champion

[Saiyanic Panic]

We'll never really know (duh, question was hypothetical already!) given changes in training, agents, dance partners & work environment. She'd probably still retire early since she went all out a lot of the time to destroy herself on bumps & having a body type hardly conducive for it.

[darbus alan]

I don't think she'd be on the level of Asuka or Io Shirai, who have both incredible talent and the systemic advantages in how joshi are trained. But I think she'd be on the level right below the Horsewomen and could hang with them in a match. And that's still pretty good for an American. Though I always thought AJ was better in the ring than a lot of people gave her credit for. Just not good enough to carry the last vestiges of the divas era.

[Mozenrath]

That's a difficult question to answer given she so often had to work with people who weren't really at her level. I do think she understood presentation better than a lot of wrestlers, women or otherwise, do, so she'd probably do well.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

I don't think she would be pushed at the level she was when was around just with the roster being much better now. She would definitely be pushed and be a focal point but would eventually fall below 4HW/Ronda/Bianca in the pecking order. So basically she would be like Alexa who she's very similar too both in size and skillset. Real small, good promo, very charismatic and over with the fans, not great in the ring but not bad by any means either.

[Deleted]

Jul 20, 2022 14:50:06 GMT -5 darbus alan said:

I don't think she'd be on the level of Asuka or Io Shirai, who have both incredible talent and the systemic advantages in how joshi are trained. But I think she'd be on the level right below the Horsewomen and could hang with them in a match. And that's still pretty good for an American. Though I always thought AJ was better in the ring than a lot of people gave her credit for. Just not good enough to carry the last vestiges of the divas era.

That's a very good point. AJ still managed to have some good matches during her reign but it's difficult to really assess her ringwork due to the caliber of her opponents and the time she was afforded. Even a miracle worker like Asuka isn't gonna have a good match if it's a sub-5 minute bout with friggin Cameron.

[Jindrak Mark]

We only really got a year of peak AJ in terms of the women's division and that was 2013 and in reality it was only one feud (with Kaitlyn). In 2012 when she got over she wasn't really wrestling and was working angles with Bryan/Punk/Kane/Cena/Ziggler. And by 14/15 whether it was injuries or lack of motivation after Punk left she wasn't really the same. I remember her long feud with Paige and the matches being really disappointing. Nikki Bella was legit having much better matches than her when 2 years earlier that would have been sacrilegious to even suggest because a lot of fans saw AJ as a "wrestler" and Nikki as a "diva."

She was over, sold merch and management clearly loved her with the amount of TV time she got so even if she wasn't amazing in the ring she'd still be one of the top stars if she was around today. Her, Paige and the Bellas are the ones from that 2010-2015 era with the star power that could hang with the top stars today like the Horsewomen/Bianca/Ronda/Asuka/Rhea/Alexa.

[asuka007]

Probably mid-tier in terms of in ring skilks.

But elevated by her promo skills and natural charisma.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Jul 20, 2022 15:04:44 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

I don't think she would be pushed at the level she was when was around just with the roster being much better now. She would definitely be pushed and be a focal point but would eventually fall below 4HW/Ronda/Bianca in the pecking order. So basically she would be like Alexa who she's very similar too both in size and skillset. Real small, good promo, very charismatic and over with the fans, not great in the ring but not bad by any means either.

Yeah, this is my guess former champion that still gets tv time and is used any time they need a big group of women together... not the center of a division but still treated as important... and Her vocal online fan base complains that they aren't really using her >_>

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

My hunch is that she’d be perfectly capable of keeping up, but she may be middle-of-the-pack in terms of sheer ability compared to the higher level of workers (Lynch, Banks, Bayley, Asuka, Belair, Flair, etc.) that have come through since. Promo-wise, she’d still be probably in the top handful in the division.

We’ll probably be having that damn conversation about “She’s too small for her offense to be believable”, though.

[Dang!]

She'd be exactly where Alexa Bliss is now. I don't know where that is, but if Alexa Bliss is still around, AJ Lee would be as well. She'd most likely have another name, though.

[Hypnosis]

Jul 20, 2022 16:46:04 GMT -5 Dang! said:

She'd be exactly where Alexa Bliss is now. I don't know where that is, but if Alexa Bliss is still around, AJ Lee would be as well. She'd most likely have another name, though.

It probably would have been "Aubrey Gonzalez".

[Banjo Is Broken]

She would have given birth to half of the current women's division.

[The Thread Barbi]

Not as "AJ Lee" as she would have been renamed as there can't be two AJ's on the roster.