Rob
I loved wrestling as a kid and watched the WWF through most of college. But after a while I got tired of it. Woman's wrestling in particular was not very good. A young teenage boy was titillated by all the T&A and hot woman, but otherwise uninterested in that aspect. So I completely missed out on AJ Lee's run in the WWE.
In the years since, I would periodically read about the goings on in WWE, in particular this group of nerds called The New Day, who would dress up like Super Saiyans or play the Final Fantasy victory music when they won. I also started to hear about how the Woman's division was actually good, if not BETTER than the men's.
2020 started making me nostalgic for the good old days (which maybe weren't that good, but I was younger and things were simpler). I started watching a lot of documentaries on Wrestling, and then started following the storylines while not actually watching the show again.
Then I saw some of the woman's matches and I found myself pulled back in. The woman's division is by far the best thing they got going. A lot of this it turns out was due to what AJ and a few others had done to create the path for this current generation's female superstars to take things to such a high level.
I had watched this sadly cancelled Starz show called Heels. CM Punk had a small role and I knew who he was, even though I had missed his run in the WWE too. When I was looking up who played one of the female wrestlers on the show I discovered that AJ Lee was Punk's wife. And that was all I knew about her until maybe 2 months ago. Turns out that's one of the least interesting things about her.
CM Punk had famously left the WWE on bad terms, but time (and money) heals all wounds and he returned a few years ago. Then they started to set up a story hinting at the possible return of AJ Lee. When it actually happened, I started reading up more about her and discovered she wrote this book.
I mostly do audio books these days, so it was great to see that she read her own book. AJ is very funny and that comes across in her reading.
AJ is very brave in the stuff she admits in this book. Although as she mentions in the book, after some of the stuff she did in her run in the WWE, there isn't anything that embarrasses her anymore.
There is a lot of wrestling in this book (in particular the last third or so), but much of this book focuses on her childhood, family and her (and her mother's) struggles with mental health. In particular both AJ and her mother are bi-polar.
When I was younger my mom had bouts of depression including a stint in mental help facility. I didn't understand it. It was embarrassing. Or so I thought as a young kid. There is a negative stigma on mental health that is only starting to change in recent years.
I also learned many years later as an adult that my grandmother was bi-polar when she went off her meds are started behaving in ways I had never experienced. Our family had never talked about it. No one explained to us when we were a kid. So I can really identify with some of what AJ went through.
I think some of changes in the stigma on mental health has begun to change thanks to people like AJ. Hearing a WWE crowd cheering for Therapy in 2025 was not something I had on my Bingo card.
The book was fascinating, funny and inspiring. I don't know where AJ Lee's stint in WWE will end up, but I'm interested to find out.
I loved wrestling as a kid and watched the WWF through most of college. But after a while I got tired of it. Woman's wrestling in particular was not very good. A young teenage boy was titillated by all the T&A and hot woman, but otherwise uninterested in that aspect. So I completely missed out on AJ Lee's run in the WWE.
In the years since, I would periodically read about the goings on in WWE, in particular this group of nerds called The New Day, who would dress up like Super Saiyans or play the Final Fantasy victory music when they won. I also started to hear about how the Woman's division was actually good, if not BETTER than the men's.
2020 started making me nostalgic for the good old days (which maybe weren't that good, but I was younger and things were simpler). I started watching a lot of documentaries on Wrestling, and then started following the storylines while not actually watching the show again.
Then I saw some of the woman's matches and I found myself pulled back in. The woman's division is by far the best thing they got going. A lot of this it turns out was due to what AJ and a few others had done to create the path for this current generation's female superstars to take things to such a high level.
I had watched this sadly cancelled Starz show called Heels. CM Punk had a small role and I knew who he was, even though I had missed his run in the WWE too. When I was looking up who played one of the female wrestlers on the show I discovered that AJ Lee was Punk's wife. And that was all I knew about her until maybe 2 months ago. Turns out that's one of the least interesting things about her.
CM Punk had famously left the WWE on bad terms, but time (and money) heals all wounds and he returned a few years ago. Then they started to set up a story hinting at the possible return of AJ Lee. When it actually happened, I started reading up more about her and discovered she wrote this book.
I mostly do audio books these days, so it was great to see that she read her own book. AJ is very funny and that comes across in her reading.
AJ is very brave in the stuff she admits in this book. Although as she mentions in the book, after some of the stuff she did in her run in the WWE, there isn't anything that embarrasses her anymore.
There is a lot of wrestling in this book (in particular the last third or so), but much of this book focuses on her childhood, family and her (and her mother's) struggles with mental health. In particular both AJ and her mother are bi-polar.
When I was younger my mom had bouts of depression including a stint in mental help facility. I didn't understand it. It was embarrassing. Or so I thought as a young kid. There is a negative stigma on mental health that is only starting to change in recent years.
I also learned many years later as an adult that my grandmother was bi-polar when she went off her meds are started behaving in ways I had never experienced. Our family had never talked about it. No one explained to us when we were a kid. So I can really identify with some of what AJ went through.
I think some of changes in the stigma on mental health has begun to change thanks to people like AJ. Hearing a WWE crowd cheering for Therapy in 2025 was not something I had on my Bingo card.
The book was fascinating, funny and inspiring. I don't know where AJ Lee's stint in WWE will end up, but I'm interested to find out.