Thursday, July 19, 2012

AJ Lee

April Jeanette Mendez (born March 19, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name AJ.

Mendez enrolled in a wrestling school in March 2007, and debuted six months later. In the following years, she performed for several Northeast-based independent promotions including Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) as Miss April. In WSU, she was part of the AC Express alongside Brooke Carter and the duo held the WSU Tag Team Championship once. In May 2009, she signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental promotion, using the ring name AJ Lee. In FCW, she was Queen of FCW and FCW Divas Champion, and was the first person to have held both titles. In 2010, she was part of the third season of NXT, having dropped her last name, and became part of WWE's SmackDown brand in May 2011, forming a tag team with Kaitlyn known as The Chickbusters.



Mendez grew up in Union City with her family, describing her family's experience as having to live in motels and other people's houses. Mendez cited her brother’s interest in WWE when they were kids as an influence on her eventual decision to break into the male-dominated world of wrestling, and she cemented her ambition to pursue a pro wrestling career when she was twelve years old. After graduating from high school, Mendez worked several jobs (including being a janitor at day care, a cashier and a secretary) in order to save up the money she needed to both support her family and attend wrestling school. She was inspired by the female WWE stars that came before her, including Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, and Stephanie McMahon.

Mendez was previously in a relationship with her trainer Jay Lethal. Mendez is a self-described tomboy and geek and enjoys comic books and video games.

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