10 Biggest Revelations From AJ Lee’s Book

4. She Was Punished For Refusing A Storyline That Upset Her

AJ Lee CM Punk
WWE.com

One of the stories from Lee's book that's been getting the most press since its release involves a proposed change to her character. In 2012, after her love triangle with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan ran its course, what was next for her? Utter nonsense, as it turned out. Writers pitched a gimmick where her character - already repeatedly called "crazy" - would begin to hallucinate, imagining herself kissing leprechauns and dancing with dinosaurs.

To Lee, this wasn't funny. She had dealt with very real mental illness in her life and had seen it take a toll on her family, and making light of it in a way that could ostracize viewers who suffered from similar issues was not an option. She flatly refused to take part in it.

Soon afterwards, WWE took her off TV and the road, keeping her at home from July of 2012 until October. Lee had suffered no injury to require her to rest, and she believes her time off was punitive as result of her refusal.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013