WWE Missed Opportunities: AJ Lee Could Have Left Indelible Mark

On Friday, WWE.com reported that AJ Lee had retired from in-ring competition with the company. It's not often that a 28-year old, three-time Divas champion makes this decision. However, in Lee's case, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

After all, she is married to CM Punk, the controversial former Superstar who didn't exactly leave the company on the best of terms. In addition, AJ had recently been outspoken in regard to how the Divas of WWE were being booked and sent out a series of tweets aimed at WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon about wages and television time given to the women of WWE.

While we can all speculate on her reasoning for the sudden departure—particularly after a big victory at WrestleMania 31 last Sunday—we will instead focus on what she was able to accomplish, along with what could have been.

That's what we do here with Missed Opportunities.

Despite just a four-year run on the main roster, AJ was able to accomplish more than almost every other Diva in WWE history.

Her WWE career started in the developmental territory of Florida Championship Wrestling. But most fans were introduced to her as one of the participants on the all-female season of NXT.

Though she finished third behind Naomi and eventual winner Kaitlyn, she was arguably the most popular girl on the show. WWE took notice of that fact, and she debuted on the main roster shortly thereafter.

AJ would rise to the top of WWE, but she didn't take the conventional route.

After being portrayed as the love interest of several different WWE Superstars, she also was able to try her hand in the role of Raw general manager.

This isn't something WWE allows just anyone to do, so the company obviously saw something special in her.

After AJ stepped down as general manager, one of her breakout moments came at the TLC pay-per-view in December 2012. It was there that she turned on John Cena, allowing Dolph Ziggler to win their Ladder match.

By this point, AJ was just about as popular as anyone on the roster—man or woman.

After being part of a fantastic trio with Ziggler and Big E, AJ would go on to win a Battle Royal in April 2013 to become the No. 1 contender for the Divas title. Less than a week later, she took the belt from Kaitlyn.

AJ won the title on two other occasions and created classic rivalries with Divas such as Kaitlyn and Paige—and there were many more great stories waiting to be told with the likes of Charlotte and Sasha Banks being groomed for the main roster down in NXT.

A feud between AJ and Banks would have been money. But that's not even the biggest missed opportunity.

Credit: WWE.com

A match between AJ and Stephanie McMahon would have told a great story. For one, there is likely legitimate heat between the two. WWE would have been able to create a lot of attention by playing off of that.

AJ could have represented Punk in the process, even if she didn't do it publicly. All of his grievances could have become her grievances, and against the top female in WWE, it would have generated a feeling of genuine, serious tension.

Last year, WWE chose to have Stephanie battle Brie Bella at SummerSlam. The writers put plenty of focus on the buildup to the match, and as a result, it was one of the top matches heading into the second-biggest event of the year.

It would have had nothing on an AJ vs. Stephanie match.

Fans may not agree with AJ's decision to walk away from the WWE. But determining whether she is right or wrong is not for us to decide. Instead, she should be congratulated for her accomplishments, even if there could have been many more.

AJ had a uniqueness. She was different than a lot of women we've seen come down the WWE pipeline. Perhaps that's why she never appeared on Total Divas.

There's no debating that she was very influential, and down the road, it wouldn't be a surprise to see an elated young woman tell of how AJ became her role model and reason for dreaming to be in WWE—the same way AJ did when she met her idol, former WWE Diva Lita, for the first time.

In a short period of time, AJ put together a memorable career. Still, it's hard not to wonder about the moments that we'll never see.