Ranking AJ Lee's Greatest WWE Matches and Moments Ahead of Wrestlepalooza

A true trailblazer for women's wrestling in WWE, AJ Lee's long-awaited return on the Sept. 5 edition of SmackDown more than lived up to the hype.

During her original run with the company, she was a recurring highlight not only for what was once referred to as the "Divas" division but also WWE programming as a whole, specifically her storyline with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk in 2012.

Lee had a handful of memorable matchups at a time when the women weren't often afforded the opportunity to showcase their skills in the ring. She was best known for her passionate promos, connection with the crowd and ability to elevate everything she was involved in.

The landscape of women's wrestling changed in her absence, and for the better. In addition to the inception of the women's Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank matches, several championships have been introduced for female wrestlers to challenge for, giving the future WWE Hall of Famer a number of new goals to achieve now that she's back full-time, per Bodyslam.net.

Ahead of her highly-anticipated mixed tag team match alongside husband CM Punk against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at Wrestlepalooza on September 20, these are Lee's greatest WWE matches and moments, ranked.

10. Glimmers of Greatness (NXT, Nov. 23, 2010)

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Fittingly, it was 15 years ago on the weekend of AJ Lee's epic return that she made her first WWE appearance on the Season 3 premiere of NXT, when the show was a weekly competition to determine who would earn a contract and become a breakout star.

Although it was a failed concept by its third season and WWE refused to take it seriously, the show still had its fair share of bright spots, specifically the debuts of Lee and Naomi.

Both women went on to become major success stories, though it took Naomi a lot longer to find her footing on her own compared to Lee.

The matches on NXT TV at the time were hardly anything special (with some being downright deplorable), but Lee and Naomi had strong in-ring chemistry whenever they worked together, likely due to the many matches they already had in WWE development system FCW prior to that point.

Their outing on the Nov. 23, 2020 edition of NXT in particular was a treat and put their potential on full display. The bout was brief, but it served as a small taste of what the two women were capable of.

9. Going out on Top (WrestleMania 31)

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By WrestleMania 31, Lee had accomplished virtually all she could, at least with what WWE had available for the then-Divas division.

With no one left for her to work with and husband CM Punk on the outs with the company, it was safe to assume her own exit was imminent.

Shortly prior to The Show of Shows in 2015, she returned from a three-month hiatus to rekindle her rivalry with The Bella Twins and befriend Paige, with whom she had feuded for the better part of 2014.

Lee and Paige made for a wonderfully weird team in the lead-up to 'Mania and were the perfect foils for the dastardly Bellas.

The Divas Championship picture was at a standstill at the time, but Lee and Paige teaming up to take on the Bellas was the biggest bout WWE could have booked with the women at the event.

Ultimately, the match was nothing special, especially compared to the classics we've had with the women in recent years, but it was also a vast improvement over many of the matches the women had been relegated to in the past.

Lee tapping out reigning Divas champ Nikki Bella on The Grandest Stage of Them All was an appropriate end to her decorated career, though she would have one last six-woman tag team match on the next night's Raw where she sported the shirt of NXT up-and-comer Bayley and emerged victorious.

8. Returning and Reclaiming the Divas Championship (Raw, June 30, 2014)

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Fresh off a massive win at WrestleMania 30 where she managed to retain her Divas Championship in a 14-woman invitational, Lee appeared on the ever-unpredictable post-WrestleMania Raw to boast about beating the entire division in one night.

There was no one left for her to defeat, which brought out inaugural NXT women's champion Paige. Once it was established she was one of the black-and-gold brand's brightest prospects, she proceeded to pin Lee in under a minute to clinch her first Divas title.

Lee disappeared from programming while Paige had a fairly uneventful reign. Fans anxiously awaited Lee's return to television, hoping she would give the Divas division the boost of adrenaline it desperately needed.

In a reversal of roles, Paige stood in the middle of the ring on the June 30, 2014 edition of Raw and was quickly interrupted by Lee. Their impromptu rematch was also kept short and sweet and culminated in Lee regaining the gold to a huge reaction.

That set the stage for their remainder of their rivalry that summer and got the title back where it belonged.

7. Dream Match Realized (Battleground 2014)

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With Lee and Paige's first two matches being as quick as they were, the idea was for the rubber match to be the bout fans had always wanted to see them have given their respective skill sets.

Although Paige was the babyface and Lee was seemingly the heel, the audience struggled to invest in the British wrestler as the fan favorite. Rather, Lee was receiving much more favorable reactions, and that ultimately played into the decision to do a double turn.

Before that happened, they had a very enjoyable encounter at Battleground. In the time they were allotted, they kept the shenanigans to a minimum and delivered a great sprint.

That was the first time Paige had been able to show what she could do since arriving on the main roster, and the seasoned Lee was an excellent opponent for her to have. They also did an effective job of not giving everything away since more matches between them were planned, but of every outing they had in 2014, this was the best of the bunch.

Lee played a pivotal role in cementing Paige as a star early on and their feud only escalated from there.

6. Third Time's the Charm (Night of Champions 2014)

Once Paige went full-fledged heel shortly after Battleground, she regained the Divas Championship at SummerSlam to put Lee back in chase mode.

Nikki Bella entered the mix around that time as she had just betrayed her sister, Brie, at SummerSlam and wanted to capitalize on her momentum by becoming Divas champ. That led to a Triple Threat being booked for the Night of Champions pay-per-view between Paige, Lee and Bella.

Lee and Paige didn't quite capture the magic they made at Battleground, but Nikki being involved made for a better match with more suspense and a stronger flow. Nikki showed serious signs of improvement in the ring while Lee and Paige worked well together as always.

In a bit of a shocker, Lee submitted Paige to reclaim the championship and kick off her third run with the title. She was already a household name for WWE by then and didn't need the belt to remain a fixture on the show, but it did further prove how hot a commodity she was in that division.

She would decisively defeat Paige at Hell in a Cell to end the feud, only to drop the title to Nikki at Survivor Series a month later.

5. Table for Two (Raw, July 2, 2012)

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Within a matter of months, Lee went from being a budding love interest of Daniel Bryan in the early months of 2023 to the focal point of WWE programming by the summer.

Bryan blamed his swift loss of the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 28 on Lee, leading to her experiencing an emotional breakdown and seeking revenge on her former crush.

Her first order of business was attempting to get Bryan jealous by hitting on his new rival, CM Punk.

Punk and Bryan feuding over the WWE Championship had the potential to be must-see television regardless, but the involvement of Lee made their rivalry infinitely more compelling than it already was.

She constantly bounced back and forth between the two and even shared a smooch with Kane, who was also gunning for Punk's WWE title that June.

On July 2, 2012, Punk and Bryan were embroiled in a tag team match when Lee made her presence felt by locking lips with Punk before shoving him into Bryan at ringside and through a table.

It was a clever way for her to keep viewers guessing as to who she would choose to side with heading into their championship clash at Money in the Bank where she was the special guest referee.

4. Taking the Reins of Raw (Raw 1000, July 23, 2012)

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When Punk left Money in the Bank still WWE champion, Bryan shifted his blame back to Lee and intended on making her pay for all of the chaos she forced him to endure for months.

In an intriguing twist, he first proposed to her on the post-Money in the Bank edition of Raw, though it was later revealed that was so he could have her committed to an asylum easier.

Their wedding went down on the 1,000th episode of Raw a week later, but before Bryan could get his way and have Lee escorted out of the arena, Mr. McMahon interrupted to announce he had settled on a proper replacement as Raw general manager: AJ Lee.

Bryan's outburst of anger combined with Lee's unhinged laughter made for a memorable visual. Raw expanding to three hours from that point forward meant that, as the red brand's head honcho, she would have more television time than anyone else on the roster.

It was well-deserved considering how over she was with the audience at the time. Although it kept her out of the ring for a few months, those three months with Lee in charge resulted in the most underrated run of her career and segued seamlessly into her next big storyline.

3. Crazy Love (TLC 2012)

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At the end of October 2012, Lee was effectively removed from her position of power and replaced with Vickie Guerrero.

Although her time running Raw was short-lived, it did allow her to return to the ring and start pursuing her next love interest in John Cena.

Cena repeatedly turned down Lee's efforts but did so in a friendly fashion every time to avoid making an enemy out of her. That didn't stop Guerrero and her associate, Dolph Ziggler, from targeting Lee and using her to get to Cena.

At TLC, Ziggler put his Money in the Bank contract on the line in a ladder match with Cena. Lee was expected to interfere, but who she'd ultimately align with was unknown.

Just as it looked like she was going to aid Cena, she pushed over the ladder while he was ascending it and helped Ziggler secure the victory and the Money in the Bank briefcase instead. It was a spectacular swerve and cliffhanger to close the show.

Lee revealed Cena's various rejections were what convinced her to join Ziggler, and with Guerrero out of the picture, they were a fantastic heel couple. They also recruited NXT champion Big E into their ranks one night removed from their grand plan coming together.

Lee again took a backseat as a wrestler during the time she managed Ziggler, but the two of them made for such a phenomenal pair that his successful Money in the Bank cash-in on the post-WrestleMania Raw is forever synonymous with their time together.

2. Divas Division Pipebomb (Raw, Aug. 26, 2013)

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Long after she was associated with CM Punk on screen (and not long before it was publicly revealed they were a real-life item), Lee took a page out of her future husband's playbook by dropping a scathing "pipebomb" on the Divas division at the tail end of WWE's summer season in 2013.

Lee had been Divas champion for a few months by then and her rivalry with Dolph Ziggler was being overshadowed by the buzz surrounding WWE's new women's reality show, Total Divas.

The cast of the show routinely wrestled each other on Raw but without any meaningful stories or something significant at stake.

Not one to be cast aside, Lee vented her frustrations and took aim at every woman in the ring while she stood on the stage with the Divas belt draped over her shoulder, holding nothing back as she sounded off on how she was the only "real" thing in the division at that time.

In the remainder of her run, she knocked off every Total Divas star who stepped up to her. As noted, it wasn't until Paige debuted that she was finally dethroned, but prior to that point, she was the saving grace of a division that lacked depth.

Her promo ability could never be questioned, though.

1. Winning the Divas Championship (Payback 2013)

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Lee's promos and character work were what endeared her to the audience in 2012, but many fans underestimated what she could do when the bell rang because she didn't wrestle consistently.

She finally set her sights on the Divas Championship in the spring of 2013, and it was only fitting that the person she challenged for it was Kaitlyn, with whom she had history dating back to their time on NXT Season 3.

Their feud was fun to follow, but they did their best work together inside the ring.

They met for the title at the inaugural Payback pay-per-view in Chicago, providing an electric atmosphere for the battle between former friends. Kaitlyn had been champion for many months and had improved in her own right, but the evening was all about Lee and giving her the crowning achievement that had eluded her.

It was far and away the best women's match all year in WWE and in Lee's entire career to date. Kaitlyn more than held her own and attempted to put her rival away with her impressive power but to no avail.

Lee's emphatic victory took her to the next level of singles stardom and made the Divas Championship the most prestigious it would ever be in its eight-year existence.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.