AJ Lee Talks WWE Return, Says She Was 'Very Sure' She Was Done After Retirement

AJ Lee is back in the WWE mix after a more than 10-year hiatus.

She made her return at WWE SmackDown earlier this month, aiding her husband, CM Punk, against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.

Lee, who retired in 2015, said she felt like she had checked all of the boxes for her career, but ultimately felt called back to WWE because of her fans.

"When I retired, I was very sure that was the end," she said on ESPN's Vibe Check(1:00 mark). "I was very complete, I had this sort of pitch-perfect career and executed all of my dreams in a way I felt like I manifested, because it was done so perfectly. So I was done. But over the past couple years since my husband's been back, it's sort of been in the air as an option and I wasn't super considering it until I started to get back on the comic con circuit. I wrote my first original graphic novel and started to do signings, and I realized that there were so many fans still out there who were so loyal and kind and had been with me for a decade. To go to a comic con and have a seven hour line of people, I realized, 'Oh, I owe them a little something.' And I thank them for being with me. So I wanted to sort of give them something in return."

As for the timing of her return, she felt like getting in on a new event like Wrestlepalooza served as the perfect place to get a fresh start.

"This opportunity, being a new event with ESPN, that was interesting," she said. "Like that was a new mountain to climb. That's not just jumping back into the fold. That's kind of building something brand new, and that's exciting. I like the challenge."

Now competing once again in WWE, Lee and her husband will look to make her first match back special as they face Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch on Saturday.