AJ Lee is stepping back into the WWE ring for the first time in a decade, teaming up with her husband CM Punk for a mixed tag match against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. The bout is set for Wrestlepalooza on September 21 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has quickly become the most talked-about match on the card.
Other promotions like Guerilla Wrestling and AEW regularly do mixed gender matches in non-PPV events. Howevern the Lee and Punk vs. Rollins and Lynch match stands apart because of what it represents. WWE has sparingly leaned on mixed tag bouts over the years, with a lineage that reaches back to the Attitude Era when Lita and the Hardy Boyz clashed with Test, Albert, and Trish Stratus at Fully Loaded in 2000. More recently, fans saw UFC Fighter Ronda Rousey team with Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle against the corporate baddies Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 34 in 2018. Those matches blended spectacle with novelty. However, the upcoming match with Lee and Punk vs. Rollins and Lynch one carries history.
Lee has not wrestled since her 2015 retirement, which makes her return both a risk and a statement. She was able to build a reputation as one of the sharpest performers of her generation, known for her work rate and her personality in an era when women’s wrestling was often sidelined predating the “Women’s Revolution” spearheaded by Lynch, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Charlotte Flair in 2015. That reputation is now on the line against Lynch, one of the cornerstones of WWE’s modern women’s division.
On September 16, during a promo segment, Punk taunted Rollins and Lynch with the line, “Are you going to be a happily married tag team or are you going to let your own egos get in the way?” The jab played into long-running rivalries, while also sharpening the stakes for Lee, who must prove she still belongs in the ring after ten years away.
Punk’s return to WWE in 2023 after leaving AEW reignited interest in his career, but it also placed a spotlight on Lee. When he mentioned her in his first promo back, noting she was doing well and sending regards to fans, speculation began immediately about whether she might wrestle again. Wrestlepalooza answers that question. More than just another storyline match, it pits two of WWE’s most visible couples against each other in a fight that will test egos, legacies, and in Lee’s case, whether time away has changed her standing in a business that never stops moving.
