"My hands still go numb" - AJ Lee reflects on the end of her wrestling career

Former WWE Superstar AJ Lee spoke about how she got her career-ending neck injury and her road to recovery during a recent interaction.

Lee stepped away from WWE in 2015 after a six-year-long run. During this time, she became the Divas Champion three times, had a stint as RAW General Manager, and managed Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan. She retired from professional wrestling in 2015 due to permanent damage suffered to her cervical spine.

She recently appeared on The Sessions, a show hosted by former WWE announcer Renee Paquette, aka Renee Young. Lee discussed the injury on the show, noting that it happened in a match against Paige.

AJ talked about mistiming a move, landing on the top of her head, and compressing her spine in the process:

"I f*cked up her move. “I like, jumped a little early and I landed on the top of my head, couldn’t feel my legs... It turned out three of my discs are so compacted it is shutting off a nerve, so my hands just go numb randomly… I had the option to do surgery to alleviate that pain or do rehab, and I went the rehab route. I was doing rehab and I was still on the road as champion… My hands still go numb, but other than that, I was very lucky!” (H/T WrestlingInc)

What has AJ Lee been up to since leaving WWE?

Since her in-ring retirement in 2015, AJ Lee has been busy with several projects.

She released her memoir, Crazy Is My Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules, in 2017, which debuted at number 10 on the NY Times best-seller list.

She has also worked as an Executive Producer on WOW - Women Of Wrestling, a re-imagining of the classic all-women wrestling show distributed by ViacomCBS.

It was interesting to learn the nature of AJ Lee's retirement, and time will tell if she stays out of the ring for good. You can learn more about The Black Widow by clicking here.