"The girls didn't like her" - AJ Lee was very disliked backstage in WWE due to her attitude, claims wrestling veteran 

AJ Lee's rumored WWE return after a decade away from the business is inarguably the most talked-about thing going on in wrestling right now. Amid this, Dutch Mantell has made some interesting claims about the former Divas Champion's backstage reputation in the spots entertainment juggernaut during her first tenure.

Lee is widely speculated to team up with her husband, CM Punk, who is currently feuding with Seth Rollins and his wife, Becky Lynch, on Monday Night RAW. The two sides are expected to go to war at Wrestlepalooza on September 20. AJ Lee has built a successful career as a writer outside WWE over the past few years, but it seems those within the company have finally managed to lure her back.

On a recent episode of his Storytime with Dutch Mantell podcast, the WWE veteran opened up about Lee's first run with the promotion and how she wasn't a popular figure backstage. Mantell disclosed that AJ Lee had a no-nonsense attitude and that she didn't shy away from speaking her mind with anyone.

"After I heard how much the girls didn't like her, and I was hearing this straight from the mouths of some of the girls. I said, 'Why don't you like that girl? Well, she's this and this and this.' She ran her mouth too, and she didn't back up either. See, most of those girls were bigger than AJ. But she didn't back down. She didn't care. 'If you don't like me, fine.' And I think then she met CM Punk, and after she met him, that's when she left," said Dutch Mantell. (1:08:40 - 1:09:23)

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Vince Russo on WWE relying on cheap pops

Speaking on his The Brand podcast, Vince Russo lambasted WWE for relying on cheap pops to generate interest from fans. Russo slammed the company for its lack of engaging storylines and instead making up for it by delivering back-to-back big returns, which served little narrative purpose.

"Same s**t show week after week after week. No stories, no character development, just matches... All they do is plotting out the pops. Plotting out the pops. We use The Rock pop, and then we use the Brock [Lesnar] pop. Now, the AJ Lee pop. When is Liv Morgan coming back? We got the Liv Morgan pop... Here's the thing: they do these pops, Bin [Hamin] and Stevie [Richards], and don't even bother doing anything with them," Russo said.

Reports suggest that this week's SmackDown could also be a likely landing spot for Lee, since the show takes place in Chicago, Punk's hometown.

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