AJ Lee said her WWE return felt different from her first run because she came back with a decade of coping tools, speaking on State of Mind with Maurice Benard.
Mendez, who stepped away from wrestling for roughly ten years, said the emotional experience of performing had changed.
“It felt so much more fun this time because I got to be present instead of just panicking,” she said. She added that stepping into a high-stakes performance still required a mental technique: “What very much helped me was disassociation. You’ve got to go somewhere else.”
The Routine That Keeps Her Going
Mendez was specific about the structure she protects around her work.
“I’m going to have the schedule that works for me where I can still make sure I’m sleeping right. I still have the time to take my medication and go to therapy and have my routine, because that’s what keeps me alive,” she said.
Part of that discipline is keeping her home free of anything that could destabilize her.
“I do like to be in control of my brain. There is no alcohol or drugs in this house because I need all the help I can get. Anything that’s going to take me out of myself or put something else in the driver’s seat is only going to worsen symptoms,” Mendez said.
She credited WWE leadership with handling her return differently than the industry once did, pointing to Nick Khan and Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
“My biggest concern coming back was my mental health, and the bosses who brought me in were so open: ‘We will protect your mental health, and if we don’t, we’re not doing our job right.’ It was never like that 10 years ago. I felt like I had to hide that part of myself,” she said.
Her comments come amid an extended absence from WWE programming.