AJ Lee's First Card in a Decade Celebrates Her WWE Return
More than ten years after her final WWE match, AJ Lee is back in the ring and the hobby with a new Topps Now release.
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An ongoing rivalry between WWE Superstars Seth Rollins and CM Punk, the latter being Lee’s husband, built a storyline that hinted at a possible return over the last several weeks. After Rollins’ wife, fellow Superstar Becky Lynch, interfered with the Clash in Paris main event featuring the men, rumblings of Lee’s return grew louder.
The September 5th episode of Smack Down, set in CM Punk’s hometown of Chicago, was the perfect ecosystem for the former Diva’s Champion to stage a surprise return and level the scales of the rivalry.
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In April of 2015, Lee announced her official retirement citing a severe neck injury. Since then, she has become a New York Times Best-Selling Author, comic book and movie writer, actress, and producer. She also kept one foot in the wrestling world by joining the Women of Wrestling promotion from 2021 to 2023.
As with most Topps Now releases, randomly inserted parallels of Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5, and a 1/1 FoilFractor will be possible hits of the vertical base card. The tagline of the card cites Lee’s entrance music, “Let’s Light It Up,” and makes reference to her “long-awaited WWE return.”
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The release follows previous WWE Topps Now cards with an $8.99 price tag for products without autographs and relics. The on-demand product will be available for purchase on the Topps website until September 9th.
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Lee’s last card was released in a 2015 Topps WWE product. Even away from the company, Lee was still on some collector’s minds with her highest selling card going for $1200 in June of 2024.
Lauren is a writer, collector, Orlando Magic basketball fan, and artist. Her writing can also be found on Hobby News Daily. You can follow her at instagram.com/laurengoeshere.