AJ Lee and Stephanie McMahon are finally addressing their 2015 scuffle. At the time, the WWE Divas were getting less and less screen time despite their popularity due to Lee and also the success of Total Divas. Not only that, there was a major pay discrepancy. Lee directed her frustrations at McMahon on social media in a viral tweet.
Lee made an appearance on the latest episode of McMahon’s podcast, What’s Your Story? Her only stipulation being they have to talk about the incident.
McMahon recalls herself responding to a remark Patricia Arquette made about equal pay, with the hashtag, ‘Use your voice.’ Lee took the opportunity to shine a light on the treatment of women in WWE.
“I retweeted it, and I said, ‘Well, we’re talking about use your voice, we don’t get equal pay, essentially, yet we’re bringing in more eyeballs than a lot of the men.’ It was probably pretty fiesty,” Lee said. (H/t: WrestleZone). “That, to me, felt, in general, fairly direct. I try not to be rude. I think a lot of people were like, ‘I have no filter,’ and it’s an excuse for being rude. But I think you can be direct, but very practical. I felt it was coming from a practical phase, very direct, but I also was a bit like, ‘I ain’t got nothing to lose right now.’”
McMahon notes she did have a lot to lose given she was the Divas Champion at the time. However, it takes a lot of courage to fight for what you believe in and her character was so much different than anyone else in the women’s division at the time.
“The fact that you really were a different character than any type of stereotype, like, you came out of nowhere, and the audience loved you from the start,” McMahon says. “I mean, they really did. They just connected with you in such a special and unique way. I appreciate your directness. I’m a direct person as well. I’m sure some people think I’m rude, but I don’t mean to be. I just hate all the BS — let’s just have the conversation.”
Stephanie McMahon and AJ Lee clear the air
McMahon says that she’s “happy” Lee was voicing it, despite her having no direct control over the situation.
“I was actually happy that you posted that. I wasn’t happy that it was directed at me because it wasn’t anything that I had direct control over. But I was really happy that you did, because that movement, the whole Women’s Evolution in WWE, it didn’t happen because of executives. Maybe along the way, people voicing their opinions, but it really happened because of the women who paved the way, all the way back to the beginning of all of these incredible women who have been inside the squared circle, no matter what promotion they were in.”
Of course, it would become harder to ignore as the fans became fed up with the treatment of the Divas themselves, starting the #GiveDivasAChance movement.
“But then, for our audience, when they started the hashtag ‘Give Divas a chance,’ at that time, that’s what couldn’t be ignored. And the audience would never have gotten behind the movement if it weren’t for people like you, who actually stood up for women publicly and take on the machine a little bit. It was a big deal.”
Lee concludes her remarks explaining that change can’t happen without sacrifice. She was ready for the repercussions, whatever they might’ve been.
“I appreciate that, and I feel like change doesn’t happen unless there’s sacrifice. You have to be willing to lose everything to get what you want, and I feel like that in every aspect of life, like, you playing it safe doesn’t work. Playing it safe might give you a safe life, but I don’t think it gives you an exceptional life. So, I felt like that was worth it, whatever the backlash was going to be. But I thought you were cool after, like, everyone was pretty chill. It was business, and I appreciate that. It was a rough time.”
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