AJ Lee joined Stephanie McMahon, and the two discussed a series of tweets from a decade ago by the talent regarding women’s pay in WWE.
Lee (April Mendez) joined McMahon on “What’s Your Story?” with the provision that the two address the series of tweets Lee posted in February 2015, directed at McMahon over the state of women’s pay in WWE.
McMahon had posted a message for Patricia Arquette on Twitter (now X) in February 2015 after Arquette’s speech at the Golden Globe Awards, addressing equal rights for women. McMahon wrote, “Thank you Patricia Arquette for having the courage to fight for Women’s Rights on such a grand platform.”
Mendez replied, “Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, and yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster.”
Both McMahon and Mendez included the hashtag #UseYourVoice.
Thank you @WWEAJLee, I appreciate your opinion. #UseYourVoice
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 25, 2015
In 2015, the story gained a lot of attention as it was exceptionally rare for a current talent to speak out publicly against an executive in the company. Outlets such as USA Today covered the story and resulting in a tweet from Vince McMahon’s Twitter account stating, “We hear you. Keep watching.”
Mendez was in a difficult spot, married to CM Punk, who had left the company one year prior and was in the process of being sued by Dr. Chris Amann over his comments on the Art of Wrestling podcast. Mendez remained with WWE for over a year after Punk left and wrapped up with WWE in April 2015.
In the podcast released on Monday, Mendez said she insisted they address the story if she came on the podcast and McMahon presented herself as being thankful Mendez posted the tweet to advocate, but didn’t like that it was directed at her because it was not in her direct control regarding women’s pay in WWE.
Mendez said she likes being direct, but also practical, and felt, “I had nothing to lose” during that time.
McMahon explained that the “women’s revolution” was not a result of executives, but from fan advocacy and people like Mendez speaking up.
It was evident that a shift was necessary after the NXT began presenting its women’s division in a significantly more serious manner a year before the tweets by Mendez.
This was also the era when Ronda Rousey was among the biggest stars in sports, and the tweets by Mendez were posted just days before Rousey’s 28-second win over Cat Zingano in Los Angeles at UFC 184. The next month, Rousey made a cameo appearance at WrestleMania 31 with Dwayne Johnson to oppose Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon. Three years later, Rousey joined WWE and would headline WrestleMania 35 in 2019 with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.
