WWE Wrestlepalooza 2023: AJ Lee Returns

WWE’s upcoming Wrestlepalooza premium live event is taking shape. During this past Monday’s episode of RAW, the promotion confirmed several big matches for the first PLE to air on ESPN’s new streaming service. One of those matches includes returning WWE Superstar AJ Lee.

WWE Announces Two New Matches For Wrestlepalooza

It’s already been confirmed that John Cena is set to face Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza, while Stephanie Vaquer and IYO SKY will battle it out to crown a new WWE Women’s World Champion. Now, who else will be joining them?

During the opening of the September 8 episode of RAW, the Usos reunited. Jimmy and Jey Uso demanded a match against The Vision’s Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker that night, but the heels said they would do it at Wrestlepalooza. Later that night, WWE officials confirmed the match. The Usos also look like there might be some animosity towards LA Knight.

After 10 years, AJ Lee made her return to WWE. She returned on the September 5 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and then made her WWE RAW return this past Monday. The former Divas Champion stole Becky Lynch’s Intercontinental Championship, which, not surprisingly, caused The Man to come out and demand it back. This also caused her husband, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, to come out and confront Lee. Lee then asked the irate couple to have a mixed tag team match at Wrestlepalooza. CM Punk later came out to back up his wife and tried to hit Rollins with a GTS in the process.

So the match is official, it will be AJ Lee and CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch on September 20 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is Lee’s first confirmed match since 2015 and her first against Lynch, too. Punk, on the other hand, is no newbie when it comes to Rollins or Lynch. Though Becky has only just become an enemy of Punk since helping Rollins retain the World Heavyweight Title at Clash in Paris. She then harassed him on RAW and SmackDown, trying to goad him into hitting her.

Wrestlepalooza Is WWE’s New Era

WWE’s X Account

While it’s a throwback for WWE fans to see AJ Lee in a match in 2025, WWE is actually in its new era, starting with Wrestlepalooza! This event marks the first PLE to air on ESPN’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service. So instead of watching the main roster PLE’s on Peacock, they will be available on ESPN and internationally on Netflix.

The shocking announcement was first revealed on August 20. It’s also worth mentioning that Wrestlepalooza was going to be the first main roster PLE to go against an All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view, though the promotion wisely decided to move the time earlier. As reported, AEW decided to move the All Out PPV to the afternoon, 3 p.m., instead of the original start time of 8 p.m. All Out will also be available to stream on HBO Max. In all honesty, it just makes for a good day for wrestling fans by having two major events to watch!