WWE Diva AJ Lee was almost fired last year for similar incident to Del Rio's
After WWE recently released Alberto Del Rio from their roster due to due to unprofessional conduct and an altercation with an employee, reports of Diva AJ Lee almost being fired have been disclosed.
Similar incident to Del Rio where she confronted NBC’s Beadle
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, she was close to losing her job in the company after a backstage incident last year involving her, CM Punk and NBC Sports personality Michelle Beadle, who during the taping of WWE’s annual Tribute to the Troops, greeted Punk offensively and offended AJ in the process as she verbally lashed out at her.
Michelle Beadle noted the following on Twitter:
“I’ve known CM Punk for years. Considered him a friend. When I saw him at the arena, I said ‘hey f***face’. The exact same way I talk to everyone. His girlfriend was no where near this. And I kept walking along with my assistant and two members of WWE PR. Next thing I know, I’m being yelled at [by AJ Lee].
I honestly thought it was a joke. Period. The event went on and it was amazing. So I hope we can move on from this ridiculously lame ‘story.’ As for the crazies, BLOCKED! And Happy freaking Holidays!!!”
AJ was almost fired but Vince overturned the decision
F4WOnline.com held discussions about Del Rio’s release with members on their message board and one particular fan compared his misconduct to the one with AJ. Following his comparison, Meltzer revealed how she almost got fired but Vince McMahon eventually overturned that decision.
“A.J. wasn’t safe at all. There was a reason she wasn’t fired and it had nothing to do with Punk being her boyfriend nor how good a performer she was, although her star power did play into it.
The decision was made to fire her but Vince overruled it because he saw the big picture. It’s very complicated, but in that issue, Vince was savvy way beyond those underneath him and saw what would happen long-term and made the big picture smart call. If that happened now, the situation would be the same and she wouldn’t be fired for the same reason. Her being fired for that specific incident would have caused a chain of events to happen next that Vince thought would do the company more harm than good. There is no guarantee he was right in how he thought it would play out but it was far more foresight than is usually exhibited in these situations.”