April Jeanette Mendez born March 19, is an American author, screenwriter and retired professional wrestler. Mendez began her professional wrestling career in in New Jersey 's independent circuit. She signed with WWE in and spent two years in its developmental branch, Florida Championship Wrestling , before her promotion to the main roster.
In , she rose to prominence through storylines with her "mentally unstable" character, such as high-profile relationships and a three-month stint as the General Manager of Raw.
In subsequent years, she won the Divas Championship a record-tying three times [ a ] and held the title for an overall record of days. She retired from in-ring performing in Army , she occasionally wore camouflage wrestling attire.
Mendez was diagnosed with bipolar disorder , a condition her mother also suffered from, around the age of In March , Mendez enrolled in a wrestling school close to her home, where she was trained by Jay Lethal.
The show mixed professional wrestling and reality competition formats as six female participants from FCW competed to be WWE's "next breakout star". AJ made her main roster debut on the May 27, , episode of SmackDown as part of a tag team with Kaitlyn, [ 38 ] referring to themselves as "The Chickbusters". By November , AJ was placed in an on-screen romance with Daniel Bryan , [ 52 ] who won the World Heavyweight Championship the next month and developed heel traits. As a result, she attacked Natalya and Kaitlyn when they attempted to comfort her, [ 62 ] [ 63 ] [ 64 ] marking her character's transition to "mentally unstable".
