april jeanette "aj" brooks (born mendez, march 19, 1987) is an american retired professional wrestler. she is best known for her time in wwe under the ring name aj lee. she competed on the third season of nxt but finished fourth overall. even though she did not win nxt she was still given a contract with the wwe and debuted in her first match for the smackdown brand on may 27, 2011 edition where she teamed with kaitlyn in a losing effort against alicia fox and tamina.