Source: Carson Daly

Former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee appeared on NBC’s Carson Daly this week to promote her new book, Crazy Is My Superpower. Below are some highlights:

What her book is about:

“It’s essentially a story about taking the things that society wants you to feel are flaws, and making them your greatest strengths.”

Her first 10-year life plan:

“My first 10-year life plan included just making it to WWE. There was a developmental league and you needed to get called up and debut, so that was a big deal in itself. I wanted an action figure with preferably exaggerated body measurements. Got that. I wanted to be champion and got to do that three times.”

What exaggerated body measurements did she want to see:

“It’s a joke I have because I’m so minuscule to all of the other wrestlers who are amazonian goddesses or supermodels, so there was a time where Mattel started making the dolls very, very accurate.”

Her childhood:

“I grew up in this volatile household and violence was sort of normalized to me in a very unhealthy way. We grew up in several rough neighborhoods and to prepare us, our parents told us to practice fighting on each other in the living room. We’d normally circle up and it was basically baby gladiator for sure. I didn’t really understand that it wasn’t okay to swing and hit your classmate if he offended you and I was a straight A student but was getting into the scuffles in class and I think that was terrifying for teachers. Finding wrestling eventually gave me a way to channel that rage, otherwise there’s just a monster inside.”

Some of her past injuries:

“A lot of the broken bones were just my own. I broke my foot and dislocated my kneecaps. My favorite injury story though is my tooth going through my face and scratching another competitor’s forehead. I have a little scar and I love it so much.”

How she broke into the business:

“At the time for women the only way in was to get scouted for modeling jobs and there was a thought that you can take anyone who’s beautiful enough and turn them into a wrestler. That was certainly not going to be my way in. So I took the path the guys take and that was to find an independent school and train as long as I can and do the independent circuit. My goal is to change the definition of what a wrestler could be. The women were used as props at a time. They would be a musical artist and it was ‘Okay send the girls out to dance behind them.’ Or Bra And Panties matches where the goal was to strip the opponent down to their underwear and that’s how they won the match.”

Cutting a promo:

“For the camp, there were particular plans for each day. The last day was supposed to be this promo day. A promo is when you talk into the microphone and you turn into this character and you turn it on. The first hour the first day I get told ‘We want you to go onto the main stage and cut a promo.’ I walk into the room and it’s just every decision maker. I almost had a heart attack and I guess my fight or flight instinct is to just be a real dick and I just turned into this bad guy I’ve never been. My promo was just this dou*hebag and I just went off on everyone in the room, and I guess it worked. From that moment on they paid attention to me during the tryouts.”

Her in-ring style:

“I knew early on I wasn’t going to lift people or throw people, or be physically imposing, so I had to figure out a way to just Spider Monkey onto people. King of be a bug on you that you just can’t get off. So I named my submission move the Black Widow. I break it out every now and then.”

Being the best in the business:

“I always compare it to Cirque du Soleil having a love child with SNL. There’s this strange stance of making it look like you’re murdering someone while protecting their life maybe 30 times in one match. When you’re respected enough by your superiors to say ‘Oh your skills and your marketability have led us to want you to be our champion,’ that is the pinnacle of success in this art form. For me it was – I took 14 years of my life wanting to be able to call myself the best, and in this day I’m holding the belt and I am the best.”