3-Time WWE Champion Comes out of Retirement After 10 Years, Confronts Becky Lynch

A massive WWE return went down Friday on SmackDown, with one of the great Superstars of the 2010s returning to the company after a decade away.

Spoilers ahead of WWE SmackDown’s Friday episode.

CM Punk’s feud with WWE’s top villain couple, real-life spouses Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, just escalated. His own wife, three-time WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee, has come out of retirement to join him in WWE.

The segment went down on Friday at Allstate Arena, in Chicago, the city that Punk and Lee call home. Lynch went toe-to-toe with Punk, who refused to physically attack the WWE Intercontinental Champion. Instead, Lee, who retired in 2015 due to neck/spine injury, came out and took down Lynch, to an ecstatic response from the WWE crowd.

After the show, WWE shared footage of Lee (real name April Mendez) signing a new WWE contract, cementing that this wasn’t a one-off appearance. Lee is back in action alongside Punk, with the power couple likely headed for a tag team match against The Vision (Rollins and Lynch).

The extent of Lee’s future in-ring appearances is unclear. She has also not commented on the status of her neck; though she is obviously cleared for physical contact, based on her actions in Friday’s segment.