AJ Brooks (formerly known as AJ Lee) says she convinced Big E that he broke her sternum on television.
Back in 2013, Big E was a body guard for Dolph Ziggler who was in an on-screen relationship with Brooks. On an episode of Smackdown, Big E walked to the ring for a match against Daniel Bryan, and accidently hit Brooks who was walking behind him. You can watch the incident in this video:
During a Q&A session at a bookstore in conjunction with the release of her new memoir, Brooks talked about the event. She said Big E felt terribly and she exploited it to play a joke on him.
"I had to wear a padded bra at all times while wrestling. Because I look like a twelve-year-old girl and none of the other girls do. I think I tweeted that night, 'a padded bra saved my life.' I can take a lot of pain so whatever. (Big E) is the most gentle Giant, and so we got to the back and he's on the verge of tears and was like 'what are we going to do? are you ok?' And to be a good friend, I thought 'let me make him feel so bad about this,'" said Brooks. "Throughout the week, I told him I went to a doctor, my sternum was broken, I told him I was reaching for (a glass of) water and I couldn't do it," she added.
The tweet from Brooks in 2013:
If I wasn't forced to wear a padded bra, that E backhand would've hurt pretty bad. #WonderBrasSaveLives #MilesBeneathTheSurface
— AJ Mendez Brooks (@AJBrooks) April 9, 2013
She eventually told Big E she was fine. Brooks retired from professional wrestling in 2015 due to injury, but recently said she has not ruled out a return. The women's division is completely different than when Brooks was in WWE. It was still called the Divas division and a lot of the current division was in NXT.
Brooks' book Crazy Is My Superpower is now available.
