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Chiseled goliaths like Brock Lesnar and Ryback might have a few pounds on her, but make no mistake: AJ Lee is one of the most ruthless competitors — male or female — on the WWE roster today.

Having become a master in the art of psychological torment over the last year, AJ proved this past Monday night that she hasn’t lost her affinity for physical torture in the slightest, making Natalya tap out to a torso-twisting submission maneuver she calls the “Black Widow.” If you thought it was painful to watch, you weren’t alone.

“I’ve had it in my back pocket for a while,” AJ told WWE.com of the Black Widow, a variant of the Octopus Hold she honed and utilized to great success in WWE developmental territory FCW. “I’m not the strongest person, so anything that lets me trap myself on an opponent, like a spider in a web, is effective. The abdomen gets stretched, the neck is in an uncomfortable position and my opponent’s arms are extended where they shouldn’t be. So it’s everything all at once, using all 115 pounds of my pure muscle and ‘badassery’ to the fullest extent.”

The “Black Widow” association is all too appropriate for a woman that has entangled and preyed upon everyone close to her, not unlike the venomous hourglass-bellied spider that devours her mates. From Daniel Bryan to CM Punk to John Cena, few have gotten close to AJ Lee without feeling her wrath in one form or another.

“Somehow along the way, every time I’ve fallen in love with someone, I’ve maybe put them through a table or pushed them off a ladder or hurt their career,” AJ said of the behavior that has earned her the Black Widow nickname, muttered in hushed tones within the Divas locker room. “Instead of that being something people try to shame me for, I’m proud of that. And it’s something people should be wary of.”

But who, exactly?

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SHOOTS AND LADDERS, 12:04 p.m.

WrestleMania is upon us. Before an SUV transports AJ Lee and her closest confidants from the frenetic atmosphere of Axxess to the impending grandeur of The Showcase of the Immortals at nearby MetLife Stadium, a Money in the Bank photo op exhibit catches the trio’s eye.

The attraction, inviting WWE fans to participate in a ladder-ascending duel with a life-sized cardboard Showoff, is an all-too-appropriate pre-WrestleMania pit stop for “Ziggy,” Big E and Ms. Lee. Ziggler’s show-stealing victory at Money in the Bank 2012 still grants him a World Heavyweight Championship at the time and place of his choosing, and AJ capped off her 2012 by shoving then–pseudo boyfriend John Cena off a ladder. For Langston, the connection is more symbolic: With a WWE Tag Team Championship victory tonight, Big E’s climb to WWE’s highest rungs truly begins.

Before joining the rest of his tight-knit triumvirate, Ziggler grabs his battle-damaged briefcase, its contents all the more potent as the eyes of the world turn to The Grandest Stage of Them All.

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PAPER VIEW, 10:55 a.m.
If AJ Lee’s home were somehow set ablaze, there are two things she would scoop up before fleeing out the nearest exit: her blond Chihuahua and what she calls her “fire box,” a compact collection of her most treasured personal trinkets and professional mementos.

The inaugural contents of that sentimental repository, which also houses the wrist tape from her in-ring debut, were her WrestleMania XX tickets that granted AJ and her father access to the Diva-to-be’s first live WWE experience. She’s even kept their original envelope.

The seats weren’t the best in the house, placing AJ and her dad high in the rafters of Madison Square Garden. The distance to the ring mattered little to the aspiring Diva, though, as she witnessed first-hand the reborn Undertaker square off with his brother Kane — a confrontation between two of AJ’s favorite Superstars growing up.

“That was the most important day in my life up until that point, and also the happiest,” AJ says. “I needed to hold on to that.”

GARDEN GROWN, 11:31 a.m
The World’s Most Famous Arena has transformed considerably since it last played host to The Show of Shows nine years ago, but if anyone’s familiar with metamorphoses, it’s AJ Lee. Due to ongoing renovations throughout Madison Square Garden, her and her father’s WrestleMania XX seats — Sec. 426, Row E, Seats 17 and 18 — technically no longer exist. Nevertheless, the determined Diva climbs the Garden stairs to find a view matching that of her seminal Show of Shows experience.

Satisfied that she has found a reasonable facsimile of her WrestleMania XX vantage point, AJ leans back, her legs propped up on the seat in front of her as she curiously gazes down — ever the WWE fan — at construction for the night’s WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

“I don’t think there’s a place I have more of a connection to than the Garden,” AJ says, who last did some MSG seat-searching prior to Survivor Series 2011. “And that connection is to WrestleMania, and we’re going to personalize it even more tomorrow when it’s going to be in New Jersey, 10 minutes from my hometown. And I’m going to be there. It’s making it all real, and connecting the dots. I can’t wait for it to be 7 p.m. tomorrow night.”

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RADIO-ACTIVE 8:18 a.m.

“Oh 3:30 a.m. alarm, I hate you like you stole my boyfriend.”

So tweeted AJ Lee at the culmination of a night’s sleep that could best be described as an after-hours nap. She wakes her (unstolen) boyfriend Dolph Ziggler from his slumber — no doubt filled with visions of a WWE Tag Team Title conquest at WrestleMania — not realizing that his session at radio row begins long after hers. The until-recently snoozing Showoff isn’t usually quick to forgive, but for AJ, he makes many exceptions.

“He’s my ‘Ziggy’ and he’s so nice and he never gets mad at me,” AJ says with a mischievous grin. “He just kind of played it off.”

As she navigates the Axxess floor for radio row — where media personalities talk WrestleMania with elite WWE Superstars and Divas — AJ exudes excitement despite her lack of sleep. Her morning is packed with vibrant conversations about her lifelong passion, going from chatting with Fresno, Calif., DJ Danny Salas about the thrill of seeing Big E Langston compete in his first WWE match to gushing about the managerial skill set of “Sensational” Sherri with Peter Rosenberg of New York’s Hot 97 fame. (WATCH: AJ LEE HITS THE AIRWAVES)

“I have to do a lot of radio interviews, and the hosts aren’t always knowledgeable about WWE,” AJ explains. “Everyone today was clearly a fan and knew what they were talking about. That’s always a pleasant surprise.”

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