If you're a true blood-and-sinew kind of fighting fan, chances are you abandoned the WWE for UFC long ago. One of them is real, after all. But still: Millions of viewers in 145 countries and 30 different languages continue to tune in every week to watch men in shiny loin clothes throw each other around for a while. And it is, to be sure, a man's world, except for one WWE Diva — as female fighters are affectionately called — who bosses them all around. Her name is AJ Lee and she is the General Manager of WWE’s Monday Night Raw and you would not mistake her for someone from the Amazon. Over the past year, she's positioned herself firmly in the "geek-goddess" realm but still managed to reinforce WWE's place in the entertainment landscape by calling it out for what it is: silly fun. The Culture Blog caught up with Lee at this weekend's SummerSlam, where she made her ex-boyfriends Daniel Bryan and Kane face off — and where she defended the future of her uh, sport.

ESQUIRE.COM: So, during the height of the economic collapse, you did the most logical thing by dropping out of school to become a professional wrestler.

AJ LEE: I actually went to NYU for six months, had some family issues that kind of set me back, and I couldn't afford to go anymore. That was the theme going on in my whole life, you know: money stopping me from whatever I wanted to do. My dream my entire life was to be a wrestler, so that was my moment where I was like, Okay, let's do it now. I went to wrestling school and found a full-time job to support it.