Zelina Vega and Aleister Black could not script a extra good reunion. Black’s WWE return would all the time be a monumental event for them. After 4 years separated by skilled wrestling’s borders, the married couple had been again on the street collectively. However neither anticipated how pivotal April 25 can be to each of their careers.
Vega walked into Dickies Area in Fort Price, Texas with one plan — to cheer on her husband’s WWE return. Black was set to make his first WWE look after being launched in 2021. Regardless of his chilly, calculated presence, Black had the identical swirling ideas each returning celebrity has: Will they bear in mind me?
What Vega thought can be a supporting position turned out to be one of the necessary nights of her profession. Vega was knowledgeable she’d be profitable the ladies’s United States championship on three hours’ discover. Her first singles title after 15 years as knowledgeable wrestler and eight as a WWE celebrity.
“I suppose I used to be extra in shock,” Vega informed CBS Sports activities earlier than letting her charming, unapologetic anime fandom creep in. “The very very first thing I believed was like, ‘Rattling.’ I all the time had in my head that if I gained america Championship, I needed to be sporting my gear from ‘My Hero Academia.'”
Vega was unusually calm when knowledgeable of a chance she’d waited her life for. It is solely resulting from her husband’s presence. WWE is a high-pressure surroundings. Superstars work collectively, however success is usually reaped individually. Having Black together with her — driving to venues, listening to Metropolis & Color and watching their favourite reveals — gave Vega renewed peace.
“I felt this ease that I hadn’t felt in a really very long time,” Vega stated. “After which all of a sudden, that occurred. And I wasn’t nervous, surprisingly. Usually, I’ve hawks in my abdomen. I get very, very nervous. However I wasn’t.
“I believe that added to it, as a result of I used to be like, ‘OK, this is supposed to be,’ as a result of there was no combating it. I did not really feel any type of nerves. It was simply lastly peace. I felt like all the things was proper on this planet.”
The second’s significance did not sink in till the closing bell rang. Vega rolled up the previous girls’s U.S. champion Chelsea Inexperienced with a Code Purple, a transfer innovated by Vega’s cousin, Superb Purple. The group, seemingly as shocked as Vega was, roared with approval.
“It was loopy, as a result of I did not let myself really feel it or get excited about it till I heard the bell ring and heard, ‘And new!’ That is when you may see it on my face.” Vega stated. “Like, ‘Oh, that is actual. That is it.'”
Vega was in a dream state, strolling up the ramp with the ladies’s U.S. title slung round her shoulder. Black would have missed the celebration on another day within the final 5 years. That night, he was the primary individual to greet her backstage.
“I am my emotional self coming up the ramp. After which after I get to the again, I see him,” Vega stated. “He is the primary individual I see. And I get to have that second with him, being comfortable.”
Vega exited as Black ready for his entrance. There stood Vega — the primary Queen of the Ring and second girls’s U.S. champion — snapping pictures with two-time Corridor of Famer Paul “Triple H” Levesque whereas watching her husband’s long-anticipated return.
“Normally, I dream of those sorts of moments, however then I all the time get up,” Vega stated. “And this time, I simply did not. It was so good to really feel like, ‘Wow, that is my actuality.’ It is now not a dream.
“After which him coming again, seeing him and Triple H hug and say, ‘Welcome residence,’ it was such feeling, such a good day general. That is what I have been holding onto. That feeling, that day, for two weeks now.”
Profitable the ladies’s U.S. championship was an overdue alternative. Vega, 34, had struggled with the likelihood that she would not be in WWE’s plans. In Could 2023, Vega confirmed out for her fellow Puerto Ricans. Vega unsuccessfully challenged Rhea Ripley for the SmackDown girls’s title at Backlash, however thought the efficiency was her launching pad.
“I genuinely thought that was my rise, that one thing was coming subsequent,” Vega stated. “So I am like, ‘OK, that is occurring now.’ After which it did not. After which it did not… Is there one thing I am doing incorrect? Is there one thing I am lacking? Moreover my top, which I can do nothing about. What else is there that I can management?
“I all the time felt so near the world title so many occasions that I felt like one thing was coming…They had their imaginative and prescient of what they needed for no matter purpose, and I simply wasn’t part of that for some time.”
Try the total interview with Zelina Vega under.
Vega waited a very long time to show she has championship mettle. She is aware of her reign cannot final endlessly. She’s decided to take advantage of it and set the usual for a champion’s ferocity. Meaning defending the title towards high expertise like Asuka, Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia and Iyo Sky. It means defending the title throughout WWE’s three tv reveals, and taking the U.S. title worldwide to Mexico’s AAA and Japan’s Stardom promotions.
“I have to show what sort of competitor I will be as a champion. As a result of they’ve seen me battle for one thing, however now it is like, work to get in, work to remain in,” Vega stated. “I do not assume they’ve seen me be the type of aggressor that I should be to maintain it.
“I wish to make my impression on this. I wish to make my mark. As a result of it should stay on with out me sooner or later. Years down the road, you nonetheless need folks to say, ‘Man, that match was actually nice.'”