Zelina Vega prides herself on wearing many hats during her time in WWE, from wrestler to manager to jumping in on commentary.
But she feels she may be something greater than that now as a member of the reformed Latino World Order (LWO) as she’s set to face SmackDown women’s champion Rhea Ripley at Backlash in Puerto Rico on Saturday (8 p.m., Peacock).
The 32-year-old Vega, whose Puerto Rican heritage runs deep throughout her family, will probably be participating in only her second pay-per-view singles match for a world title in WWE’s first major show on the island since 2005.
The Queens Village native believes she will probably be representing greater than her faction and the members of the family in attendance — a lot of whom will probably be seeing her wrestle for the primary time — when she steps into the ring at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot.
“I feel like with the LWO, it’s cool since you’re fighting for individuals who haven’t gotten opportunities, who haven’t gotten their right likelihood,” Vega said in a phone interview. “They haven’t had the opportunities that they deserve and have been respected for the labor that they put in. Being that beacon of hope really. I feel like that for me, I’m hope for other people. It’s crazy to say that’s how people view me now. It’s something I’m very, very thankful for that they consider in me that much.”
It’s all a part of the brand new chapter in her profession after being off WWE television for six-plus months as a consequence of rupturing an implant during a match. She returned in October alongside the newly promoted Legado Del Fantasma faction of Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro.
She mostly served as a manager for them early on.
The group, and Escobar specifically, then became involved in Rey Mysterio’s WrestleMania storyline together with his son Dominik, and in late March the legendary luchador reformed the LWO, which was founded by Eddie Guerrero in WCW in 1998.
Vega, who grew up loving lucha libre, is the group’s first female member.
All of the twists and turns have allowed her to reinvent herself a number of times over after being Queen Zelina upon winning the primary ever Queen of the Ring tournament in October 2021.
The previous women’s tag team champion must be something totally different now as she moves right into a babyface role for the primary time in WWE.
Queen Zelina is up to now and never coming back.
“Once I first got here back I used to be platinum blonde starting in Legado where I’m the heel obviously,” said Vega, whose hair is now white, red and orange. “Now, breaking into this babyface character, it’s a new edition of Zelina. She’s LWO, she’s more colourful. She’s getting to indicate her anime side. She’s getting to indicate her gaming side. It’s all different evolutions of me and I never stop growing and creating because I like that part a lot.”
Vega, who has grow to be known for her creative attires, makes it some extent to never do anything halfway, irrespective of what she’s given in WWE.
“I’m at all times going to have the most effective of the most effective,” she said. “I’m a star one hundred percent of the time. It’s not like, ‘Oh, 20 percent of the time she’s off and she or he’s like a scrub.’ No, that is me on a regular basis.”
Her current situation in WWE has allowed her to display all of what she brings to the table as Vega never desires to be labeled as “only a manager.”
She feels the LWO, and Legado before that, allowed her to be “a wrestler wrestling with other wrestlers.”
“There’s so many alternative parts of my profession that don’t fall under one label or one category,” Vega said.
Being a babyface in WWE, nonetheless, is a recent label for her and she or he was shocked with how quickly the audience took to her in that role as she stood as much as and got physical with Ripley within the lead-up to the match.
A few of it she credited to how much vitriol Ripley and Dominik Mysterio have built up with the fans.
That has made the transition so much easier.
“I’m not the traditional form of babyface that’s like, ‘Yay, cheer for me since you’re alleged to.’ ” Vega said. “I feel prefer it’s because people relate to me is the rationale why it’s happened so quickly. … They relate to me because additionally they love anime or gaming or they’re smaller in stature like me or they’re Latino or they’ve someone like a Rhea Ripley of their life that they realistically need to punt within the face.”
Vega caught a number of people’s attention when she brought a blue flip-flop sandal for Ripley in the course of the segment where she requested the match at Backlash.
In Latin culture, the sandal, or “chancleta,” is something a mother may threaten her misbehaving children with.
Vega said the unique idea was for her to bring it for Mysterio’s wife Angie to make use of on Dominik, but plans modified.
“Days went by and things occur between Rhea and I and I felt like she was somewhat bit more deserving,” Vega said. “It’s really just whoever was gonna be the primary. It’s definitely something that strikes fear in a number of people they usually definitely know what I mean after I see it.”
Vega sees being within the LWO as a likelihood to bring much more of the Latin culture into her presentation.
Her family already has an influence on her character.
Vega, whose father died within the 9/11 attacks, said her brother’s Recent York accent and phrases work their way into her promos from talking to him.
Her mom’s fieriness, attitude and sometimes snarkiness are also evident.
“I feel like I’m bringing either side, Puerto Rico and the wealthy culture there and likewise being a Puerto Rican woman from Queens, Recent York,” Vega said. “There may be a number of culture in that too that I bring forward and I feel combining it’s so essential to me.”
Being within the LWO also brings the challenge of working with recent performers in Escobar, Wilde and Del Toro.
Vega said up to now with Andrade, who’s now in AEW, she needed to function his primary mouthpiece.
She could just take a look at him and “know exactly what was coming next.”
That they had a once-in-a-lifetime bond where she didn’t need to try because all the things “seemed very organic.”
Escobar is already a powerful promo without her and she or he said the 2 – together with Wilde and Del Toro – are still cultivating their chemistry.
“I can’t read his mind,” Vega said of Escobar. “It’s a slower progression but we’re beginning to construct that relationship, especially now since it’s not only one person with Santos. There’s Joaquin (Wilde) and Del Toro also.”
Vega said he’s a bit spoiled now creatively.
She has the advantage of bouncing ideas at home – which incorporates seven cats — off of her husband Malakai Black and says they “feed off one another.”
Vega now has the advantage of having Mysterio by her side at work and is cousins with legendry Puerto Rican wrestler Amazing Red.
The largest influence fans may even see from Black is the changes to her approach within the ring.
“People haven’t gotten to see me wrestle that much recently, but my style has modified so much due to him, whether that’s psychology-wise, whether that’s striking-wise, submission-wise,” she said.
It’s all a part of things really falling into place for her early in 2023 on all fronts.
She got to wear a Street Fighter cosplay on the Royal Rumble after announcing she will probably be an in-game commentator for Street Fighter 6.
Vega was also a presenter on the Crunchyroll Anime Award in Japan and has recently returned on Twitch after WWE agreed to permit its performers back on the social platform that is big within the video game world.
She said she got such a warm welcome back and is having fun with attending to mix the 2 worlds she loves.
“We’ve all come to a very good place,” Vega said. “All of us see the advantages of it and we’re able to work together and that’s all I ever wanted was to have the option to work together and now that it’s actually happening … Here’s just one other thing. I wasn’t expecting this to occur the way it did with Twitch.”
Beating Ripley for the SmackDown women’s championship in Puerto Rico of all places for her first world title could be the “cherry on top and a dream come true” with 2023 “not even been near being over.”
“That’s just really were the snowball effect is available in for me is trying to realize all my things,” Vega said. “I said it from the start, 2023 I wasn’t going to be fooling around.”