Zelina Vega and Aleister Black could not script a extra good reunion. Black’s WWE return would at all times be a monumental event for them. After 4 years separated by skilled wrestling’s borders, the married couple have been again on the highway collectively. However neither anticipated how pivotal April 25 can be to each of their careers.
Vega walked into Dickies Area in Fort Value, 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 famous person has: Will they bear in mind me?
What Vega thought can be a supporting position turned out to be one of the crucial necessary nights of her profession. Vega was knowledgeable she’d be successful 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 famous person.
“I suppose I used to be extra in shock,” Vega advised CBS Sports activities earlier than letting her charming, unapologetic anime fandom creep in. “The very very first thing I assumed was like, ‘Rattling.’ I at all times had in my head that if I gained the US Championship, I wished to be carrying my gear from ‘My Hero Academia.'”
Vega was unusually calm when knowledgeable of a chance she’d waited her life for. It is solely because of 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 mentioned. “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 sort of nerves. It was simply lastly peace. I felt like every thing was proper on the earth.”
The second’s significance did not sink in till the closing bell rang. Vega rolled up the previous ladies’s U.S. champion Chelsea Inexperienced with a Code Purple, a transfer innovated by Vega’s cousin, Superb Purple. The gang, 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’ll be able to see it on my face.” Vega mentioned. “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 some other 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 mentioned. “He is the primary individual I see. And I get to have that second with him, being completely satisfied.”
Vega exited as Black ready for his entrance. There stood Vega — the primary Queen of the Ring and second ladies’s U.S. champion — snapping images with two-time Corridor of Famer Paul “Triple H” Levesque whereas watching her husband’s long-anticipated return.
“Often, I dream of those sorts of moments, however then I at all times get up,” Vega mentioned. “And this time, I simply did not. It was so good to really feel like, ‘Wow, that is my actuality.’ It is not a dream.
“After which him coming again, seeing him and Triple H hug and say, ‘Welcome residence,’ it was such a great feeling, such a good day general. That is what I have been holding onto. That feeling, that day, for a great two weeks now.”
Successful the ladies’s U.S. championship was an overdue alternative. Vega, 34, had struggled with the chance that she would not be in WWE’s plans. In Might 2023, Vega confirmed out for her fellow Puerto Ricans. Vega unsuccessfully challenged Rhea Ripley for the SmackDown ladies’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 mentioned. “So I am like, ‘OK, that is taking place now.’ After which it did not. After which it did not… Is there one thing I am doing unsuitable? Is there one thing I am lacking? In addition to my peak, which I can do nothing about. What else is there that I can management?
“I at all times felt so near the world title so many instances that I felt like one thing was coming…They had their imaginative and prescient of what they wished for no matter motive, 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 without end. She’s decided to profit from it and set the usual for a champion’s ferocity. Meaning defending the title in opposition to 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 must show what sort of competitor I might be as a champion. As a result of they’ve seen me struggle for one thing, however now it is like, work to get in, work to remain in,” Vega mentioned. “I do not suppose they’ve seen me be the sort of aggressor that I have to be to maintain it.
“I need to make my impression on this. I need to make my mark. As a result of it’ll dwell on with out me sooner or later. Years down the road, you nonetheless need individuals to say, ‘Man, that match was actually nice.'”
