"I owe a lot to him" - Current WWE star almost quit wrestling before The Rock interfered
Zelina Vega almost quit wrestling before WWE legend The Rock talked her out of the decision.
Vega failed a few WWE tryouts before finally signing with the Stamford-based company in 2017. The 32-year-old has since competed on NXT, Monday Night RAW, and SmackDown. She is now a former Women's Tag Team Champion. The LWO member was also the first woman to win the Queen's Crown tournament.
In a recent interview with Busted Open Radio, Vega revealed that she almost quit wrestling after failing her seventh WWE tryout. However, she changed her mind after speaking with The Rock.
"It's funny because I was about to quit. When Dwayne [Johnson] and I spoke about it, right after I had a WWE tryout for the seventh time…at that point, I was like, 'I've given it my all. They haven't seen what they're looking for. I can't do this.' There was a movie that I had auditioned for that I didn't get, too. I was just so down and out. I was thinking, 'Do I just give up at this point?' Dwayne goes, 'Give me three days. I'm working on something. Don't give up.' I was like, 'Okay,'" she said.
Vega then played the role of AJ Lee in Saraya's biopic Wrestling with My Family, a movie in which The Rock was one of its producers.
"To go from that to training at the Performance Center, it's been a dream come true. Had I not said anything to him [The Rock], to not be able to live this dream…it's crazy how these little things [work]. If one thing had just changed, none of this would have happened. I owe a lot to him. It's mindblowing to think had that one instance changed, everything else would have," Vega added. (H/T EWrestlingNews)
Zelina Vega opened up about her emotions heading into Backlash. Check out her comments here.
Zelina Vega will face Rhea Ripley at WWE Backlash
Last month, the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley challenged Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39. Despite The Queen's efforts, she lost the title to The Eradicator.
The Judgment Day member will defend her title for the first time against Zelina Vega at Backlash next Saturday. Vega recently took to Twitter to make a bold prediction about her clash against Ripley.
"Future WWE Smackdown Women's Champion … fighting for mi gente!" she wrote.
Zelina Vega says Rhea Ripley does not "scare" her. Check out her comments here.