WWE superstar gives details about her release by WWE and how she ended up re-joining the company
WWE released many of its Superstars in the last few years during the company's budget cuts amidst Covid-19. While many of the releases were expected, one surprise release was that of Zelina Vega. The superstar gave details of her release and how she made her way back to the company.
The 32-year-old star left WWE in late 2020. The company had asked all of its talents to acquiesce control of their account on third-party platforms. Vega, who has regularly streamed herself playing games on Twitch, refused to do so and left the company. However, she went on to make her return just eight months later.
In a recent interview, Vega gave details about how she started streaming on Twitch and the whole saga that saw her leave and return to the company. She also talked about who pushed her to start streaming in the first place and what value her Twitch channel adds to WWE.
“I would say it was something I was so reluctant to do for the longest time, like, Saraya was trying so hard to get me into it, she was like, you’d be perfect for it, you play video games anyways, you won’t stop talking about this video game and this Pokemon and she’s like you might as well do it on Twitch and have other like-minded people, you know, to talk to and play with whatever,” Vega said. (4:00 - 4:20)
She further talked about her initial reluctance to stream herself gaming, instead preferring to play alone or with her husband. She was, however, convinced by the current AEW Women's Champion Saraya (fka Paige) to give it a try
“And I was like, Nah, I just like my space and I like to play video games alone or with Tommy (her husband), just whatever. And she’s like I’m telling you you’ll like it, if you get past the set-up par, you’ll love it and after suffering through that, she was right,” she concluded. (4:21 - 4:37)
She also went on to talk about the conversations she had with WWE before her release and what led to her comeback in the company.
“One of the major things that I told WWE initially, that hey, I didn’t know that this was gonna blow up as much it did but it felt like it was an audience we are missing here.” Zelina on why she left WWE (5:40-5:50)
You can watch the entire interview below -
WWE had told wrestlers to stop streaming with third-party apps
In 2020, many of WWE’s active roster streamed themselves playing games hoping to connect with their fans. Vince McMahon, however, wasn’t happy with this as he felt WWE was not gaining anything from these streams. Zelina Vega was released after she refused to stop streaming on her Twitch channel.
Many wrestlers then stopped streaming on Twitch and other websites before WWE signed a deal with Twitch to let their performers stream on the popular platform. This was clearly taken as a serious issue as can be seen by the release of performers who refused to abide by the new rule put in place by the Chairman of the company.
Were you happy to see Zelina back in WWE? Are there any released Superstars you want WWE to bring back? Let us know in the comments below.