Zelina Vega recently participated in an interview with TV Insider, where the WWE superstar discussed a wide variety of topics, including her confidence, proving herself in the ring, and staying ring ready when she isn’t wrestling. Check out some of the highlights below:
On her confidence:
It was legit hunger I had because it took me about seven or eight years to get to WWE. It was the constant tryouts, being turned away and being told it wasn’t the right time yet. It was always something. I’m the type of person who doesn’t have thin skin. I just said, “Okay, how can I make this better? How can I improve myself?”
Then when they paired me with Andrade, it was like lightning struck. It felt like the perfect timing for me because I felt I’ve worked so hard to get here and prove myself. Then he was hungry because he knew the talent he had. He just needed that extra spice or sizzle to him. We are each other’s yin and yang. It just worked out perfectly. I just felt like for me it’s this constant need to prove myself. Even now where people think I’m just a manager and haven’t been wrestling for 11 years. They haven’t seen what I can do. You can see now two different sides to me where it’s the striking side due to [my husband] Aleister [Black]. Then I get the more lucha side due to Andrade. It’s a nice combination in my arsenal.
On proving herself in the ring:
It was the same with NXT where you have to prove yourself to the audience. They have to know you to form an opinion of you. This is why when I first started wrestling I didn’t want to just jump into doing shows. Once the audience knows you, it’s hard to undo that. For me, I wanted to make sure I was ready and have the audience feel the way I wanted them to feel about me. You just have to prove yourself. Raw is a whole different stage as is SmackDown. It can be Raw and SmackDown versus NXT. You don’t know that until you step out and realize the difference in reaction. Then it becomes, “Okay, I have to prove myself to the Raw audience now because this is different.” Now this is another step where I can prove myself again.
On staying ring ready on nights when she isn’t wrestling:
To switch my mindset, I knew eventually [wrestling more] was going to come. I always try to stay ready. Whether it was training at the Performance Center or training with co-workers behind the scenes if there is a ring. It’s fine-tuning what I knew already. Amazing Red is my cousin, so he kind of started this whole thing with me back when I was 18 years old. Working with that and what I learned from Andrade and now learning from Aleister, it’s a cool combination of all those things. It’s something I think the universe is ready for. Seeing a whole different side of me.
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