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Zelina Vega Believes Backlash Match With Rhea Ripley Was A ‘Missed Opportunity’

Originally posted on Wrestlezone | By Hamish Woodward | Last updated 5/14/24

Zelina Vega bemoans how WWE has handled her since Backlash 2023.

She had the Puerto Rico crowd behind her at Backlash last year. In the first PLE to take place in Puerto Rico, she failed to win the Women’s title from Rhea Ripley in front of her hometown crowd, but created one of the best moments in WWE history.

However, it was the follow-up to that match that disappointed her. Zelina Vega spoke with WWE’s The Bump about the fan reaction from the event, and how that moment has resinated with her.

“It’s crazy, because I wasn’t exactly the nicest for like seven years. But it’s nice to know that they all have my back. It was like my Yes Movement. It was my time to have everybody say, ‘It doesn’t matter how much we thought she sucked before, or hated her before. We’re with her, and we’re supporting her on this’. It’s as if a sea of people lifted me those two nights, and they had my back no matter what anybody said.”

“Whether they thought, ‘Zelina doesn’t have it. She’s not the next champion. Zelina’s not this, Zelina’s not that. She’s not ready. She sucks, she’s just a manager, rather than a wrestler’. It doesn’t matter. I am that girl. And they knew I was that girl. And I’m not going to let anybody be forgotten. I’m not gonna let Backlash be forgotten. I’m not going to let those fans be forgotten. Whether it’s now or it’s later, it’s going to happen.”

Zelina Vega On Brand Split Ruining Her Momentum After Backlash

Zelina Vega continued. She called her match with Rhea Ripley at Backlash a “missed opportunity”, as it was failed to be followed up on. She thinks the brand split ruined her momentum, and that she is so close, yet so far away from becoming champion.

“It feels like a missed opportunity. It feels like that should have been the rocket. That should have been the moment that I continued and went on to continue to fight Rhea. Of course, we got split. That’s what messed this up, the brand split. We had to do the draft and they went to Raw and we went to Smackdown. That’s when everything kind of changed. Because I was so tunnel vision. Everything was so there, and then it slipped out of my hands. It just feels like constantly, we’re just dropping the ball with Zelina. Constantly, it’s a thing where I’m fighting to get something, to get a sliver of something. I’m salivating over the title all the time. Yet, i’m always put in this position where it’s so close, and yet so far.”

“That was another thing. Once the draft happened, so close, but yet so far. And so, obviously I had a great match with IYO SKY, but again – so close, but yet so far. I’m tired of constantly trying to fight and claw and scratch my way to something. It feels like that should have been it. That was my Yes movement. That was the moment fans supported me no matter what. No matter who said she wasn’t ready, they literally said ‘screw you, yes she is’. That should have been it, that should have been the moment. But it wasn’t.”