In November 2020, WWE released Zelina Vega. Her release was reportedly due to WWE taking control of third-party platforms, including Twitch, where Vega often streamed and connected with fans. Vega was reportedly against the new mandate and tweeted her support for unionization following her release.
In July 2021, Vega returned to WWE. Two years later, WWE announced a partnership with Twitch.
Speaking to Steve Fall of WrestlingNewsCo, Vega discussed her love of Twitch and how the relationship between herself, WWE, and Twitch has grown.
"It was something I was so reluctant to do for the longest time. Saraya was trying so hard to get me into it, 'you'd be perfect for it, you play video games anyway, you might as well do it on Twitch and have other like-minded people to talk to and play with.' 'Nah, it's my space and I like to play video games alone.' She's like, 'You're going to like it. If you get past the set up part, you're going to love it.' After suffering through that, she was right, and she usually is because she knows me so well," said Vega.
Vega noted that it was great to be in a space with like-minded people who shared similar interests.
"It grew into this massive thing. I'm so big on being authentic, if you're authentic, people are going to recognize that. You can't just stick anybody in my position with a kitty headset and say, 'blah blah blah about this episode' and they have no idea what they're talking about, because they'll see right through that. That was one of the major things that I told WWE initially. 'I didn't know this was going to blow up as much as it did, but I feel there is an audience that we're missing here,' especially with everything going digital now, this is where the kids are and where we're going to get them. There is a way to blend the worlds. Once they kind of figured out what I meant by that, that's really what was missing, the communication there, once we talked it out and figured out, 'this is how we can work together,' that's why I'm back and why I'm back on Twitch and everything worked out. It's crazy how a conversation can change a lot of things. I find it funny that it took so much and now it's become something like me and Xavier Woods just presented an award at the Streamy's. She goes from 2020 that was kind of a hard time, to now. It's crazy to see how it's evolved," she said.
WWE's agreement with Twitch is a multi-year deal. Fans can learn more by clicking here.
Vega is currently part of the LWO and WWE SmackDown. She recently wrestled IYO SKY on the August 25 episode of WWE SmackDown.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
