Zelina Vega says WWE Backlash should have been her moment.
At WWE Backlash 2023, Zelina Vega challenged Rhea Ripley for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship. The crowd in Puerto Rico was fully behind Vega, but Ripley beat her to retain the title. Vega received an ovation from the fans after the match.
Speaking on WWE's The Bump, Zelina Vega was asked to reflect on WWE Backlash in Puerto Rico and what it meant to her.
“It feels like a missed opportunity. It feels like that should have been 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. I think that’s what messed us 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 to tunnel-vision, everything was so there, and then it slipped out of my hands. It just feels like constantly, we’re dropping the ball with Zelina. Constantly, it’s a thing where I’m fighting to try and get something, to get a sliver of something. I’m salivating over the title all the time, and yet I’m always put in this position where it’s so close, but yet so far. That was another thing. Once the draft happened, so close, but yet so far. So I had obviously a great match with IYO [SKY], but again, so close, yet so far. I’m tired of it. I am tired of constantly trying to fight and claw and scratch my way to something. It just feels like that should have been it. That was my ‘Yes’ moment. That was the moment that the fans supported me no matter what, no matter who said she wasn’t ready, she’s not this, she’s not that. They literally said, ‘Screw you, yes, she is.’ That should have been it. That should have been the moment. But it wasn’t, and it keeps bringing me now to these opportunities that almost was," Vega said.
Vega went on to recall how she put her body on the line at WWE Money in the Bank 2023, but she came up empty there as well. She stated that she was trying to figure out her next move, but she felt confident that she was the future.
"I put my body on the line at Money in the Bank, and once that sunset flip powerbomb happened, I knew it was all or nothing. But it became nothing at that point. You put your body on the line, and as soon as it was, I just remember hearing the winning bell, and I don’t have it. So it’s one of the those things where you have to try and see what your next move is. Right now, I’m still trying to figure out what that is, but I do know, regardless, I’m the future. Zelina Vega is the future. The future is boriqua. I am taking that crowd in Puerto Rico, I am taking them with me. They have no idea what they did for me that night. That changed everything in me, and it should have changed a lot of things in other people, but it didn’t. But I’m gonna force it to be. That’s the future," Vega said.
Zelina Vega is set to compete in the Queen of the Ring tournament. Check out the bracket here.
The Raw side of the Queen of the Ring tournament will continue on the May 13 episode of WWE Raw. More information is available here.
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