Zelina Vega Almost Quit Wrestling Before The Rock Talked Her Out Of It
Zelina Vega is the No. 1 contender for Rhea Ripley's "SmackDown" Women's Championship and will challenge for the title at the upcoming Backlash show. Vega, of Puerto Rican descent, will be performing in front of her extended family and friends for the first time in her career, an opportunity that wouldn't have come about if not for a conversation with The Rock.
According to Vega, she nearly quit pro wrestling before landing a role in "Fighting With My Family," a WWE Studios movie where she portrayed the character of former WWE superstar AJ Lee. As revealed by Vega previously, The Rock, one of the producers of the biographical film, offered her a role in the movie after imploring her to not give up on her dreams.
"It's funny because I was about to quit," Vega told "Busted Open Radio" in a recent interview. "When Dwayne [Johnson] and I spoke about it, right after I had a WWE tryout for the seventh time ... at that point, I was like, 'I've given it my all. They haven't seen what they're looking for. I can't do this.'
"There was a movie that I had auditioned for that I didn't get, too," Vega continued. "I was just so down and out. I was thinking, 'Do I just give up at this point?' Dwayne goes, 'Give me three days. I'm working on something. Don't give up.' I was like, 'Okay.'"
'I Owe A Lot To Him'
A few days later, The Rock called Zelina Vega and offered her the role of AJ Lee in "Fighting With My Family," a movie that depicted the career path of AEW star Saraya and her pursuit of the WWE Divas Championship.
"To go from that to train at the Performance Center, it's been a dream come true," Vega admitted. "Had I not said anything to him [The Rock], to not be able to live this dream. It's crazy how these little things [work]. If one thing had just changed, none of this would have happened. I owe a lot to him."
Besides realizing the dream of performing in front of WWE fans, Vega also attained personal fulfillment by joining WWE as she met her future husband Malakai Black at the Performance Center.
"It's mindblowing to think had that one instance changed, everything else would have," Vega said of her life-altering conversation with The Rock.
Vega also shot down fan perception that she's more interested in anime and Twitch than wrestling, as she detailed her tumultuous journey to WWE.
"I was the person who slept in vans, took a train from Queens into the city, and then took 9-hour bus rides to train with The Hardys," Vega recalled. "I was also in a motorcycle accident that nearly killed me. I was told I'd never wrestle again, but I fought through that. I also lost my dad at a young age. All these things that could have knocked me out, didn't. And I don't think Rhea [Ripley] will be the person, either."
The match against Ripley will mark Vega's third singles title opportunity in WWE, following her loss to Asuka for the "Raw" Women's Championship in September 2020. Ripley is currently the odds-on favorite to retain the title in Puerto Rico.