Unfortunately, Zelina Vega’s championship dreams are back on ice.
WWE announced on Friday that the LWO member had to be replaced in the quarterfinals of the Speed title tournament. The company didn’t elaborate on what the injury was nor did they give a timetable on when Vega could return. She was replaced by B-Fab, who ended up losing to Natalya.
Vega’s string of luck hasn’t been too great as of late. The 34-year-old failed to get to the first round of the Intercontinental tournament. And she just hasn’t been able to regain the momentum that she had at Backlash 2023. The only title that Vega has won in WWE is the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles with Carmella.
There seemed to be a chance for her to break out following the strong performance she had at Backlash 2023, but she’s been mainly on the backburner for most of 2024. Vega isn’t only looking to win a title for herself; she’s been striving to win one to honor her father.
“Of course I can become champion," Vega said on The Bump. "Why not? Let me guess, because I'm short and because I've never won singles gold before? That about cover it? Well, once I take those bombs away from the people trying to come against me, it allows me to detonate mine. It seems like people forget sometimes who I am, and what I've done, and why I've done this to begin with. You're still talking to the first-ever Queen of the Ring. The first-ever, and only, female member of LWO.
"You know, I'm not one of those people who will shove cotton in my ears to black out the cries of the people that I've hurt in the past," Vega continued. "Actually, quite the opposite; I dance to it like music because that's the kind of thing that made Zelina Vega who she is today. The person that no matter how many times she's gotten knocked down, by a Rhea Ripley or a Bianca [Belair] or a Becky [Lynch] or anybody else, a Ronda [Rousey], whoever else, I'm gonna get back up ... I'm the champion that you deserve, and I will be."
Hopefully Vega has a better 2025 to accomplish those goals. When more information about the nature of her injury is released, we’ll be sure to report it.