It's been a long time coming and a long road to get here, but Zelina Vega has finally won a singles championship in World Wrestling Entertainment by defeating Chelsea Green on the April 25, 2025 episode of Friday Night SmackDown to capture the WWE Women's United States Championship!
How We Got Here:
When this title was created, Green won the tournament to crown the inaugural champion. Vega was not part of that tournament, but did take part in the Raw brand's equivalent with the creation of the Women's Intercontinental Championship, not even making it into the second round (as she lost to Lyra Valkyria alongside Ivy Nile).
However, once Vega was switched over to the SmackDown roster as part of the "transfer window" concept, she almost immediately started to go after this belt, frequently appearing in segments to tell Green that she had it in her sights.
Unfortunately, for many weeks, Vega was put on the sidelines, not able to get a proper title opportunity. In fact, Vega lost a match to Piper Niven on March 21st, which seemed to give her another setback. However, on April 11th, Vega defeated Green by count out, which put her in contention for a potential title shot. One week later, on the April 18th episode of SmackDown, Vega defeated Green by pinfall in a non-title match to make it official she would get a chance.
Match Details:
Even despite the height disadvantage, as well as Green having the numbers game on her side with The Secret Hervice (Alba Fyre and Piper Niven) interfering on her behalf, Vega's grit and determination proved her the better woman tonight:
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
It's great to see Vega succeed, as she's been in the business for well over a decade and took a long while to get to WWE as it is, let alone to break into this part of the hierarchy. Her first tryout was in 2013, and she made a few random appearances over the years before signing in 2017. Even then, she was just a manager for Andrade for quite a while, and has spent the past 7 years or so mostly being overlooked.
Of course, she did manage to win the Queen's Crown (before it was the Queen of the Ring tournament) and even became a tag team champion alongside Carmella, but even that was in 2021. For the past few years, she's been a scrappy underdog who more often than not isn't even in the running to fight for a title, let alone win it.
Now that she's captured her first singles title in WWE, she etches her name in the history books and will have an opportunity to showcase her talents. It should open up more doors for her in the future, too. Major props to Green, also, for her run with this title and showing how she was also overlooked, which means these women's division midcard titles are doing exactly what they need to do in highlighting talent that don't get to share the spotlight as often as they arguably should.
What do you think about Zelina Vega winning the Women's United States Championship? Who should she feud with first, or even drop the title to in the future? Drop your reactions, thoughts, and predictions for the future in the comments below!