WWE has released Zelina Vega

Shortly before being released Vega made a public statement about unionization.

November 13, 2020

WWE has officially announced the release of superstar Zelina Vega. The company issued the following statement on WWE.com with regards to Vega’s departure:

WWE has come to terms on the release of Zelina Vega. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

The announcement of Vega’s release arrives exactly ten minutes after she tweeted her support for unionization.

As of the posting of this news there’s no word yet available as to why Vega was released by the WWE, but she her statement regarding her support for unionization is a strong hint. WWE has come under fire within the past few months for their decision to take over the Twitch and Cameo accounts of their Superstars. The company initially threatened to terminate contracts for anyone who didn’t remove their WWE Superstar name from their personal Twitch and Cameo accounts, but they then took it a step further and actually took over the accounts altogether and only providing talent a percentage of the income generated from them.

Update – Zelina posted a video on her Instagram account saying “See you on Twitch.” The reason behind her release is becoming easier and easier to guess.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Thea Trinidad Büdgen (@zelina_vegawwe)

WWE Superstar Paige, whose current contract status is a big question mark at this time, tweeted her support for Vega.

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1327387345910337538

Over the past several weeks Paige has spoken out several times over her frustration with WWE’s Twitch and Cameo policy. The British wrestler suffered a neck injury in 2016 and officially retired from in-ring competition in 2018 and has spoken out several times about how Twitch and Cameo are one of the only ways left for her to earn a living due to her inability to get back in the ring.

WWE

Vega was a member of the SmackDown brand prior to her release and is married to fellow WWE Superstar Aleister Black. She signed with the company in June 2017 and debuted on NXT on the June 9 episode where she confronted Andrade Cien Almas about his behavior and slapped him in the face. Vega eventually allied herself with Almas, becoming his manager and helped him capture his first NXT Championship by defeating Drew McIntyre. The pair moved up to the main roster during the Superstar Shake-up of 2018 and were both drafted to the SmackDown brand. As part of the 2020 WWE Draft Vega was drafted to the SmackDown brand after having previously worked on Raw.