WWE star Zelina Vega recalls wrestling in NJ, making history as US champ and touts SummerSlam
WWE SummerSlam will be a two-night event for the first time in its history when the premium live event takes place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, later this summer.
For Zelina Vega, it will be a homecoming of sorts.
The current women's United States champion grew up two rivers to the east in Queens, New York, but got her legs underneath her as a wrestler in the Garden State, specifically in Union City.
"I was training at the Ace Arena in Jersey for a while," Vega shared with Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "Me and A.J. Lee actually trained together in Jersey and it also kind of helped me prepared for the role, if I'm going to be honest, in 'Fighting with My Family' to play her. It was just getting to know her then and applying that now and seeing it where it all kind of went down.
"But yeah, I spent a lot of time in New Jersey training and just that whole New York/New Jersey feel, it was just where I was constantly when I was coming."
Vega won the Women's United States Championship in a match against Chelsea Green after WrestleMania 41. The title was added to the menu as another opportunity for the loaded women's roster on "SmackDown." The "Raw" roster has the Women's Intercontinental Championship.
Vega told Fox News Digital previously that she hoped WWE was going to add a midcard title to the fold, and now she holds the belt – the first singles championship of her career in the company.
"It feels amazing … When I was growing up, I just wanted to be a part of it," she said. "And of course, I wanted to be champion. I made this huge thing in my mind when I was a kid, I was like, 'I'm gonna be champion, this is gonna happen for me.' I didn't see a Plan B in my mind.
"Now, it's like, not only did you make it, not only you're champion, you're also a part of history. First-ever Queen of the Ring, like I never thought that was gonna happen. So, it's still shocking me but also that eight-year-old Thea that was like trying to get all of this sorted out in my mind. I didn't see a Plan B, I was so stubborn. I was like, 'No, this is happening.' So, proving her right, it feels like the most amazing feeling."
Vega, as confident as ever that she will be walking into SummerSlam as the champion, also had advice for the young girls who are looking up at her.
"It's just, never give up on you because you will have so many nos, you will have so many people giving you reasons as to why you shouldn't be champion, why you shouldn't make it where you want to be," she explained to Fox News Digital. "But as long as you don't give up on you, no one's going to stop you.
"You don't take 'no' for an answer and you don't give up on yourself. If I can do this and I can stand here as champion, it should be proven in so many people's minds that your own determination is what's going to get you where you need to be."
Fans interested in attending SummerSlam can get their tickets on Ticketmaster. The event will take place on Aug. 2 and Aug. 3.
"It's our first-ever two-night SummerSlam, which is crazy because usually that's only WrestleMania," she said. "There's a lot of buzz about it. The whole week is really gonna be amazing because it's in just where I grew up. So, it's kinda cool to feel like it's a coming home feeling, whether it's 'Raw,' 'SmackDown,' and then the two-day SummerSlam. It's gonna be really fun."
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