Zelina Vega and Aleister Black could not script a extra good reunion. Black’s WWE return would all the time be a monumental event for them. After 4 years separated by skilled wrestling’s borders, the married couple have been again on the street collectively. However neither anticipated how pivotal April 25 could be to each of their careers.

Vega walked into Dickies Enviornment in Fort Value, Texas with one plan — to cheer on her husband’s WWE return. Black was set to make his first WWE look after being launched in 2021. Regardless of his chilly, calculated presence, Black had the identical swirling ideas each returning celebrity has: Will they keep in mind me? 

What Vega thought could be a supporting function turned out to be some of the vital nights of her profession. Vega was knowledgeable she’d be profitable the ladies’s United States championship on three hours’ discover. Her first singles title after 15 years as knowledgeable wrestler and eight as a WWE celebrity.

“I suppose I used to be extra in shock,” Vega instructed CBS Sports activities earlier than letting her charming, unapologetic anime fandom creep in. “The very very first thing I assumed was like, ‘Rattling.’ I all the time had in my head that if I gained america Championship, I needed to be carrying my gear from ‘My Hero Academia.'”

Vega was unusually calm when knowledgeable of a chance she’d waited her life for. It is solely attributable to her husband’s presence. WWE is a high-pressure surroundings. Superstars work collectively, however success is commonly reaped individually. Having Black along with her — driving to venues, listening to Metropolis & Color and watching their favourite exhibits — gave Vega renewed peace.

“I felt this ease that I hadn’t felt in a really very long time,” Vega mentioned. “After which all of a sudden, that occurred. And I wasn’t nervous, surprisingly. Usually, I’ve hawks in my abdomen. I get very, very nervous. However I wasn’t.

“I believe that added to it, as a result of I used to be like, ‘OK, this is supposed to be,’ as a result of there was no combating it. I did not really feel any form of nerves. It was simply lastly peace. I felt like every thing was proper on this planet.”

The second’s significance did not sink in till the closing bell rang. Vega rolled up the previous girls’s U.S. champion Chelsea Inexperienced with a Code Pink, a transfer innovated by Vega’s cousin, Superb Pink. The group, seemingly as shocked as Vega was, roared with approval.

“It was loopy, as a result of I did not let myself really feel it or get excited about it till I heard the bell ring and heard, ‘And new!’ That is when you’ll be able to see it on my face.” Vega mentioned. “Like, ‘Oh, that is actual. That is it.'”

Vega was in a dream state, strolling up the ramp with the ladies’s U.S. title slung round her shoulder. Black would have missed the celebration on every other day within the final 5 years. That night, he was the primary particular person to greet her backstage.

“I am my emotional self coming up the ramp. After which after I get to the again, I see him,” Vega mentioned. “He is the primary particular person I see. And I get to have that second with him, being completely satisfied.”

Vega exited as Black ready for his entrance. There stood Vega — the primary Queen of the Ring and second girls’s U.S. champion — snapping images with two-time Corridor of Famer Paul “Triple H” Levesque whereas watching her husband’s long-anticipated return.

“Normally, I dream of those sorts of moments, however then I all the time get up,” Vega mentioned. “And this time, I simply did not. It was so good to really feel like, ‘Wow, that is my actuality.’ It is not a dream.

“After which him coming again, seeing him and Triple H hug and say, ‘Welcome dwelling,’ it was such an excellent feeling, such a good day general. That is what I have been holding onto. That feeling, that day, for an excellent two weeks now.”

Profitable the ladies’s U.S. championship was an overdue alternative. Vega, 34, had struggled with the chance that she would not be in WWE’s plans. In Could 2023, Vega confirmed out for her fellow Puerto Ricans. Vega unsuccessfully challenged Rhea Ripley for the SmackDown girls’s title at Backlash, however thought the efficiency was her launching pad.

“I genuinely thought that was my rise, that one thing was coming subsequent,” Vega mentioned. “So I am like, ‘OK, that is occurring now.’ After which it did not. After which it did not… Is there one thing I am doing improper? Is there one thing I am lacking? In addition to my top, which I can do nothing about. What else is there that I can management?

“I all the time felt so near the world title so many occasions that I felt like one thing was coming…They had their imaginative and prescient of what they needed for no matter cause, and I simply wasn’t part of that for some time.”

Take a look at the total interview with Zelina Vega beneath.

Vega waited a very long time to show she has championship mettle. She is aware of her reign cannot final ceaselessly. She’s decided to profit from it and set the usual for a champion’s ferocity. Meaning defending the title towards high expertise like Asuka, Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia and Iyo Sky. It means defending the title throughout WWE’s three tv exhibits, and taking the U.S. title worldwide to Mexico’s AAA and Japan’s Stardom promotions.

“I have to show what sort of competitor I might be as a champion. As a result of they’ve seen me struggle for one thing, however now it is like, work to get in, work to remain in,” Vega mentioned. “I do not assume they’ve seen me be the form of aggressor that I should be to maintain it.

“I wish to make my impression on this. I wish to make my mark. As a result of it is going to stay on with out me in some unspecified time in the future. Years down the road, you nonetheless need individuals to say, ‘Man, that match was actually nice.'”