WWE Star Says Missing Communication Led To Release
One WWE star has blamed communication issues for being released in 2020.
Zelina Vega was released from her WWE deal in 2020 as the company cracked down on its stars using Twitch leading to several having to abandon the streaming platform. Vega was apparently reluctant to do the same and so was let go, only to return eight months later.
Speaking to Steve Fall of WrestlingNewsCo, Zelina Vega explained how it was AEW’s Saraya that got her involved in streaming in the first place and she was very reluctant to do so at first:
“It was something I was so reluctant to do for the longest time. Saraya was trying so hard to get me into it, ‘you’d be perfect for it, you play video games anyway, you might as well do it on Twitch and have other like-minded people to talk to and play with.’ ‘Nah, it’s my space and I like to play video games alone.’
“She’s like, ‘You’re going to like it. If you get past the set up part, you’re going to love it.’ After suffering through that, she was right, and she usually is because she knows me so well.”
Communication issues led to Zelina Vega’s WWE release
Zelina Vega then touched on how her streaming career took off and how a lack of communication between her and WWE at the time about her using Twitch was what led to her release in November 2020:
“It grew into this massive thing. I’m so big on being authentic, if you’re authentic, people are going to recognize that. You can’t just stick anybody in my position with a kitty headset and say, ‘blah blah blah about this episode’ and they have no idea what they’re talking about, because they’ll see right through that.
“That was one of the major things that I told WWE initially. ‘I didn’t know this was going to blow up as much as it did, but I feel there is an audience that we’re missing here,’ especially with everything going digital now, this is where the kids are and where we’re going to get them. There is a way to blend the worlds.
“Once they kind of figured out what I meant by that, that’s really what was missing, the communication there, once we talked it out and figured out, ‘this is how we can work together,’ that’s why I’m back and why I’m back on Twitch and everything worked out.
“It’s crazy how a conversation can change a lot of things. I find it funny that it took so much and now it’s become something like me and Xavier Woods just presented an award at the Streamy’s.”
Zelina Vega returned to the company in July 2021 and has since joined the LWO with Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, Santos Escobar, and Rey Mysterio.
A deal was reached in the spring of 2023 between WWE and Twitch which opened the door for stars of the company to return to the streaming platform.