Vince McMahon Apologised To Zelina Vega For Cutting 9/11 Tribute Match
Queen Zelina was originally set to honour her father, who died in the 9/11 attacks.
WWE's 10 September 2021 episode of SmackDown from Madison Square Garden, New York City, featured a number of 9/11 tributes on the eve of the attacks' 20th anniversary, with a controversial story emerging in the aftermath.
Zelina Vega, whose father passed away on 9/11, had a planned tag bout putting her and Carmella against Liv Morgan and Toni Storm pulled from the show at the last minute. This move drew criticism, given the anniversary's significance to Vega.
Zelina has now addressed the matter in a new interview with talkSPORT. Speaking to Alex McCarthy, Vega said that she felt the fans' anger was misguided, though she acknowledged her disappointment:-
“A lot of people were really upset, but I felt like a lot of the anger was misguided. I was disappointed, but I also knew it wasn’t a personal thing. If you knew, and obviously a lot of the fans don’t know that the show goes in an order, the way that it went timewise, it got too close and they had to cut it."
The Queen's Crown tournament winner continued, revealing that Vince McMahon ended up personally apologising to her for the situation:-
“When it got cut, Vince called me and apologised because he wanted to make sure that I knew ‘listen, this wasn’t done to you personally or anything, it was literally just this [the time], I had to make that call and I’m so sorry.’ And people don’t know that side either. I love and appreciate my fans so, so much. I wish I could just squish their little faces. Because sometimes people can feel like they’re part of the machine and it’s no big deal and the fans probably don’t give a crap, but the outpouring of love I felt that day – and a bunch of other days to – is incredible. Without the fans we’d literally be nowhere. Just know it wasn’t something done personally to me. To have a boss to care enough to call you and go ‘look I’m sorry’, that’s important.”
Last night's Survivor Series 2021 pay-per-view saw Queen Zelina form part of Team Raw in the women's elimination match. Toni Storm eliminated her second overall, putting her away in just under 14 minutes.