10 Biggest Stars Of Wrestling's Empty Arena Era (So Far)

3. Zelina Vega

We all know that modern-day WWE isn't all that keen on the concept of a manager.

Bar Paul Heyman at the side of Brock Lesnar, main WWE television has rarely used managers over the past decade or more. And even then, Heyman is referred to as Lesnar's advocate rather than his manager.

In Zelina Vega though, WWE has absolute gold on their hands when it comes to showcasing just why managers were for so long a pivotal part of the pro wrestling business. While it was expected that the former Rosita would primarily be used as an in-ring talent upon signing with WWE back in 2017, the call to switch her to a managerial role was an inspired one.

With her vocal skills and constant trash-talking, Vega had already been one of WWE's true MVPs in the weeks and months prior to the empty arena setting coming into play. But in the empty WWE Performance Center environment, she has only reiterated her reputation as one of the best on-screen performers that the company has right now.

These empty arena times call for talents to step up and make themselves truly larger-than-life in a way that fills the void of the absent crowd. And in Zelina Vega and her work with Andrade, Angel Garza, and now Austin Theory, we have a prime example of how to maximise your minutes and to make your star shine brighter with each passing week.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.

See more from Andrew