SmackDown Favourite Gets Name Change (WWE News)

Zelina 'Vega' is no more...

by Andrew Pollard
Zelina Vega WWE
WWE.com

Having recently aligned with her husband, Aleister Black, on WWE programming, this slight switch of character for Zelina Vega appears to have also led to a tweak of her name.

If you head to the official WWE.com profile page for the former Women's United States Champion, she's now being referred to as simply Zelina rather than Zelina Vega.

As alluded to, Zelina joined forces with Aleister on the 10 October edition of SmackDown, getting involved in Black's Last Man Standing battle with Damian Priest. There, Zelina was enough of a distraction to Priest that it allowed Aleister to throw a fireball into the face of the Punisher, with Black then hitting his Black Mass kick to knock Priest off a small stage setup and through a bunch of tables to get the win.

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Since then, Zelina and Aleister Black have been featured together in vignettes, describing themselves as a "necessary evil", and Zelina also accompanied Aleister to the ring for a match against Ilja Dragunov last month. That SmackDown bout saw Black answer Dragunov's United States Title Open Challenge, though he'd ultimately come up short against the Mad Dragon thanks to a distraction from Damian Priest. Post-match, Priest would attack Black, but that attack was cut short when Zelina jumped on Damian's back and scratched at the burn on his face caused by the aforementioned fireball.

With their rivalry clearly continuing, Aleister Black is currently 2-1 against Damian Priest when it comes to televised matches. Priest picked up a DQ victory on a SmackDown back in August, but Black then levelled things with a win on a September SmackDown, before that Last Man Standing bout.

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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 day job, 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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.