7 Times WWE Tried To Unbury Someone (& Failed!)
3. Zelina Vega
Zelina Vega was, at least once, an extraordinarily influential performer in WWE.
Her run alongside Andrade 'Cien' Almas in NXT transformed his run on the show to the point that it became the making of him as a star in the company, which ultimately crafted the space for him to flit between both North American majors over the subsequent decade. They were a terrific act; so much so that they earned campaign-like level of support from fans when times got tough. And creatively for Vega in particular, times got really, really tough.
In 2020, she was made boss of maybe the worst stable in company history. Never given a name and almost never given a win, her group consisting first of Andrade and Angel Garza and later Austin Theory were utterly useless. They lost, they argued, they lost some more, they drove her to such annoyance that she abandoned them to win gold alone, which served as another failed pursuit. A rotten year got worse when she was released in November, but did it? It emerged that Vega's exit was to do with a disagreement over her third-party (Twitch et al) interests, and she was at the front of a brand new discussion on unionisation in wrestling - the sort of conversation that hadn't been had since Hulk Hogan grassed Jesse Ventura up in 1986.
That went quiet when she re-signed in 2021, and winning the first "Queen's Crown" (Queen Of The Ring) looked a long way removed from her annus horribilis 12 months earlier. This dawn was the falsest yet - the hokey role got her Tag Gold and WrestleMania spots, but not even the diamonds in the crown shone as brightly as her original stint. The ups and downs in the aftermath went the same way - a Latino World Order run was fine, a dalliance with the United States Championship less so, an alliance with real life husband Aleister Black lesser still.
Her 2026 release brought about the end of her latest diminished return, and speaking of which...