Zelina Vega is a US wrestler of Puerto Rican origin. She became famous in the world of sports for her determination and hard work. The Queens native has built an outstanding career as wrestler, actress and model. Her achievements ensured the athlete the reputation of one of the best wrestlers and won the love of fans. Read more about her life path on i-queens.
Early years
Zelina Vega was born on December 27, 1990 in Queens. Her real name is Thea Megan Trinidad Büdgen. She became interested in wrestling as a child, watching fights with her family. She also was fond of swimming and baseball.
Thea was 10 years old when a tragedy happened. Her father became a victim during the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. He worked as a telecommunications analyst and was on the 103rd floor of one of the World Trade Center’s towers at the time of the attack. Before his death, the man called home to say goodbye. Thea’s parents were already divorced at that time.
As a child, the girl worked for some time as a counselor in a camp for those who also lost their parents in this tragedy. She starred in the movie Children of 9/11. Thea showed public activism after Hurricane Katrina, which was the most destructive in the history of the US. She took part in charity events.
Thea was trained by many wrestlers, including trainers from the WWE Performance Center. One of them was WWE Heavyweight Champion and boxing fan Theodore James Perkins. The athlete was also trained by Mexican fighters Arturo Beristain and Tony Salazar.
An outstanding career
Thea started her career in 2010 in the National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) promotion as Snookie Fly. She changed her name to Divina Fly when she debuted for Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU). Thea formed The Fly Girls with Niya. The women were defeated in a WSU Tag Team Championships match.
In 2011, she joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Rosita. She teamed with her cousin Sarita and became a one-time champion. This earned the wrestlers access to the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, which they eventually won. Still, they were unable to capture the title in a rematch. Thea did not live up to her full potential in TNA.
In 2017, she became a member of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the largest league in the world. She debuted in the WWE NXT wrestling program under the pseudonym Zelina Vega. Then, Thea mainly worked not as a wrestler but as the manager of the Mexican Manuel Alfonso Andrade. Both talents worked well together as Andrade became a successful world champion. A year later, Thea joined the main roster of WWE, where she defeated the Russian Lana. She won in the Queen’s Crown tournament in 2021.
TV star
Zelina has shown her versatility as an actress and model, appearing not only in sports programs but also in various films and TV shows. The wrestler showed great talent during the creation of commercials. She is charismatic and has well-developed microphone skills.
Short height (154 cm) did not stand in the way of the athlete’s television success. The WWE main roster is mostly tall men. They get more screen time and chances for becoming champions. In female wrestling, women of medium or short height prevail.
Thea also starred in the biographical sports comedy drama Fighting with My Family. The movie chronicles the career of English wrestler Paige, a two-time WWE Divas Champion and the first WWE NXT Women’s Champion. Paige’s parents were athletes and expected great achievements from their daughter. Thea got the role of American wrestler AJ Lee. The climax of the tape was Paige’s victory over AJ Lee in the WWE Divas Championship. Zelina found something in common between herself and her character, including a love of video games and ‘nerd culture’.
Puerto Rican origin undoubtedly played a key role in Zelina Vega’s cultural identity. Her bright appearance influenced her media popularity.
Private life
Zelina dated her colleague Austin Aries, a US wrestler. They tried to keep their romantic relationship a secret. In 2018, WWE fans were shocked to learn that Zelina married another colleague. It was Malakai Black (Aleister Black). The relationship between them began when they feuded with each other in WWE NXT.
The wedding was not as extravagant as most WWE couples. The wrestlers decided to spend this important day only with their closest circle. The couple’s common hobby is video games.
Six interesting facts
- Actor and wrestler Dwayne Johnson is a friend of Zelina. Johnson was her father’s favorite wrestler. After the death of her father, Thea told the actor a story about how they watched his fights together. It was a casual warm meeting, the wrestler did not even expect to see Johnson again. However, about a month later, the actor wrote to her that he had read articles about her father. He thanked them for their conversation and offered a role in the movie Fighting with My Family, in which Dwayne played the main character. The wrestlers built a good friendship on the set. After filming ended, Johnson continued to give Thea advice on wrestling and acting.
- She is a real fan of cats. In 2020, a woman and her husband owned six of them. Since the couple is often away from home, cats are ideal pets for them, unlike dogs that need to be walked out every day.
- Our heroine started training quite early, at the age of 17. Usually, wrestlers wait until they reach their 20s. However, Thea needed fighting to deal with stress. In childhood, the girl experienced several heartbreaking moments, such as the loss of her father. Wrestling helped her cope with the emotional pain.
- She is a huge fan of comics and video games, as well as an avid cosplayer. On her Instagram, you can see a lot of photos of the wrestler in the role of certain famous characters from Kitana and Mileena from Mortal Kombat to Nurse Joy and Mr. Mime from Pokemon.
- Together with her husband, she developed the YouTube channel. In videos, she shares the secrets of her makeup or styling her hair. Malakai Black often appears in training videos and when the pair answer questions from fans together. They regularly upload videos and promote them on their pages on social networks to engage with viewers.
- Zelina is afraid of needles. Despite the presence of tattoos, the star admitted to having trypanophobia (fear of medical procedures using needles or injections). Thea almost passed out when the nurse tried several times to draw blood from the vein because she couldn’t get the needle deep enough.