Zelina Vega

Zelina Vega
Vega in April 2018
Birth name Thea Megan Trinidad
Born (1990-12-27) December 27, 1990
Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
Residence Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Website www.theatrinidad.com
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Divina Fly
Rosita
Snookie Fly
Thea Trinidad
Zelina Vega
Billed height 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m)[1]
Billed weight 106 lb (48 kg)[1]
Billed from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico[2]
Queens, New York[3]
Trained by Javi-Air
Azrieal
T.J. Perkins
Arturo Beristain
Tony Salazar
WWE Performance Center
Debut February 20, 2010[1]

Thea Megan Trinidad (born December 27, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling manager and actress. She is signed to WWE under the ring name Zelina Vega, where she performs on the SmackDown brand. She previously worked in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as Rosita, and for various independent promotions under her real name. In TNA, she was a one-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion with Sarita.

Early life

Thea Megan Trinidad was born on December 27, 1990, in Queens, New York.[4] She is of Puerto Rican descent.[4] She grew up watching professional wrestling with her father Michael and younger brother Timothy.[4] Her parents divorced when she and her brother were still young, while still remaining friends. She also practised swimming and baseball.[4] When Trinidad was ten years old, her father was killed in the September 11 attacks; he had worked as a telecom analyst for the firm Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center.[4] He was on the 103rd floor of the North Tower when it collapsed. Trinidad's mother, Monique Ferrer, approached StoryCorps with the story of how she and her husband had met and what she experienced on the day of the attacks with his death, which StoryCorps used to create a short cartoon titled Always a Family, as a way of honoring his memory.[5]

Trinidad has said it was because of her father that made her enter the wrestling business. She was featured in an NBC special, titled Children of 9/11, on September 5, 2011.[4][6] Growing up, Trinidad also worked as a counselor on a camp for children that had lost parents on 9/11 and also participated in charitable causes such as Habitat for Humanity after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with Tuesday's Children.[4]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2010–2012)

At the age of 17, Trinidad began training under Javi-Air, Azrieal, and T.J. Perkins.[4] Trinidad made her professional wrestling debut under the ring name Divina Fly for National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) on February 20, 2010, in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where she competed against Brittney Savage in a losing effort.[7] On the August 21 NWS event, Fly competed against Niya in a losing effort.[7] On October 1 at an NWS event, Trinidad, now under the ring name Snookie Fly, teamed up with Judas Young and Mike Dennis in a losing effort to Brittney Savage and Team Supreme (Corvis Fear and Nicky Oceans) in a mixed-tag-team match.[7]

On February 20, 2010, she made her debut for Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU), under the ring name Divina Fly in a losing effort against Brittney Savage.[4] On June 26, 2010, Divina Fly and Niya, collectively known as The Fly Girls, competed for the WSU Tag Team Championships but lost to the reigning champions, Cindy Rogers and Jana.[4] On September 11, 2010, Divina Fly won a match against newcomer Candy Cartwright with a Fly Cutter.[4]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011–2013, 2015)

Mexican America making their entrance in June 2011

After being discovered by Tommy Dreamer,[4] Trinidad wrestled in a tryout dark match at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Impact! television tapings on January 11, 2011, losing to Angelina Love.[8] On January 27 it was reported that Trinidad had signed a contract with the promotion.[9] On the February 10 episode of Impact!, Trinidad, under the ring name Rosita debuted as the storyline cousin of Sarita in an eight knockout tag team match, where the two of them teamed with Madison Rayne and Tara and defeated Angelina Love, Mickie James, Velvet Sky and Winter, when Rosita pinned Sky.[10] The following week Rosita and Sarita defeated Angelina Love and Velvet Sky in a tag team match to earn a shot at Love's and Winter's TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship.[11] On March 13 at Victory Road, Rosita and Sarita defeated Love and Winter to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, with Sarita proclaiming that their victory would start a Mexican takeover of TNA.[12] On the following episode of Impact!, the alliance of Rosita, Sarita and Hernandez was named Mexican America. The three of them were then defeated in a six-person street fight by Love, Winter and Matt Morgan.[13] On March 24, the three were joined by Anarquia.[14] In the following weeks Rosita and Sarita successfully defended the Knockouts Tag Team Championship first against The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) and then against Madison Rayne and Tara.[15][16] They made their third successful defense on the June 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, defeating Velvet Sky and Ms. Tessmacher, following outside interference from ODB.[17] Rosita and Sarita lost the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship to Ms. Tessmacher and Tara on July 12 at the tapings of the July 21 episode of Impact Wrestling.[18][19] They received a rematch on August 7 at Hardcore Justice, but were defeated by Tessmacher and Tara.[20] On the March 22, 2012, episode of Impact Wrestling, Rosita and Sarita again failed to recapture the Knockouts Tag Team Championship, when they were defeated by Eric Young and ODB.[21]

Rosita and Sarita as the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions

On April 19 episode of TNA Impact, Rosita and Sarita teamed up with Madison Rayne and Gail Kim in a losing effort to Brooke Tessmacher, Tara, Velvet Sky and Mickie James.[22] Rosita and Sarita were given another title opportunity on April 15 at Lockdown, but were once again defeated by Eric Young and ODB, this time in a steel cage match.[23] Afterwards, both Rosita and Sarita went inactive from TNA, while Anarquia left the promotion and Hernandez turned face, effectively ending Mexican America.[24][25] After months of inactivity, it was reported on January 9, 2013, that Trinidad's contract with TNA had expired and she had parted ways with the promotion.[26] On February 1, Trinidad confirmed that her contract had expired the previous day.[27]

On February 14, 2015, Trinidad returned to TNA for Knockouts Knockdown 3 as Rosita, where she defeated Angelina Love.[28]

Independent circuit (2011–2016)

In late August 2011, Rosita traveled to Mexico to attend an event held by the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, for which Sarita regularly works under the ring name Dark Angel. During Rosita's stay in Mexico, she was trained by CMLL trainers, Arturo Beristain and Tony Salazar, and was eventually offered a contract with the promotion, which she, however, could not sign due to TNA's working relationship with rival promotion AAA.[29][30][31] Just days later, Rosita appeared on AAA's television program, Sin Límite, promoting a storyline, where wrestlers from TNA were invading the promotion.[29][32]

On May 14, 2011, Rosita made her in-ring debut for Family Wrestling Entertainment at the Meltdown pay-per-view, losing to fellow knockout Winter with Christy Hemme as the special guest referee.[2][33] Rosita and Winter had three rematches, first on August 20 at Empire City Showdown, the second on November 15 at Fallout and the third on December 17 at Haastility; all were won by Winter.[33] Rosita made her return to the promotion on March 24, 2012, at the Welcome to the Rumble pay-per-view, where she unsuccessfully challenged Maria Kanellis for FWE Women's Championship in a three-way match, after Winter pinned her to become the new champion.[33][34]

On May 6, 2015, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Trinidad as part of their roster.[35] She debuted for the promotion on June 12, 2015, where she defeated Lei'D Tapa at the first show of the GFW Grand Slam Tour in Jackson, Tennessee. On August 20, 2015, her profile was removed from GFW website.

On July 17, 2015, Trinidad made her debut in Ring of Honor (ROH), managing Austin Aries.

On September 2, 2016, Thea joined Shine Wrestling, debuting on Shine 37, which she ended up defeating Stormie Lee.

WWE

On March 4, 2013, Trinidad took part in a tryout for WWE.[36] She made several brief appearances in the promotion from 2014 to 2016, including as one of Adam Rose's "rosebuds",[37] and lost a match against NXT Women's Champion Asuka on the October 26, 2016, episode of NXT.[38]

NXT (2017–2018)

Vega with Andrade Cien Almas at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans in April 2018

By June 2017, Trinidad had signed a contract with WWE and began training at the WWE Performance Center.[39] She started appearing on NXT with the June 9 episode, where she confronted Andrade Cien Almas about his behavior and slapped him.[40] On July 19, she accompanied Almas as he attacked Cezar Bononi and retreated from No Way Jose.[41] Under the name Zelina Vega, she was established as the heel manager of Almas, who defeated No Way Jose on August 9.[42] At NXT TakeOver: WarGames on November 18, Vega accompanied Almas to a match against Drew McIntyre for the NXT Championship, where she interfered by attempting to perform a hurricanrana on McIntyre, failing on the first attempt, but managed to perform a hurricanrana driver on him later in the match before Almas captured the title.[43]

On January 27, 2018, at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, during Almas's title defense against Johnny Gargano, Vega interfered and performed a diving hurricanrana on Gargano, resulting in her being attacked by Gargano's wife, Candice LeRae, while Almas eventually won the match.[44] On January 28 at Royal Rumble, Vega made her first main roster appearance as she accompanied Almas in his entrance as number 7 during the Royal Rumble match, in which he eliminated Kofi Kingston before being eliminated by Randy Orton.[45] As part of the company, Vega made her in-ring debut for NXT during a live event on February 3, where she teamed with Almas to be defeated by Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae.[46] On the April 18 episode of NXT, Vega was accompanied by Almas during her first televised match in which she was defeated by Candice LeRae and this turned out to be Vega's and Almas's last appearances in NXT.[47]

SmackDown (2018–present)

During the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Almas and Vega were both drafted to SmackDown.[48] Vega made her debut for the brand on the May 15 episode, accompanying Almas in a match against a local wrestler in which he was victorious.[49] On the July 31 episode of SmackDown, Vega would have her first match on the brand, defeating Lana. At SummerSlam, Vega would team with Almas, defeating the team of Rusev and Lana.

Other media

Trinidad took part in the 2012 film Dorothy and the Witches of Oz.[4] She also appeared in the critically acclaimed documentary Children of 9/11 and on the first anniversary of September 11 Memorial Ceremony participated in the reading of victim names.[4] Trinidad will portray AJ Lee in the upcoming film Fighting with My Family.[50]

Personal life

Trinidad resides in Tampa, Florida.[51]

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Trinidad spoke about her father in an out-of-character interview on TNA's No Surrender pay-per-view.[52] She is the cousin of professional wrestler Amazing Red.[53] Trinidad admitted Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson inspired her to take parts in films, and she has said she wanted to be the female Rey Mysterio.[54]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Zelina Vega Cagematch profile". Cagematch. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Rosita – FWE". Family Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Zelina Vega". WWE. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Thea Trinidad Biography". TheaTrinidad.com. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  5. ↑ StoryCorps (September 5, 2011). "Always a Family". Retrieved July 14, 2017 – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "TNA star to appear on NBC special about 9/11". WrestleView. August 30, 2011. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 "National Wrestling Superstars match listing". Cagematch. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ Martin, Adam (January 12, 2011). "Spoilers: TNA Impact tapings for January 20". WrestleView. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  9. ↑ Martin, Adam (January 27, 2011). "TNA Wrestling signs a new Knockout". WrestleView. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  10. ↑ Boutwell, Josh (February 11, 2011). "Impact Results – 2/10/11". WrestleView. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  11. ↑ Caldwell, James (February 17, 2011). "Caldwell's TNA Impact report 2/17: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of Impact on Spike TV – Against All Odds fall-out, Flair's TV return, TNA World Title match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  12. 1 2 Caldwell, James (March 13, 2011). "Caldwell's TNA Victory Road PPV results 3/13: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – Sting vs. Hardy TNA Title match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  13. ↑ Baxendell, Matt (March 17, 2011). "Bax's TNA Impact report 3/17: Alt. perspective review – new TNA Title belt, Fall-out From Hardy's "issues" at Victory Road, Styles injury angle, Overall Grade". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  14. ↑ Boutwell, Josh (March 25, 2011). "Impact Results – 3/24/11". WrestleView. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  15. ↑ Baxendell, Matt (April 8, 2011). "Bax's TNA Impact report 4/7: Sting vs. RVD main event, tag teams split, Jarrett climbs the cage with ease, Overall Show Grade". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  16. ↑ Caldwell, James (April 21, 2011). "Caldwell's TNA Impact report 4/21: Complete coverage of TNA Title match, Tag Title match, Knockouts Tag Title match, Jarrett-Angle continues". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  17. ↑ Keller, Wade (June 16, 2011). "Keller's TNA Impact report 6/16: Ongoing coverage of Slammiversary fallout on Spike TV". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  18. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (July 12, 2011). "TNA notes from tonight in Orlando". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  19. ↑ Keller, Wade (July 21, 2011). "Keller's TNA Impact Wrestling report 7/21: Ongoing "virtual time" report on Sting title win fallout". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  20. ↑ Caldwell, James (August 7, 2011). "Caldwell's TNA Hardcore Justice PPV results 8/7: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – Sting vs. Angle, five title matches, BFG Series matches". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  21. ↑ Turner, Scott (March 23, 2012). "Turner's TNA Impact Wrestling results 3/22: Victory Road fall-out, Dixie & Sting & Hogan close the show, three title matches". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  22. ↑ Caldwell, James (April 19, 2012). "Caldwell's TNA Impact Wrestling results 4/19: Ongoing "virtual-time" coverage of Lockdown fall-out, Hogan's "big announcement"". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
  23. ↑ Caldwell, James (April 15, 2012). "Caldwell's TNA Lockdown PPV results 4/15: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – Roode-Storm main event, Angle-Hardy, Lethal Lockdown opener". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  24. ↑ Caldwell, James (May 1, 2012). "Former tag champion cut from TNA". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  25. ↑ Caldwell, James (June 10, 2012). "Caldwell's TNA Slammiversary PPV results 6/10: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – Roode vs. Sting headlines 10th Anniv. PPV". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  26. ↑ Johnson, Mike (January 9, 2013). "Another TNA departure confirmed". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  27. ↑ Trinidad, Thea (February 1, 2013). "As of yesterday I am no longer employed w/TNA. It was the best decision 4me right now. THX 2: The fans! TNA & Dixie Carter 4the opportunity!". Twitter. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  28. ↑ Vitola, Charlie (February 15, 2015). "TNA ONE NIGHT ONLY: KNOCKOUTS KNOCKDOWN 3 SPOILERS". PWInsider. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  29. 1 2 3 "Rosita". TheaTrinidad.com. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  30. ↑ Zellner, Kris (September 12, 2011). "Lucha Report For 9/12/11" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  31. ↑ Ruiz Glez, Alex (August 31, 2011). "Imagen: Rosita y Sarita en la coliseo de Guadalajara" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Rosita, de Mexican America, amenaza a AAA". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in Spanish). September 4, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  33. 1 2 3 "Show History". Family Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  34. ↑ "FWE Women's Championship". Family Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  35. ↑ Johnson, Mike (May 6, 2015). "Live notes from GFW press conference". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  36. ↑ Namako, Jason (March 4, 2013). "Former TNA Knockout has a tryout before Raw". WrestleView. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  37. ↑ Erin (June 23, 2014). "Former Knockout Appears as Rosebud". Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  38. ↑ Richard, Trionfo (October 26, 2016). "WWE NXT REPORT: DUSTY CLASSIC CONTINUES, ASUKA HAS HER TAKEOVER OPPONENT REVEALED, SOME POST MATCH AGGRESSION FROM THE WRESTLERS. AND MORE". PWInsider. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  39. ↑ Satin, Ryan (June 5, 2017). "Ex-TNA Wrestler Thea Trinidad Signs WWE Contract". Pro Wrestling Sheet. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  40. ↑ Kahrs, Alex (June 8, 2017). "WWE NXT Results – 6/7/17 (No Way Jose vs. Killian Dain headlines)". Wrestleview. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  41. ↑ Richard, Trionfo (July 19, 2017). "WWE NXT REPORT: DAIN VERSUS MCINTYRE TO DETERMINE NUMBER ONE CONTENDER, BURCH VERSUS LORCAN, ALMAS GOES TRANQUILO, RIOT VERSUS MOON, AND MORE". PWInsider. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  42. ↑ Richard, Trionfo (August 9, 2017). "WWE NXT REPORT: LORCAN VERSUS BURCH, CHAMPION AND CHALLENGER TALK ABOUT TAKEOVER, STRONG VERSUS MCINTYRE NEXT WEEK, GARGANO WANTS A MATCH AND ALMAS WANTS AN OPPONENT, AND MORE". PWInsider. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  43. ↑ Richard, Trionfo (November 18, 2017). "WWE NXT TakeOver War Games report". PWInsider. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  44. ↑ Richard, Trionfo (January 27, 2018). "Complete WWE NXT TakeOver Philadelphia report: Extreme Rules, Gargano versus Almas, Moon versus Baszler, new faces, some returning NXT stars, and Samoa Joe saves de kickoff show". PWInsider. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  45. ↑ Cory, Strode (January 28, 2018). "FULL ROYAL RUMBLE COVERAGE". PWInsider. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  46. ↑ "NXT Nashville Show". iwd. February 3, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  47. ↑ Richard, Trionfo (April 18, 2018). "WWE NXT report: A lot of NXT in ring debuts, a no DQ match, and more". PWInsider. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  48. ↑ Gartland, Dan (April 17, 2018). "WWE Roster Changes: Superstar Shakeup Results for Raw, SmackDown". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  49. ↑ Stuart, Carapola (15 May 2018). "COMPLETE WWE SMACKDOWN COVERAGE: DANIEL BRYAN SENDS BIG CASS A MESSAGE HE WON'T FORGET, ANDRADE "CIEN" ALMAS MAKES HIS IN-RING DEBUT, CARMELLA FINDS OUT WHO HER CHALLENGER AT MITB WILL BE AND SHE DOESN'T LIKE IT, AJ AND NAKAMURA DO BATTLE TO DETERMINE WHO PICKS THE STIPULATION FOR THEIR TITLE MATCH AT MITB, AND MORE". PWInsider. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  50. ↑ Goldman, Eric (February 21, 2017). "The Rock evokes CM Punk and AJ Lee in a big way for crowd at WWE show". IGN. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  51. ↑ Peltz, Jennifer (September 9, 2016). "Now adults, children of 9/11 draw inspiration from tragedy". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  52. ↑ Caldwell, James (September 11, 2011). "Caldwell's TNA No Surrender PPV results 9/11: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – three-way TNA Title match, BFG Series finals". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  53. ↑ "Profile". CageMatch. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  54. ↑ "ROSITA OF TNA FAME TALKS ABOUT THE EFFECT THAT THE ROCK HAS HAD ON HER CAREER - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  55. ↑ Gerweck, Steve (December 29, 2011). "Rosita wins PWI Inspirational Wrestler award". WrestleView. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  56. ↑ "PWI Awards". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Kappa Publishing Group. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  57. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2011". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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