Zelina Vega has made her next move. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the former WWE star, whose real name is Thea Trinidad, is off the free-agent market and has signed a new contract. However, it’s not known which company she signed for or if she joined another wrestling promotion.
“Trinidad has signed a deal,” Meltzer wrote in the newsletter. “We don’t know with who or even that if it’s with a wrestling promotion, but the deal she signed would not allow her to work for another wrestling company and it was not with AEW. It was a somewhat short-term thing and the door wasn’t shut on her eventually working with AEW but it won’t be any time imminently.”
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This comes after Trinidad was released by WWE in November following issues regarding the company’s policies on individual deals with third parties such as Twitch. Trinidad had a strong following on Twitch and started an OnlyFans account where she would post all her cosplay photos. When WWE released Trinidad, she sent a message to her fans.
“I want to say thank you all very much for the last 3-4 years [WWE Universe], it was incredible,” she wrote on Twitter. “I would have never have been able to say ‘this is for you dad’ if certain people did not believe in me. I love you all and I couldn’t have done it without your support.”
WWE informed PopCulture.com that Trinidad was released due to her breaching her contract. Most fans think that Trinidad was going to sign with AEW when her 90-day non-compete clause was up. AEW President Tony Khan spoke to Wrestling Observer Radio in February and said he would love to talk to her when that opportunity comes.
“When we get through his (Women’s title eliminator tournament) and through (Revolution), I would be interested to see where she’s at,” he said. Before Trinidad was released from WWE, she tweeted out that she supported unionization, which caught the attention of SAG-AFTRA.
“Wrestling is as much about media as it is sports and we are going to directly engage with members of this profession to help find ways for them to protect themselves,” SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said in a statement. “As more people reinvest in unions and as more working people are harassed by employers who don’t want to protect them, SAG-AFTRA is committed to doing what we can to help professional wrestlers secure the protections they deserve.”
