wrestling / News
Xelina Struggles With Feeling Like a ‘Failure’ Following Her WWE Release
Image Credit: WWE
During a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, former WWE Superstar Xelina (formerly Zelina Vega) spoke about her latest run with WWE following her recent exit from the promotion earlier this year. Xelina revealed she deals with “a weird feeling of failure” after her release.
Xelina explained she long aspired to win the World Title and bring it to her father’s memorial. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):
Xelina on Her Dream of Honoring Her Late Father
“I always promised, I was like, ‘I’m gonna bring the World Title there (to the 9/11 Memorial to honor her late father). I’m gonna do this,’ and I made the promise back then, which is also why I don’t like to tie the dream and his memory to just WWE, because we watched ECW, we watched WCW, we watched WWF back in the day, so it isn’t tied to just that, so I still feel like I have this promise to keep. I still feel like I have this other side, almost this reinvention of myself that I’m going to be doing because I don’t feel like it’s over yet just because I’m not with WWE anymore. It doesn’t end just because they say so. It feels like now is an opportunity to do it differently, you know?”
On Feeling Like a Failure After Her Release
I don’t know what the journey looks like; I don’t know where I’m going to end up, but I do think that it’s something that I look forward to now because I’m gonna be honest… There was a time after the release where you go through a bunch of different emotions. But I think a bit of failure came with that. Like a weird feeling of failure because I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t think I’ll ever get to do that — get to bring that World Title.” Xelina started getting emotional, then gathered herself and continued, “Ew, emotions. But I don’t think that’s something that ends there. I feel like there’s so much more that I could do still…”
As noted, Xelina’s father, Michael Trinidad, died during the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. Last year, Xelina won the WWE Women’s US Title from Chelsea Green on SmackDown on April 25. She held the title for 63 days, losing it to Giulia on SmackDown in June.
