Zelina Vega Looks Back On 'Missed Opportunity' Of WWE Backlash 2023

Zelina Vega has opened up about her WWE women's title opportunity against Rhea Ripley in 2023 at WWE Backlash in Puerto Rico. 

On "The Bump," Vega shared how the match at Backlash in 2023 felt like a squandered opportunity due to the support the Puerto Rican crowd showed her. 

"It feels like a missed opportunity, it feels like that should've been the rocket, that should've been the moment that I continued and went on to continue to fight Rhea," said Vega. "I was so tunnel vision, everything was so there and then it slipped out of my hands. It just feels like we're constantly dropping the ball with Zelina, constantly it's a thing where I'm fighting to try to get something, to get a sliver of something. I'm salivating over the title all the time and yet I'm always put in this position where it's so close but yet so far and that was another thing, once the draft happened, so close but yet so far."

She also expressed frustration from repeatedly coming close to achieving success without anything coming of it, while continuing to emphasize how her title match in Puerto Rico should have been her moment.

"I'm tired of it, I am tired of constantly trying to fight and claw and scratch my way to something and it just feels like that should've been it. Again, that was my, 'Yes moment,' that was the moment the fans supported me no matter what. No matter who said, 'She wasn't ready, she's not this, she's not that.' They literally said, 'Screw you, yes she is,' and that should've been it, that should've been the moment but it wasn't."

Vega has had only one other chance to win the world title, which came against Iyo Sky on "WWE Smackdown" last year, where she was unsuccessful in capturing the championship.