We see Zelina Vega is back, but WWE acted on Smackdown last night that she was never gone and she just hasn't been wrestling. What is going on? Why would she return after the way she was dumped by the company? Is this a case of they brought her back to cut her throat and dump her? Is Aleister Black back too? What happens to her Twitch feed now?
These are a lot of questions! I will address them all here as, after making some phone calls last night and this morning, this is what we can ascertain about the situation.
We are told that even after Vega was released, there were segments of the company who felt she should have been retained and not released. We are told those segments of the company pushed for conversations between the two sides to continue. They eventually did and we are told that after a long period of back and forth conversations, WWE execs apologized to Vega and made her an offer to return. Eventually, she decided to go through that open door and signed back with the company. There are differing accounts as to when that happened. One source told me May. Another told me it was much sooner than that but all sides opted to keep it quiet so they could strategize a return. Why they waited until now, only WWE could answer but they also signed Eva Marie and had her sitting around for nine months. Vega was backstage last week but had not been at any TVs beyond that in recent months.
So, why did she return? The two sides made amends and came to a compromise. That is how business works. We are told everyone came to an understanding on the other sides' perspective. She grew up wanting to be in WWE. Why wouldn't she return if all sides cleared the air?
As far as cutting Vega's throat off, they announced she's in Money in the Bank, which is already a stronger push as a wrestler then she had received on the main roster. She had been mostly used as a manager with the exception of the Asuka bouts right before she was released last year. To me, that's a good sign, especially since her promo was great last night. They plugged her into the Liv Morgan story. She may have lost but it wasn't like she was Barry Horowitz. It was Liv sneaking a win. If they use Vega consistently, then she's in a better position than she was on Raw. So, we'll see where it goes but the fact she's on Smackdown gives me more faith given the creative is consistently stronger on the blue brand. If she's getting wiped out every week, then I agree but I don't see last night as any sort of burial.
Finally, as of now, Aleister Black is not back with the company. Like with Vega, there were some who felt his release was premature and have pushed for him to return but we haven't heard of him signing or even in deep discussions to return. It may be he wants to see how the waters are outside of WWE and if I am him, with AEW, New Japan, etc. I'd certainly want to see what is out there on the open market.
As far as Twitch, to the best of my knowledge, it was ongoing, so my guess is it continues on in some form. I don't know enough about the Twitch world to tell you much about it.
