Zelina Vega has opened up about her match on the 9/11 episode of SmackDown being cut for time, saying that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon personally apologised to her.
The 20th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks was an emotional one for Zelina Vega, whose father lost his life in the World Trade Centre. Vega honoured her father by taking part in a ceremony in New York City where the names of the victims of the attacks were read out.
On the episode of SmackDown which took place on September 10th, Vega was due to take part in a tag team bout that would have pitted her and Carmella against Liv Morgan and Toni Storm. It was reported at the time that the match was cut from SmackDown while the show was taking place.
Following the show, the Queen’s Crown winner simply said “Nevermind” on Twitter and shared photos of what would have been her gear for the night.
In a new interview with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Vega has opened up on the night in question, saying that a lot of the anger about the situation was “misguided”.
“A lot of people were really upset, but I felt like a lot of the anger was misguided. I was disappointed, but I also knew it wasn’t a personal thing.
“If you knew, and obviously a lot of the fans don’t know that the show goes in an order, the way that it went timewise, it got too close and they had to cut it.
She went on to explain that Vince McMahon called her himself to apologise, with the WWE Chairman saying he was “so sorry” for having to make that decision.
“When it got cut, Vince called me and apologised because he wanted to make sure that I knew ‘listen, this wasn’t done to you personally or anything, it was literally just this [the time], I had to make that call and I’m so sorry.’ And people don’t know that side either.
Zelina Vega also praised her fans for the ‘outpouring of love’ she felt on that day.
“I love and appreciate my fans so, so much. I wish I could just squish their little faces. Because sometimes people can feel like they’re part of the machine and it’s no big deal and the fans probably don’t give a crap, but the outpouring of love I felt that day – and a bunch of other days to – is incredible.
“Without the fans we’d literally be nowhere. Just know it wasn’t something done personally to me. To have a boss to care enough to call you and go ‘look I’m sorry’, that’s important.”
Zelina Vega will next be in action at Survivor Series on November 21st as a member of Team Raw in the Women’s 5-vs-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match between Raw and SmackDown.
H/T to talkSPORT for the above transcription.