REPORT: WWE says they fired Zelina Vega because she breached her contract
The big story in wrestling over the weekend was Zelina Vega’s firing from WWE.
Although Vega tweeted her support for unionization, WWE is claiming that she was fired because she breached her contract when she launched her OnlyFans non-nude account.
Sports Illustrated is citing company sources saying Vega, real name Thea Trinidad, boxed them into a corner when she opened the OnlyFans account. The decision came after discussions regarding Twitch. As previously noted, WWE has told their talent that they were not to engage with third parties like Twitch and Cameo and they could be subject to fines, suspensions or they could be fired. The belief is that WWE is looking to establish their own presence on Twitch and wrestlers would deal with WWE instead of generating their own revenue on the platform. WWE recently established a service similar to Cameo where they charge fans to speak with wrestlers on group video calls.
Vega’s firing has led to the president of SAG-AFTRA reaching out and there appears to be some interest in having wrestlers join their union. Andrew Yang has also stated that he plans on pushing for the rights of wrestlers since they are treated as employees in some ways but are classified as independent contractors.
Vega’s firing raises questions about her husband Aleister Black’s future with the company. Black is part of the SmackDown roster and recently asked to be moved back to NXT. That request was denied.
WrestlingNews.co has heard that there are others in the company that support unionization but they saw what happened with Vega and realize that a message was sent when she was fired. There is some optimism among some because of SAG-AFTRA’s interest and Yang’s statements but the feeling among many in the company is that some of the top names who are making over $1 million per year are not going to speak up. While AEW is an option for some, there is a realization that they can’t sign everyone from WWE and AEW’s roster is already overcrowded so speaking up right now in favor of unionizing is not seen as a viable option for some of the WWE talent.