The first WWE superstar released for breaching contract over association with third-party platforms has revealed a stark change in policy.
Nearly five years ago, Zelina Vega was released from her WWE contract on the same day she had taken to X to send a post which read, ‘I support unionization’.
It was later confirmed by WWE to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated that Vega was fired for disobeying an edict handed down by long-time CEO Vince McMahon.
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As per Wrestling Inc, McMahon sent a letter explaining to the roster that as independent contractors, they would no longer be allowed to be associated with third parties such as Twitch and Cameo and must stop any ongoing activities in 30 days or else they could be fined, suspended or even have their contract terminated.
"Some of you are engaged with outside third parties using your name and likeness in ways that are detrimental to our company," McMahon wrote in the letter.
"It is imperative that these activities be terminated within the next 30 days (by Friday October 2).
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“Continued violations will result in fines, suspension, or termination at WWE's discretion."
Some talent attempted to persuade McMahon to change his mind in a meeting, but the policy was implemented across the board, and the only slight change was that talent’s Twitch account could be shared with WWE and make considerably less money from it.
Much like AJ Styles and Xavier Woods, Vega was a prolific streamer on Twitch and continued to go live on the platform, while she also set up an OnlyFans account where the price of a subscription was £22.60.
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As a result, in November 2020 she became the first performer to be given the boot because of failure to comply.
She would return eight months later and has since been crowned Queen of the Ring as well as capturing her first singles’ title by becoming the women’s United States champion.
And now, in a very different WWE world under TKO and spearheaded by Triple H, she is now set to return to streaming again after been given the green light to do so.
As per Fightful, a while back WWE management told talent thy had reached a deal to allow them to stream and there would be "almost no restrictions."
WWE superstar reveals WWE's rule change
“I just finished my set-up in my new house so I’m so ready to go back to streaming,” she told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview.
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“I think it’s cool that it’s now so wildly celebrated that we have KSI coming in, we have iShowSpeed and Kai Cenat coming in.
“It’s more of a thing we get to share with the fans in our own way. I definitely want to do it.
“They [WWE], absolutely, are all for it. Which is really cool because there was a time where it wasn’t really understood but now I think it’s just so celebrated.
“It’s like, ‘If you’re not on TV do what you can on the outside to show what you can do, be who you are and make that connection with the fans regardless’.
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On her Twitch account, in her real name Thea Trinidad, Zega racked up more than 100,000 followers and it was claimed by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Twitch was more profitable than her WWE exploits at one stage.
As well as gaming, Vega was renowned for pranking fellow superstars like Kofi Kingston and Dominik Mysterio by putting on different voices.
And when she gets stuck back in with her new set-up, Vega already has her sights on her ext victim.
“I can’t help it! All of a sudden something just comes over me and I start talking like a kid or an old man,” she said on the infamous prank calls.
“I think the Dom one [is my favourite] because I wasn’t expecting how much that was going to blow up.
“I was just bored and it turned into something massive. I was thinking about pranking Chelsea next so we’ll see.”
Josh Lawless