Zelina Vega Recalls Running Into Great Khali During First WWE Tryout, ‘Falling For’ Edge

Zelina Vega looks very graceful on camera, but when the cameras aren’t rolling, she has a clumsy side to her. 

In 2010, Vega participated in her first WWE tryout for Florida Championship Wrestling. During the tryout, she was a little in “awe” and a little more in shock. 

“The very first tryout, I was walking next to Dean Malenko and I was so ‘wowed’ by walking next to him that I didn’t see who was coming the other way. I am four-foot nothing and the person I walked into was seven-foot something; The Great Khali. So, you can gauge where I hit [everyone laughs]. So, there was that. I said, ‘I’m so sorry.’ He said, ‘I didn’t see you down there.’ ‘I didn’t see you up there.’ Dean couldn’t stop laughing. Very first thing that happened when I walked through the door,” said Vega on New Day: Feel The Power podcast. 

Vega said that once that happened to her, she felt comfortable because nothing could top that in terms of embarrassment. But that wasn’t the only embarrassing moment for her as she later revealed that while backstage at catering, she went to get some coffee, only she didn’t see the wet floor sign, slipped, and fell into Edge. 

Ever the dad, Edge joked, “I see you fell for me.”

While Vega is a featured player each Monday on WWE Raw, it took her years and multiple tryouts to finally make it to WWE. When discussing her tryout process, she said, “My first tryout was in 2010 at FCW with AJ [Lee], Naomi, The Usos. I had become friends with everybody and we kept in touch. They would have shows and bring someone from the main roster and that week they brought Matt Hardy. I had known him forever, so that made the tryout easier. Fast-forward, I had tryouts almost every year. It was like, ‘You’re too this, it’s too this.’ So I tried to change whatever it was. ‘Your endurance wasn’t up enough.’ ‘Dye your hair blonde.’ The thing was to make me blonde because I reminded them of Trish [Stratus]. During my Rosebud time, I was blonde. It was interesting because, I don’t want to say I was there, but it was easy because everyone made it comfortable and welcoming. It felt like home and I knew I was supposed to be there.”

She went on to say she would not have been fulfilled if she didn’t make it to WWE. 

Elsewhere during the podcast, Vega said she was not giving up on being a wrestler but is currently focused on her duties as a manager. You can find her full comments by clicking here. 

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