Earlier this year, at WWE Backlash, Zelina Vega unsuccessfully battled Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women’s World Championship. While she may not have walked away with gold, she did walk away with several new fans who took note of the insane hometown crowd reaction she received and the work she put in during the match. Recently, she garnered attention online for a completely different reason: an innocuous tweet. This past Sunday morning, Vega sent out a tweet containing just a red X, which some construed as a sign of support for CM Punk, who had just been terminated by AEW and often sports Xs on his hands and gear.
In an interview with Newsday, Vega clarified what she meant by the tweet in question.
“Rey had this jacket on during our entrance, and he put a big, red ‘X’ on Dominik’s face, because his face was on the jacket,” she said. “And that became the thing — putting a big, red, ‘X’ on Dominik’s face. So that was something we were going to run with.”
After addressing the meaning behind the X she shared on X, the conversation pivoted to Punk’s pro wrestling future. Tony Khan did not address whether or not Punk has a non-compete clause during the AEW: All Out media scrum, but many are already contemplating whether a return to WWE could be in The Second City Saint’s future.
“I don’t know much about his situation with AEW, but I have always had a fantastic relationship with CM Punk,” she noted. “You hear all these things about him. I am so big on not listening to other people’s experiences, the dirt sheets, all that crap.”
“He’s always been a fantastic person,” she continued. “There’s layers to people. And when people are just so hung up on the outer layers of what a person can be, you get stuck there. And if you want to stay there, that’s great. But when you get to know the core of a person, that’s where I like to hang out.”
“To me, Punk’s been nothing but great. So will the ‘X’ be meaning putting an ‘X’ on Dominik’s face, and CM Punk? It absolutely can be, because, I’m a big supporter of him. And he’s always been that way for me.”
While not expressly stated, the article notes that Vega made it clear to them that the WWE star would be happy to see Punk back in the fold.