Rhea Ripley will defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship Title against Zelina Vega at Backlash in Puerto Rico. WWE announced this recently on SmackDown. Ripley has reacted to this on her twitter hilariously.
Ripley’s The Judgment Day and Vega’s LWO are rival factions and have been feuding regularly. The factions even had a tag team contest this week on SmackDown, which The Judgment Day won. Zelina approached WWE official Adam Pearce and requested a SmackDown Women’s Title match at Backlash. Pearce made the bout official later in the show.
When WWE tweeted out the promo poster for the bout, Ripley reacted to it by tweeting “Mami vs Little Pretzel,” The bout does seem to be a David vs Goliath scenario as Ripley outweighs and out-sizes Vega considerably. However, Zelina has experience on her side.
Mami vs Little Pretzel 🥨 https://t.co/kcLeaGTS7S
— RheaRipley_WWE (@RheaRipley_WWE) April 22, 2023
Rhea Ripley once hurt Zelina Vega in a WWE match
Zelina Vega is the last Queen’s Crown Tournament winner, and she returned last year, joining Legado Del Fantasma (now LWO). Before returning, Vega was out of action due to an injury. While on the Out of Character podcast, she revealed that the person who injured her was Rhea Ripley.
Zelina had ruptured a implant when Ripley’s shoulder went into her chest during a Northern Lights Suplex. She claimed, “[I had] a ruptured implant from Rhea!…we’re good now! They are better than ever. And everyone’s happy!’ My husband’s happy, and everyone’s happy. So, yeah, it worked out.”
🇵🇷 #WWEBacklash pic.twitter.com/99k8WnLGGb
Advertisement— 👑 QUEEN ZELINA 👑 (@ZelinaVegaWWE) April 22, 2023
She was out for seven months from the injury. Although she has no animosity towards Rhea, Vega still wants to be the SmackDown Women’s Champion. She has never held that belt in her career but is looking forward to it in the latin nation of Puerto Rico. If she wins the belt in that country, it’ll be very special for her as she is of Puerto Rican decent herself.
