Live TV is a beast. Honestly, you can plan every second of a broadcast, but when you're dealing with professional wrestling, things go sideways fast. That’s exactly what happened during a now-infamous episode of WWE SmackDown involving the "Queen" herself, Zelina Vega.
It wasn't a botch in the ring. Her wrestling was actually on point. But as any performer will tell you, the gear is just as important as the moves, and sometimes, the gear doesn't want to cooperate.
The Night the Screen Went Black
So, here’s the deal. On March 21, 2025, WWE was running a huge show in Bologna, Italy. It was a big deal because it was airing live on Netflix for international audiences. Zelina Vega was making her big return to the blue brand after a stint on Raw, sporting some brand-new, high-concept gear. She was facing Piper Niven, which is a tough match for anyone given Niven's power.
Midway through the match, things got weird for the viewers at home.
If you were watching the international feed, the screen suddenly cut to black. Not once, but twice. The first time happened during a standard exchange, but the second one was right as Zelina was setting up for her signature 619—the move she famously adopted from her mentor, Rey Mysterio.
Why did WWE censor the match?
The "zelina vega wardrobe mishap" wasn't some technical glitch with the Netflix servers. It was a proactive move by the production team. During the high-intensity movement of the match, Vega’s top shifted significantly. To protect her and keep the broadcast within "PG" guidelines, the producers hit the kill switch on the live feed.
It’s a split-second decision. You’ve got a director in a truck in Italy looking at dozens of monitors, and they have to decide in half a heartbeat whether a shot is "safe" for a global audience. They chose to go dark rather than risk showing something unintended.
The Difference Between Live and Tape Delay
Interestingly, if you were watching in the United States, you probably had no idea this even happened. Why? Because the U.S. broadcast usually runs on a slight delay or is edited for the local time slot.
By the time the footage hit American screens, the editors had already swapped the "revealing" camera angles for alternate shots. They have cameras all around the ring—high, low, and even "roving" ringside cams. While the "hard cam" (the main wide shot) might have shown the slip, the production team simply cut to a tight shot of Piper Niven’s face or a wide shot of the crowd.
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- International Viewers: Saw black screens and missed about 30 seconds of the match.
- U.S. Viewers: Saw a seamless match with different camera angles.
- Live Crowd: Saw the whole thing, though most were too focused on the action to notice a minor gear shift.
Zelina’s Reaction and the Aftermath
Wrestlers are tough. Like, seriously tough. Most people would be mortified, but Zelina Vega (real name Thea Trinidad) is a veteran who’s been in the business since 2010. She’s dealt with everything from being one of Adam Rose’s "Rosebuds" to winning the first-ever Queen’s Crown tournament.
After the match, she didn't jump on X (formerly Twitter) to complain about her clothes. She did what a pro does: she stayed in character. She posted a selfie on Instagram showing some legitimate battle scars—bruises and scratches from the match—and basically said it took three people to beat her.
She focused on the "L" she took from Niven (due to interference from Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre) rather than the "zelina vega wardrobe malfunction" headlines. That’s how you handle a bad night at the office when your office is a 20-by-20-foot ring.
Professionalism in a "Wardrobe" World
This isn't just about one person. Wardrobe issues happen constantly in sports. We've seen it with Tiffany Stratton and even legends like the Undertaker back in the day. The reality is that these athletes are performing incredibly athletic feats—backflips, powerbombs, and dives—in outfits that are essentially high-fashion swimsuits.
The gear has to be tight enough to stay on, but flexible enough to move in. It's a miracle it doesn't happen more often.
How WWE handles these situations now:
- Triple-Checking Gear: Most wrestlers have "gear checks" before they go through the curtain, but you can't simulate a 250-pound woman landing on you during a rehearsal.
- Tape and Glue: It’s a known secret in the locker room that double-sided tape and "butt glue" (the stuff pageant queens use) are staples of a wrestler's bag.
- Production Safety Net: As we saw in Italy, the black screen is the ultimate fail-safe.
Staying Focused on the Career
Despite the internet's obsession with "slips," Zelina Vega remains one of the most versatile talents in the company. She’s a former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion and a legitimate high-flyer who bridges the gap between the old-school Lucha style and the modern "Sports Entertainment" era.
She’s also a massive nerd. Her gear is almost always inspired by anime—she’s done Naruto, Demon Slayer, and Street Fighter cosplays for major shows like the Royal Rumble. The Italy gear was a departure from her usual style, which might be why the fit was a bit "off" during the high-impact spots.
If you’re a fan or a creator, there’s a lesson here about resilience. You can have a "malfunction" in front of millions of people and still wake up the next day, post your bruises, and get back to work. That’s the real story.
Moving forward, the best way to support athletes in these positions is to focus on the work they put in. If you're interested in the technical side of how live broadcasts work, looking into "broadcast delay" and "production switching" provides a lot of context on how companies like WWE and Netflix manage live risks. It’s a fascinating world of high-speed editing where a single button press can save a multi-million dollar brand from a PR headache.