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One of the highlights of WWE RAW in recent times has been Zelina Vega. An excellent manager and mouthpiece, she has elevated the careers of Andrade and Angel Garza. The trio have been a bickering yet effective stable on Monday nights, with a tag team title run a distinct possibility in the near future for Garza and Andrade in WWE.
While Garza's undeniable charisma has invoked comparisons with the late great Eddie Guerrero, Andrade stands out for his excellent in-ring work. The latter might not have yet reached main event status that his work rate deserves, but the association with Vega and potential great matches ensures that 'El Idolo' would be in the thick of things.
Garza, meanwhile, is extremely entertaining with his 'sleazeball' gimmick - particularly in segments involving Charly Caruso in WWE. One great thing about Vega's stable is that they have not been positioned as evil foreigners, which increases the mileage of the act. Austin Theory's short-lived run with the group never looked like a good fit.
There are other wrestlers on the WWE roster that each of the three seem to be a natural fit with, primarily due to the real-life relationships that they have. This stable has been a breath of fresh air, considering the fact that almost all others Luchadors in the company have been positioned as high-flying spot artists - Vega's men have been given some psychology to work with.
This list takes a look at five interesting facts about Zelina Vega, Andrade and Angel Garza.
#1. The trio's previous incarnations before WWE
Both Andrade and Angel Garza come from distinguished Mexican wrestling families whereas Zelina Vega was born in New York City. Vega's real name is Thea Trinidad and her family had no association with wrestling except for the fact that they were casual viewers.
Inspired by Rey Mysterio, she began competing at local promotions under the name of Divina Fly, Snookie Fly and later, Rosita. She couldn't catch a break for a while before getting noticed by Tommy Dreamer in 2010 and getting recommendations to major wrestling companies.
Andrade is a third-generation superstar and made his professional wrestling debut in 2003. His grandfather Jose Andrade wrestled as 'El Moro' and his father as 'Brillante'. This led to Andrade using the ring name 'Brillante Jr' in honour of his father. Additionally, he also wrestled as 'Guerrero Azteca' before eventually coming up with his most famous moniker 'La Sombra'. As 'La Sombra' or 'The Shadow', Andrade had an eight year stay in Mexican promotion CMLL before joining the WWE.
Angel Garza hails from the Garza wrestling family which includes his grandfather 'El Ninja', his uncles Hector and Humberto Garza, in addition to current WWE Superstar Humberto Carrillo. He initially went by the name 'El Hijo del Ninja' meaning 'Son of the Ninja', and had stints in AAA and other Mexican promotions for a decade before signing with the WWE.
#2. Zelina Vega and Angel Garza worked for Impact before WWE
Before they made their way to the WWE, both Zelina Vega and Angel Garza worked for Impact Wrestling. Vega joined first, signing a contract with the promotion in 2011 and debuting as part of the Mexican America stable.
The group consisted of Latino wrestlers with Hernandez as the leader. Vega was given the name of Rosita and was partnered with Sarita. They would enter in to a feud with TNA's top female tag team faction 'The Beautiful People', eventually winning the TNA Tag team titles within months of their arrival. They would lose the title to Ms.Tessmacher and Tara after a four-month reign.
TNA's questionable booking soon affected the women's division when male wrestler Eric Young was booked to win the tag titles alongside ODB - Rosita and Sarita would unsuccessfully challenge the champion, that too in a steel cage, but were defeated. The Mexican America stable would dissolve after Hernandez turned face and Rosita was let go by the company after her contract expired in 2013.
Angel Garza, meanwhile, debuted in TNA (now known as Impact) in 2017 as Garza, Jr. He stayed with the promotion for just a year, challenging for the X-Division and tag team titles, but not winning either. His personality was never allowed to shine through and despite having matches with TNA main eventers like John Morrison, decided to leave the company in favour of WWE NXT a year later.
#3. Their debut matches in WWE
Andrade made his WWE in-ring debut at an NXT house show in 2015, where he defeated Riddick Moss. He wasn't billed as Andrade Almas, but as 'Manny Andrade'. Soon after getting repackaged to his current avatar, Andrade made his NXT Takeover debut by defeating Tye Dillinger.
Zelina Vega would join him a bit later, and slapped Andrade on her debut before becoming his manager the next week. She would guide Andrade to his NXT Championship victory over Drew Mcintyre, but would hardly wrestle herself. One of her televised match on NXT was a loss to Candice LeRae weeks before she was called up to the main roster.
Garza's debut was a bit different - he was entered in to the NXT Breakout Tournament where he was beaten by Jordan Myles in the semi-finals. He would become a major player in the 205 Live division, beating Tony Nese to become the No. 1 contender for the Cruiserweight title and then defeating champion Lio Rush to win the title a month later.
#4. Andrade is the co-founder of Los Ingobernables
Casual wrestling fans know of 'LIJ' as Japan's most popular pro-wrestling stable. Led by Tetsuya Naito, 'Los Ingobernables de Japon' is a massive merchandise mover, even outscoring the Bullet Club when the latter stable was at its peak. However, it is a bit surprising to know that LIJ is just an offshoot of CMLL's Los Ingobernables stable.
Naito was part of the original Los Ingobernables stable while he was on an excursion to Mexico and he decided to form a similar stable after he returned to Japan, leading to the formation of LIJ. It is safe to say that the Japanese version has surpassed the original, but it is interesting to note that Andrade was one of the founders of the Mexican stable.
Los Ingobernables was formed when Andrade turned heel on Volador, Jr and formed an alliance with the current ROH World Champion Rush, and La Mascara. The formation of the stable saw Andrade capture the NWA World Historic Welterweight title from Volador, Jr.
Andrade would visit New Japan as CMLL's representative multiple times till 2014, challenging Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental title unsuccessfully. He would finally beat Nakamura for the title at a special show in Mexico City before losing the title back to him a few days later.
#5. Their personal lives
Zelina Vega's personal life was chronicled in a WWE documentary recently which mentioned how she lost her father in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This has led to her taking part in a number of humanitarian and charitable causes, which included working as a counselor on a camp for children that had lost their parents on 9/11.
In addition to wrestling, she has also acted in the WWE-produced movie 'Fighting With My Family' where she played wrestler AJ Lee. Interestingly, she is married to fellow RAW wrestler Aleister Black, who was one of Andrade's major rivals in NXT.
Andrade, meanwhile is engaged to Charlotte Flair, which led to speculation that the recent segments involving Vega's stable and Ric Flair would somehow lead to Andrade leaving the group to join his future father-in-law on-screen. Andrade and Charlotte announced their engagement on 1st January, 2020.
Angel Garza is married to sports journalist Zaide Lozano. Lozano has made an appearance on WWE TV, with Garza proposing to her in the ring after winning the Cruiserweight title. They got married on July 23, 2020.
