WWE’s Zelina Vega Enters Royal Rumble in Naruto Villain Costume

It’s well known that WWE Superstar Zelina Vega (Thea Trinidad Büdgen) is passionate about manga, anime, and video games, and she is famous for using ring gear inspired by her favorite characters. Zelina is especially a fan of Naruto, and she showed it by entering one of WWE’s most important events of the year, the Royal Rumble, dressed as one of the big villains of Masashi Kishimoto’s best-selling manga series: Madara Uchiha.

Madara was one of the founders of the Konoha ninja village, together with his friend-turned-rival Hashimara Senju. Their purpose was to create a long-lasting peace, but they could not agree on the methods to be used, which led to a conflict. Madara appeared to die leaving Senju to become the First Hokage. In truth, Madara survived and hatched a long-term plan which resulted in the Fourth Shinobi World War, and Madara’s ultimate defeat. Despite being the main antagonist of the second half of Naruto, Madara is a complex character with a tragic past and strong ideals (as is the case with most of Naruto‘s villains), and as such he is quite popular with the fans.

Besides being a pro-wrestler, actress, model, and professional streamer, Zelina Vega is also an amazing cosplayer. In the past, she has showcased her skills (usually on her Instagram feed) dressing up as a wide range of characters from different media and franchises, including DC, Pokemon, the Witcher, Sailor Moon, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Overwatch, League of Legends, and, of course, her favorite manga Naruto. Her passion as a fan runs so deep that she often displays Naruto‘s trademark “ninja run” during her matches, and she even named some of her signature moves in the ring as the Uchiha clan’s Sharingan techniques. Her tribute to the Uchiha, however, reached new heights at this year’s Royal Rumble. The Royal Rumble is a big moment for WWE Superstars, and they always try their best to impress fans during the event. In her two past appearances, Zelina did exactly that by coming out dressed as Street Fighter’s Vega in 2019, and Mortal Kombat’s Snidel in 2020.

After skipping the 2021 edition due to being temporarily released from her contract by WWE, allegedly due to her opposition to WWE requiring talents to acquiesce control of their accounts on third-party platforms such as Twitch, Zelina came back to the company in July 2021 and finally got the spotlight she deserves, winning the inaugural Queen’s Crown tournament and then the Women Tag Team Championships. It was only natural, then, that she would once again use the Royal Rumble to showcase her cosplay skills, this time with an amazing Uchiha Madara outfit, complete with his gunbai, a legendary war fan of the Uchiha clan that even appears on their family’s crest. Zelina was also able to realize a personal dream, having Madara voice actor Neil Kaplan announce her to the ring. Back in September, she had prepared another stunning set of Uchiha-inspired ring gear, this time based on Itachi, for the Smackdown event at Madison Square Garden, but Zelina ended up not being part of the program. Luckily, fans could still get a glimpse on her Instagram.

In a fun turn of events, during this year’s Royal Rumble, Zelina-Madara eliminated Sasha Banks, whose ring gear was based on another popular manga character, Sailor Moon. Zelina’s passion for anime, comics, and video games resonated with the fans, and helped her reach new heights of success in her career, both inside and outside of the wrestling world. Fans of Naruto should definitively keep an eye on Zelina Vega‘s appearances and social media channels, to see what amazing cosplay she will showcase next.

Source: Zelina Vega

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