Special Pro Wrestling Connection Powers Xelina Through Life and The 25th Anniversary Of 9/11 [Exclusive]

Xelina, formerly known as Zelina Vega in WWE, has spent her adult life navigating a career in the pro wrestling industry. It's a career that has spanned ups, downs, promotions, championships, and memorable matches. It's also a career that's kept her connected to her Dad.

Xelina lost her father, Michael Trinidad, at the World Trade Center in the terrorist attacks of 9/11 exactly 25 years ago. Xelina spoke to The Takedown on SI in an exclusive interview about how that tragedy impacted her and shaped her life, while also giving her direction, focus, and a way to still share something with her Dad.

"In a weird way, it still doesn't feel like it's been that long," Xelina said. "It's crazy to even say 25 years. I've had to really sit there and count it out, like, really? For me, it (the 9/11 anniversary) is about making sure my dad is someone I take with me every step of the way — family-wise and career-wise."

Xelina is still close to her dad because of pro wrestling. She said that her fans regularly show her photos of her father that she's never seen before and because of that, she still gets to know him in new ways. Without pro wrestling, that relationship with her Dad today wouldn't be the same.

"In a weird way, it feels like I still get to know him now, through my fans and through wrestling," Xelina said. "It's all connected and it's very cool."

Xelina and her Dad bonded over their love of pro wrestling

Connected is an understatement. When the attacks of 9/11 took her father from her, Xelina was 10 years old and a massive pro wrestling fan. Her Dad was too and the two bonded over what would later become her calling in life.

"Oh my god. I still have my Team Extreme foam finger from back in the day," Xelina said. "I still have the Hardy Boyz shirt he bought me. It's crazy — there are times I think about what a wild little fan I was. That's why, whenever a fan comes up to me, I'm always like, 'no, trust me, this isn't weird at all, because I was you."

"We went to Madison Square Garden all the time when wrestling was there. I watched WWF back in the day, WCW, ECW — which scared the hell out of me, but I loved all of it. I remember a match I saw at my dad's house in 1997, so I was only seven — Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc — and it just made me go, this is what I want to do. My dad was always super supportive of it, even though I was a little kid and people thought I was talking out of nowhere. But because he loved wrestling and wanted to be a wrestler himself, he understood it in a way not everybody did."

Michael Trinidad's favorite wrestler? Andre The Giant. He was a man who knew his wrestling history and champion in his own right. Trinidad was an accomplished high school wrestler that won plenty of gold. Xelina possesses her father's high school trophies to this day. Wrestling was a passion he passed on to his children and it served as a common thread for their relationship together.

In 2001, there would have been every reason in the world for Xelina to leave pro wrestling behind due to it being a painful reminder of a previous life. The opposite happened.

Xelina said she was always a stubborn girl and that stubbornness was always appreciated by her Dad. The stubbornness kept pro wrestling on the radar and it ended up being the thing that pulled her out of the darkness.

"It was the only thing that pulled me out of a dark depression," Xelina said. "It really hit me when I was about 15. I used to go with my dad every weekend, and even after 9/11, as a kid, I'd pack my bags thinking I was just going to go see him — like somehow he'd have gotten out of there. By the time I was 15, it really hit me, and I asked myself, okay, what was the thing he and I shared the most? Professional wrestling.

"So I thought, I think I can do this — for me, and to live his dream and mine at the same time. I made a promise back then: I'm going to bring him a championship. That gave me a distraction, but it also gave me something to fight for. I go into survival mode when I feel my lowest — tunnel vision on one thing. For me, that was it: I have this promise to keep, and I'm not going to feel fulfilled until I do."

Xelina did just that. In April of 2025, she won the WWE Women's United States Championship, which marked the first singles title win of her career. On May 2, she brought that championship to the 9/11 memorial in New York City. She's already planning another trip back.

"Even though I got to bring the United States Championship to the 9/11 Memorial, I still have this urge to bring him a world title," she said. "I don't know where that title comes from — I don't know if it's WWE. I left WWE in 2020, I came back, and now I'm gone again, and who knows what happens. But if it's not with WWE, that doesn't mean it can't be with House of Glory, or TNA, or AEW, or CMLL, or wherever."

The 25th anniversary of 9/11 hits differently

Xelina and her Dad and brother | Thea Trinidad

The 25th anniversary of 9/11 will be different for Xelina because she isn't a member of the WWE roster. She admitted that this year feels odd compared to others because she's not in WWE, but that she doesn't connect her Dad with WWE specifically. It's pro wrestling in general and the fans are a major part of getting through the memories that the anniversary brings with it.

"WWE wasn't the only thing we watched," Xelina said of her and her dad's wrestling fandom. "I mean, the Eddie and Rey match I told you about was WCW ... My fans were really the ones who made me feel like I had a giant hug every year, whether through social media or in the arena.

"My fans were really the ones who made me feel like I had a giant hug every year, whether through social media or in the arena. I remember one fan, Tyler, who made a sign that said 'Michael Trinidad will always have the best seat in the house.' I remember thinking, oh my god, they know about him, they're celebrating him too. That's what I wanted... The fact that my fans go out of their way, when they're in New York, to take pictures next to his name at the 9/11 Memorial — he'd be so stoked. He'd be so jazzed to know all these fans are coming to see him, and that The Rock got to see him."

Because of her departure from WWE, Xelina has a brand new batch of challenges in front of her. Challenges she's ready to take on. She's confident that whether she lands strictly on the independents, TNA, or with AEW, she's about to embark on the best version of her. No chains and no limits.

What advice would Michael Trinidad give his daugther as she embarks on a fresh journey in pro wrestling? Stay stubborn.

"I think he'd just be proud that I decided to stick with it at all," Xelina said. "You hear it from a kid, but you never really know who's serious. My dad always knew I was a stubborn, focused little girl ... He'd be stoked I'm still fighting this hard.

"He always said I was the smallest girl with the biggest drive and the biggest mouth. I carry that proudly. Yes, I'm the smallest, and yes, I had a complex about it when I was younger, but now it's the best part — I can be the loudest, in your face, and still accomplish every goal I have."

Over the years since 9/11, Xelina has been a major advocate of mental health. It's an issue important to her and a reason why she remains raw and transparent about 9/11, her family, and depression. She is a former camp counselor and attendee of Camp Haze, a special camp for children who lost parents or relatives on 9/11. The camp was inspired by 9/11 loss and helped Xelina begin to process what happened.

"(Camp Haze) kind of forced me to embrace people, because one of the things the camp was big on was what we called Haze hugs — even if you didn't know the person at all, you hugged them. It forced you to put your guard down. My brother and I, without even realizing it, didn't want anything to do with anyone new. They forced us to put that wall down and appreciate whoever's in your life, for whatever time you have."

On a complicated day like the 9/11 anniversary, Xelina stays focused on her future and at the same time is comfortable looking backward and appreciating her Dad and the life he helped her build. As time goes by, she says there's a responsibility to step up and that pro wrestling makes it easier for her to do that.

"Nowadays it feels like it's slipping through the cracks, because some people weren't even born when 9/11 happened — for them it's just a page in a history book," Xelina said. "That's where I feel like I need to step up: to be present and say, hey, this was a very important part of our history as a country, and this is who my dad is, and this is why I am the way I am.

"And the nice thing is, professional wrestling has taken this giant step where people love it and embrace it more than ever. Now's the time."

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