Reason For Zelina Vega Replacing Elektra Lopez Revealed

Zelina Vega returned last week on SmackDown as a member of Legado Del Fantasma. Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro and Jaoquin Wilde appeared on the show in luchador masks and attacked Hit Row in the ring. They attacked Hit Row’s Ashante Adonis and Top Dolla as they were entering the ring while B-Fab was taken out by Zelina with a hurricanrana. The three then revealed their identities by removing their masks.

However, the group lacked a key member who was their integral part in NXT. It was Elektra Lopez, La Madrina of Legado Del Fantasma. She seemed to have been replaced by Vega.

The reason for her absence has been reported by wrestling journalist and insider Dave Meltzer. He says WWE had originally planned on keeping her in the stable when they moved to SmackDown. She was even supposed to fly to Worcester where the SmackDown episode was being shot.

But then as a last minute change, the WWE creative decided to replace her with Zelina Vega instead.

As reported by Meltzer, Legado Del Fantasma is supposed to be feuding with Hit Row and Vega is more suitable as an opponent for B-Fab.

Santos Escobar gained popularity during the pandemic era when he won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. He was the creator of Legado Del Fantasma with Cruz Del Toro (then known as Raul Mendoza) and Joaquin Wilde. They were later joined by Elektra Lopez. Escobar lost to Tony D’Angelo in a Loser Leaves NXT match last month and moved to the main SmackDown roster with his stable.

Hit Row was formed last year by Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Top Dolla, and B-Fab on NXT. They were moved to the main roster soon but were all released during WWE’s budget cuts. After Scott left for AEW, they were re hired by Triple H and have been working on SmackDown since.

This week on SmackDown, Del Toro and Wilde defeated Adonis and Dolla after some interference by Escobar and Vega.

Hit Row seems to be lacking in the numbers. Maybe it’s an opportunity for some WWE talent to join them.