Zelina Vega Recalls Playing AJ Lee In Fighting With My Family

Zelina Vega portrayed former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee for the film Fighting With My Family. Speaking with the Cheap Heat Podcast, Vega recalled the experience of playing Lee. She also opened up about whether she ever thought she’d become a part of the WWE roster. 

“At one point when we recorded Fighting with My Family at the Staples Center it was an incredible feeling and I loved it but I was playing AJ Lee and I wanted it to be me,” Vega confessed. “I was grateful for the opportunity. If that was all I was going to ever do with the WWE I was incredibly happy to do but deep down inside I knew I had to keep fighting to do this.”

She explained, “It’s pretty wild to say that I wanted this since I was a kid and to be in this spot here. We did WrestleMania, even Madison Square Garden, seeing the exact spot where I sat with my parents and with my brother it’s been wild for me.”

Vega remembered getting the call from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, informing her that he had a part for her in the movie. Not only that, but that it would be as AJ Lee. 

“When he told me that I was going to be playing the Divas Champion, of course, I wasn’t processing any of this yet, and then he said AJ Lee. I was like, oh my God, I can do this. I know I can do this. But you never really know until you step into that person’s shoes. He really showed me how to separate Thea Trinidad and step into AJ Lee.”

She credited Johnson with helping her adapt and really understand how her character might be feeling in a particular moment, and why. Vega noted that she would talk to people who were working with Lee during that time and ask what her mindset was in order to really hone in on her portrayal. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.