News

Backstage news regarding Chelsea Green vs. Zelina Vega match from WWE Smackdown having a “legitimate” finish

Aaron Rift

As seen during the April 11th 2025 edition of WWE Smackdown, Zelina Vega defeated women’s United States champion Chelsea Green by count-out. However, Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com noted that the finish did not go down as originally planned.

Johnson stated the following…

“According to several sources we spoke to in the company, the belief after the match was that Green legitimately did not hear the referee’s count as it was getting to ten, so the count out was 100% legit. When the referee made it to the end of the count, they had no choice but to call for the finish as a shoot, as they couldn’t ignore hitting the ten count on live television.

One person believed that when Vega was tossed in the ring, perhaps Green thought the referee would start the count anew, so she began focusing on playing to the announcers and audience, not realizing the counting was still ongoing – and then when ten hit, the bell had to be called for, as she didn’t hear the referee and didn’t get back in the ring in time.”

It’s believed that the match was scheduled to continue for a few additional minutes. The situation was said to have been a miscommunication and there is reportedly no heat on anybody backstage.