Thea Trinidad, known throughout her wrestling career as Zelina Vega, Rosita and now Xelina, has paid tribute to her late father Michael on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Xelina took to social media to share a special animated video honoring her father, Michael Trinidad, who was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
The tribute comes after Xelina recently reflected on her father’s memory and the important role professional wrestling played in their relationship during an interview with The Takedown on SI.
As a child, Xelina attended wrestling events with her father, including WCW Halloween Havoc 1997, where they witnessed the celebrated match between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. She has also recalled Michael buying her a Hardy Boyz T-shirt when she was young.
That shared passion ultimately became an important part of how Xelina dealt with losing her father.
She explained that she struggled to fully comprehend his death as a child and would initially pack her bags as though she was still going to visit him. The reality became more difficult to process as she grew older. “It was the only thing that pulled me out of a dark depression. It really hit me when I was about 15,” she said. “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.”
Eventually, Xelina found herself returning to the passion they had shared. “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.”
That realization helped inspire her decision to pursue wrestling professionally, with Xelina making a promise that she would one day bring her father a championship. “So I thought, I think I can do this — for me, and to live his dream and mine at the same time,” she said. “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.”
Xelina eventually fulfilled part of that promise during her WWE career. While reigning as WWE Women’s United States Champion, she took the championship to the 9/11 Memorial in her father’s honor.
However, she still hopes to return there one day carrying a World Championship. “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,” Xelina said.
Following her latest WWE departure, Xelina acknowledged that she doesn’t know where that opportunity might eventually come from and remains open to achieving the goal elsewhere in professional wrestling. “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.”
More than two decades after making the promise, Xelina said it remains a source of motivation when she faces difficult periods in her life. “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.”
Twenty-five years after her father’s death, Xelina continues to carry his memory with her both personally and throughout her wrestling career.
On this 25 year anniversary of 9/11.. I wanted to share my Mother’s StoryCorps video. A way to get a glimpse of that day thru our eyes. pic.twitter.com/YrIKG9EcnH
— XELINA (@ZelinaVegaWWE) September 11, 2026
