Zelina Vega Is First Woman To Qualify For WWE Money In The Bank Ladder Match

Money in the Bank qualifying matches continued Friday night on "WWE SmackDown," and Zelina Vega became the first woman to punch her ticket to London, England by defeating Lacey Evans. After coming up short in her bid for the "SmackDown" Women's Championship against Rhea Ripley at Backlash last month, Vega will be looking to guarantee a future chance at gold, though, not necessarily against "The Eradicator."

Vega is still looking for her first singles championship with WWE since her first main roster appearance back in January 2018. Though, she is a former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, having held the gold with Carmella. Vega made history at Crown Jewel in 2021 when she won WWE's first-ever Queen's Crown tournament, defeating Doudrop in the final. Since last October, she's found her latest calling as part of Legado Del Fantasma, and, by extension, the recently relaunched Latino World Order.

This will be Vega's second appearance in the women's Money in the Bank ladder match, having been involved in 2021 as well. However, she was unsuccessful that night as Nikki A.S.H. (Nikki Cross) went on to win instead. Vega will be looking to change those fortunes when WWE arrives at the O2 Arena on July 1. As of right now, she is the only woman to qualify for her respective match.

Meanwhile, qualifying matches kicked off this past Monday on "Raw," with both Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura advancing to the men's Money in the Bank ladder match by defeating The Miz and Bronson Reed respectively. Friday night, L.A. Knight entered the field as well.