In a year of controversy for AEW, Thunder Rosa found herself in the firing line after suffering a back injury in the summer of 2022.
Rosa hasn’t wrestled since August which caused a planned match at All Out on September 4th to be scrapped. Despite being injured, Rosa held on to the Women’s Title until November.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Rosa addressed her injury, confirming that she’s still not cleared to return. The star went on to address the controversy that has come back into the public domain thanks to AEW All Access.
“I’m not cleared. I have not been cleared. There are more things that have happened in the past couple of weeks. I’ve gotten in the ring, and unfortunately, the pain is still there. It’s very frustrating.
I want to get in the ring and do what I do best and that’s wrestle. To get that opportunity again. I know there’s been a lot of controversy in the last couple of weeks and Thunder Rosa has been trending on Twitter, I don’t use Twitter, but I get constant messages that I’m trending. It’s weird.
We have All Access which has stirred a lot of stuff that I tried to put aside because it’s painful. I think listeners are tired of me ‘complaining.’ I don’t want to make this a complaint. I don’t want to make this about me. I want to make this about focusing on the AEW women’s division, which I’m very impressed with, especially the last couple of weeks.
Our champion, Jamie Hayter is one of the hardest hitting women in the world. Riho, Emi Sakura, we are seeing some different matchups and they have been awesome. I feel it’s taken a backseat because people are talking about this,”
One of the biggest sources of controversy around Thunder Rosa was the fact that she kept the AEW Women’s Title for months despite being injured. While the star was always quick to point out that she isn’t in charge of creative, that didn’t stop the likes of Toni Storm criticising the situation. Storm became Interim Women’s Champion at All Out after winning a match that would have originally seen her meet Rosa for the Women’s Title.
Reflecting on how it all played out, Rosa revealed she actually offered to drop the title the same day that it became clear she wouldn’t be able to wrestle.
“First and foremost, I want to make sure people understand, at the beginning of this drama, everyone was speculating that I wasn’t hurt. It was proven that I was hurt. There are MRIs, they talked to my doctor, I had multiple epidurals, and I’m still not cleared. I had another MRI last week and the pain is still there.
For me, personally, I wanted to drop the title the day that I couldn’t wrestle because they told me I was going to be out four to six weeks. My boss [Tony Khan] made the decision and said, ‘you’re going to be the champion and we’re going to have an interim champion.’ For me, as a competitor, I wanted to make it fair so my peers had an opportunity to defend the championship because it wasn’t fair that I wasn’t there, I wasn’t going to be there, and I was going to hold the title.
The problem comes, and this has been the question raised about me not showing up; I wasn’t booked to go there. When I got the news that I wasn’t going to keep the title, it caught me by surprise. ‘Today is the day, okay.’ I wasn’t able to go. I wasn’t able to get in the ring and say, ‘Guys. Unfortunately we made the decision, here is the title, thank you for the opportunity to let me represent.’ That opportunity wasn’t given to me. That’s pretty much it.”
Thunder Rosa Apologised To AEW Locker Room
During the conversation, Thunder Rosa noted that she had apologised to the women’s locker room in an effort to smooth out any tension. The former champion said that she “took accountability” before reiterating that she wants the focus to be on the women’s division as it stands today.
H/t to Fightful