Thunder Rosa On How Her All Out Match Came Together, AEW Creative Differing From Other Companies

NWA Women's World Champion and TJPW International Princess Champion Thunder Rosa made an appearance on the Talk Is Jericho podcast shortly after her in-ring AEW Dynamite debut. During the show, she spoke about her AEW opportunity and her match against Hikaru Shida at All Out. Rosa discussed how her All Out match was first put together.

"Well, I was contacted by AEW first, and then they asked me about my dates. I can't work any other place because I'm signed with NWA," Rosa noted. "So, I went to the chain of command. They worked it out, and I honestly wasn't expecting it, until I got a text message and then I kind of figure it out. And then I got the phone call, and then they're like, 'you're going to be at All Out.' And I'm like, 'OK, did anybody asked me if I wanted to be at All Out? I'll do it. I don't care.' In my personal career, I always waited for people to see my talent and see what I'm all about.

"Before I start sending emails and asking, and asking, and asking, I want people to see my hard work. And then they're like, 'I think she will be great for a company, for us to work with her.' So that's what happened, and I was really happy about it."

The podcast was recorded before Rosa's loss to Shida at All Out. However, Rosa spoke on the significance of having the NWA Women's Champion come into a different promotion and challenging for that promotion's title.

"Yeah, and especially for women's wrestling. I don't think in the history of the NWA another woman has gone to another company to fight another champion," Rosa pointed out. "So, it's a precedent, and I'm all about that. I'm all about making history, making a difference in the business, and I continue to do it either by luck or just see it happen."

Rosa made her North American debut with Lucha Underground as Kobra Moon, and she compared her experience at Lucha Underground to her time in AEW. She noted that Lucha Underground had many writers telling talent what they needed to do, as opposed to AEW, where there are no writers and talent are encouraged to be creative.

"It's very chill. It's very different from all the companies that I worked before," Rosa said. "In Lucha Underground, we had like five different writers, and here, everybody's kind of like doing their own stories. [It's] not like there's a writer, here's the story, this is what you need to do, this is what you need to convey, and that's it. Here is completely different.

"So, I think here, people are encouraged to use their creativity and pitch it in and see what you can do. And I think that's a great skill for anybody to have, because if you want to do something different or you want to create your own company, you know how to book stuff, you know how to write the stories and things that will make sense for you or for the fan. So, I think that's pretty cool."

Rosa reflected on her in-ring Dynamite debut against Serena Deeb. She talked about her six-year journey to get to where she's at now.

"I'm still getting tagged on Instagram, Twitter, [and] all the stuff," Rosa stated. "It's been big, and this is what I've been wanting to do for a long time, for people to see the talent that I have and the things that I can bring to any company, because this will be my fifth company. And pretty much, I've worked everywhere except WWE. So, it feels really great."

Rosa made it clear that she is still under contract with NWA, but as NWA has not been running during the pandemic, she explained that talent are encouraged to take other bookings. She has done this not only with AEW but also on the indies with Warrior Wrestling, and her own promotion, Mission Pro Wrestling. She also talked about how she has managed during the pandemic.

"I am under contract but our contracts changed, so we're not getting as much money as we used to," Rosa revealed. "Now, we are encouraged to get more bookings outside of NWA. It hurt me, but thankfully, I am a pretty smart spender, so I don't spend a lot of money. So, I had a lot of money saved up for any emergencies like this.

"I'm not alone. My husband works, so that helps, and we haven't been hurting for money. And again, the pandemic helped me to really establish things that I wanted to work on, like the custom matches and creating my website. My website, too, like the first month, I think I sold like almost $2,000 on our website. So just the hustle was harder, and now I'm in hustle mode all the time."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.