Thunder Rosa: "If I Had Been Thunder Rosa In Lucha Underground, I'd Probably Be In WWE By Now"
The Wrestling Inc. Daily welcomed NWA Women's World Champion "La Mera Mera" Thunder Rosa onto the podcast recently where she opened up about her time in Lucha Underground as Cobra Moon. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Rosa how difficult it was to work under the strict Lucha Underground contracts.
AEW star Sonny Kiss has revealed that Lucha Underground talent were only making $4,000 a year, and Rosa confirmed the low pay that talent were making as well as the frustrations she had with Lucha Underground.
"Listen, contracts are tricky. If you don't have a lawyer or you're too cheap to pay a lawyer, you're screwed," Rosa stated. "I signed that contract knowing that I was locked in for five seasons. The problem was when some of us were not getting work in other places. And we were asking for work and they're not giving us work, and then when we're trying to get out so we can get work, they're like, 'no, you cannot work.'
"So it was very frustrating that a year and a half, like literally, I have to bust my ass getting paid $100-$150 to make a living because I couldn't f–king do anything on TV. Sorry for my language, but I'm gonna be open and honest about it. It was very hard."
Rosa continued revealing the way talent were valued by Lucha Underground with inadequate treatment as well as the schedule. She pointed out that the talent endured it because they knew a bigger opportunity would be on it's way.
"This is the thing, we used to stay at the Hilton in Downtown LA, treated like freaking queens and get all this stuff," Rosa noted. "Then the next week, we'll be working an indie show, and people wouldn't even get us a freaking hotel room because they didn't see we had the value.
"And imagine, people were knocking on our doors and trying to get us to go work TV, and I couldn't do it because I was under contract, so I had to endure this because I knew something bigger was coming. So when the opportunity came to get on that lawsuit, I jumped in right away."
Rosa has previsouly revealed that she received an offer from WWE as a referee but turned it down to pursue a career in MMA. Hausman asked Rosa about Vampiro's comments that Lucha Underground talent knew what they were getting in to when they signed their contracts.
"You know, I said this, we signed the contract because we wanted an opportunity," Rosa pointed out. "A lot of us were hungry. A lot of us were new. We just wanted to be seen. We wanted that stage for us to, like, to get to the next level, which for me, didn't pan out because I was wearing a mask. If I had been Thunder Rosa in Lucha Undergound, I'd probably be in WWE by now."
Rosa elaborated, noting that her one month in AEW has helped her gain a much larger following than ever before. She also noted that she was not getting much in return while working with Lucha Underground and decided that it was time for her to leave.
"I mean, honestly, I did one month in AEW, and I already had a following that we've been working really really hard to build. And it just exploded," Rosa said. "Why, because they saw who I really am, which is Thunder Rosa, and with the stuff with Lucha [Underground], we asked for work. We asked for opportunities. Some people were getting them. I was one of the ones who was getting the short end of the stick. I don't care.
"I was getting absolutely nothing. What was there for me? Why am I going to be sitting around and just like, 'oh, let me wait.' No, like, I just want to work. Can I work, and if you guys allow me to work, you know, fine. If not, there's nothing for me here, and there's nothing wrong about that."
Thunder Rosa can be found on Twitter @thunderrosa22. Rosa's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.