Thunder Rosa confirmed on this past week’s AEW Dynamite that she is unable to compete at the upcoming All Out event and defend the AEW Women’s World Championship. Instead, an interim champion will be crowned in a Four-way at the event instead.
While speaking on Busted Open Radio, Rosa talked more about what her specific injury is –
“I’m not the best, physically right now. I was in a lot of pain yesterday. A lot has been happening in the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I’m going to be out of commission. I don’t know for how long. For a couple months, probably. I have a problem with my back and yesterday, I was trying to be strong. Back problems are not easy. Some days are good, some days are not. Yesterday was not a good day, I was in a lot of pain,” she said. (Fightful)
“That’s one of the reasons why I’m taking time off. I want to clear the air, this is not fake. This is not a work. I’m not comparing injuries to injuries. If I could fucking walk, I can fucking work. Doctor Sampson, he didn’t clear me to wrestle. I’m not cleared to wrestle. It’s not that I don’t want to do a match on Sunday [AEW All Out], I can’t walk. It’s a shame that this is being put on social media, not only to discredit me as an athlete, but also discredit me as a wrestler. I want to walk when I’m 40. I have the right to say ‘No, I can’t walk, I can’t do it.’ I don’t want to have surgery. If we keep doing this and going through the pain, then I’m going to be out for longer. I don’t want to do that.”
She further adds when she first found out that she wouldn’t be able to wrestle at All Out –
“The news got to me on Tuesday from another doctor. When I got there on Wednesday, I told Josh, my [Physical Therapist], ‘it just hit me that, as a champion, I’m not going to be on one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year. As a champion, that I can’t defend my championship, that I can’t physically have the match I want to have. That I’ve been working my whole life to have moments like this.’ It hurts.”
Beyond her physical injury, there has been a lot of backstage reporting on how she has been getting along with other women in the locker room. More specifically Dr. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter. Rosa’s last singles match was at Battle of the Belts III where she retained. Hayter suffered a broken nose from that bout.
She elaborates on those reports –
“Not everything that is being said is true. If anybody has a problem with me, anyone, call Busted Open, call my number, tell me to my face. I don’t hide from my problems. I don’t run from my problems. You can talk to me, my door is open. That goes for anybody. I have taken accountability when things have happened. I’m a straightforward person. Some people don’t like that and are afraid of that. I’m not. I’m a trained fighter, I don’t run away from shit. Stop reading stupid shit online.”
She continued, “My conscious is clear, I know what I’m all about. If there are any problems of any kind, they can contact me. They can contact AEW and clear the air with them. There is a protocol that needs to be followed. People need to respect the company, in general. I respect and represent AEW. I’m still the AEW Women’s Champion. When I come back, whoever is the champion, if you thought you’re going to get rid of me [laughs], you’re not. I’m going to get better and stronger.”
Later in the interview, Rosa said, “I have said sorry with people before and apologized and made amends because that’s what you do. I’ve taken accountability for things I’ve done wrong, but this is beyond me doing something. I got injured and I did not blame anybody because it’s wrestling and accidents happen. I don’t have to blame anybody. It might have happened way before and I just noticed that I’m hurt. I want to thank AEW family and the medicals. I texted them at 3 in the morning with questions and they answered. Now I have answers and I know what’s wrong with me. For people to discredit my abilities, my career, and me as a person, I’m not cool with that. If I didn’t know what was wrong, I probably would have had the match. It’s physical things I need to take care. Respect AEW. Whoever is doing this, you have to respect AEW.”
All Out takes place on Sept. 4 and at the time of this writing there is only one women’s match on the card. Toni Storm, Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Hikaru Shida will battle it out in a Four-way to determine the interim AEW Women’s World Champion.
