AEW favorite Thunder Rosa has unfortunately been sidelined with an injury since August of 2022 and would end up relinquishing the AEW Women’s World Championship after Jamie Hayter became the new Champion. She returned to AEW as part of the Spanish commentary team, but she hasn’t returned in a major televised role and hasn’t returned to any sort of in-ring action. Rosa’s new vlog reveals a meeting with AEW doctor Michael Sampson and gives an update on her progress. The new goal point is six weeks, and if things progress well, then they’ll look at the next steps (H/T Fightful).
“It’s been a long process. Looking at the most recent MRIs and all the conservative stuff we’ve done in the past, you’re progressing well right now,” Sampson said. “You still have all the pathology in your lower back, L4 and L5, with our progression going into pushing it to the limit, but taking it sequentially, going week to week to week, we push a little more, if we hit a roadblock, we back it up a step. Over the next four to six weeks, we see how it’s going. So far, you’ve been progressing very well, pain-free.”
Videos by ComicBook.com
“If we continue to do that, we know where we stand, get you stronger, get you ring ready, as long as you don’t have that pain, we’re good,” Sampson said. “We still have to protect your back. The pathology has not gone away, it’s just a matter of we’re treating it so it helps you improve yet also protects you from worse things,” he said. “I would say [six weeks] is a good goal point to go to. Six weeks and see how we go with that.”
Rosa has been advertised for AEW Collision, so whenever she does return to the ring, it appears she will be part of the Collision roster. Rosa quickly became a fan favorite in AEW, and it’s unfortunate her Title reign was cut short due to injury. We wish Rosa all the best and hope for a 100% recovery.
When she’s not in AEW, Rosa is part of the Busted Open Radio team, and on a previous episode Rosa addressed some things being said about her and the frequent discussions regarding her injury and her time away from the ring. “I’ve been going to AEW for over two months now. I’m doing commentary now. That’s my new position. Again, I’m going to talk about my injury. I’m not cleared. I have not been cleared. There’s more things that have happened in the last couple weeks. I’ve gotten in the ring. Unfortunately, that pain is still there and it’s very frustrating because I want to get in the ring and I want to do what I do best, that is, you know, wrestle and to get that opportunity again, if life gives me that opportunity to be able to do things,” Rosa said.
“I know there’s been a lot of controversy in the last couple of weeks and Thunder Rosa has been trending on Twitter, which I don’t know because I don’t use Twitter, but I get constant messages from my friends that I am number one trending on Sunday night. It’s just so weird. I know we have All Access, which has stirred a lot of the stuff that I tried to put aside because it was very painful,” Rosa said.
“First and foremost, I want to make sure that people understand that at the beginning of all this drama, everybody was speculating that I wasn’t hurt. It started with that. Then it was proven that I was hurt. There’s MRIs. They talked to my doctor,” Rosa said. “I had multiple epidurals and until now, I’m still not cleared. I had another MRI last week, and the pain is still there.”
“Third of all, me personally, I wanted to drop the title the day that they told me I couldn’t wrestle because I was gonna be out for four to six weeks,” Rosa said. “My boss made a decision. He said, ‘You are going to be the Champion and we will have an interim Champion.’ I wanted to make it, 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, and I wasn’t going to be there, and I was going to hold the title.”
“I think a question that was raised was me not showing up. I wasn’t booked to go there. When I got the news that I wasn’t gonna keep the title, it really caught me by surprise, like, ‘Oh, today is the day.’ I wasn’t able to go. I wasn’t there to be able to get in the ring and say, ‘Guys, unfortunately, we made a decision. Here’s the title. Thank you very much for the opportunity to let me represent.’ That opportunity wasn’t given to me,” Rosa said.
Since then Hayter became AEW Women’s World Champion, but injury cut her reign short as well, and it would be Toni Storm defeating her to become a two-time AEW Women’s World Champion.
