Thunder Rosa: We Can Keep Wrestling Tough Without Being Cruel

Thunder Rosa, who just returned to the ring on AEW Collision, recently received a hateful message from a fan that sparked a passionate response.

“I want to address something real. I received a hateful message that doesn’t critique my work but it really attacks who I am and where I came from. I’m not going to repeat it, I’m not going to give this guy more oxygen,” Rosa said. “I will say this, in the United States right now, a lot of people are being treated like suspects. Not because of what they’ve done, but because of their names, their accents, or the place that they came from. That is not strength, that is fear dressed up as power. I am Thunder Rosa and yes I’m proud to be Mexican, and yes I’m proud to be from Tijuana.”

She continued, “I have earned every step I’ve taken in this business with discipline, sacrifice, and love for wrestling. If you don’t like my matches, my promos, my style, that’s your right. Wrestling is a passionate sport. Debate is part of it but dehumanizing people, threatening them, turning into immigration into a punchline, that’s not fandom, that’s hate. So here’s my message to the locker room, to the audience, and to everyone listening. We can keep wrestling tough without being cruel. We can be loud without being dangerous and we can protect this community by refusing to normalize intimidation.”

“And to my Thunder Army, don’t spread hate to clap back. Don’t share it, don’t repost it. Report it. Stand up for each other. Because the ring is where we fight. Not the comments, not someone’s identity. I’m not going anywhere,” Rosa added. “I’ll keep showing up for the people who see themselves in me and for the fans who believe wrestling is for everyone.”

Rosa was victorious in her AEW return on the 2/21 Collision against Julia Hart.