Thunder Rosa almost became a WWE referee, and considered retiring from the ring when times got tough.
The Mexican star has become a main event talent in AEW, winning the AEW Women’s Championship in spectacular form against Britt Baker.
She also held the NWA Women’s Championship, a title she defended multiple times in an AEW ring.
Nobody knew whether or not Thunder Rosa would be forced to retire, as she had contemplated years ago when she almost became a WWE referee.
Thunder Rose In WWE
Thunder Rosa almost signed for WWE as a referee, retiring from wrestling before she signed for AEW.
The Mexican star nearly hung up her boots years ago, when a friend offered her a job working for the biggest wrestling company in the world.
Speaking to Renee Paquette on The Sessions, Thunder Rosa spoke about how she almost quite her role as a wrestler, and took a job as a referee for the WWE.
“This wrestling thing is not happening. I gotta find something else to ignite my passion for what I’m doing’ and I started training MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, all Martial Arts then I ended up getting — signing a contract and at the same time, that’s at the moment when I was like, ‘Maybe I just need to get a job and forget about this silliness,’ right?”
“And I contacted one of my friends that was a referee and I was like, ‘Hey, is WWE looking for somebody? Because I need a job. I need to feed my family.’ My husband works a regular job and we’re fine but I’m just so sick and tired of doing this and WWE reached out to me and they’re like, ‘Are you ready to hang up your boots?’ “
“I remember having that conversation with Canyon [Ceman] and I’m like, ‘I need a job so what’s up? What’s the deal?’ And then they gave me the scoop, how much they were gonna pay me and my husband says, ‘You’re absolutely nuts! You’re not doing that sh*t! I don’t care’ and I was like, ‘No babe, we need a job. I’m so sick and tired.’ “
“He was like, ‘No dude, you’re better than this Melissa. You trained for six months, get into a fight for MMA. You’re gonna toss that away? You’ve done everything on your own, you’ve done everything at your own pace“
“I did all stuff that I needed to do and then a hurricane happened, my flight got delayed and then it got cancelled and then I signed my MMA contract and then the next day, NWA, David Lagana calls me, he’s like, ‘We have something for you. Are you ready to change your life?’ “
“Because he’s been talking to me for a year, telling me to be patient and I’m like, ‘Ah, be patient. What does that even mean in wrestling?’ And I signed that contract with NWA and things changed. He was the one who believed fully in what I was capable of. In six months, I became the NWA Women’s Champ.“
Thunder Rosa is still injured and has been out of action for nearly a year. There is currently no timetable for her return to AEW.
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