Wrestling Epicenter sent out the following:
Thunder Rosa AKA Kobra Moon is one of the most active female performers in the industry right now. From her recent headlines being granted her release from Lucha Underground where she made her name to recent stints with Ring of Honor and WOW Women of Wrestling, she is set to tackle the rest of 2019 internationally as she is now an American citizen able to travel. Watch out, globally, for Thunder Rosa!
But, before she travels the globe, she steps into the Epicenter! We talk about ROH, Lucha Underground and the difficult contract she was signed to, WOW, and beyond in a great 20 minute piece. To listen, please visit WrestlingEpicenter.com. Some highlights are below.
THUNDER ROSA on becoming an American citizen: “Thank you! It is never too late, actually. I’m really proud! Now, I have my passport and am ready to travel all over the world. As you know, I’m ready to go to Tokyo Joshi Pro in about a month. So, I’m ready!”
On reports she’s signed with Ring of Honor: “No, that’s not accurate. I’m an independent contractor with everyone except Lucha Underground at this point.”
On her time in Ring of Honor in late 2018 early 2019: “I like the fact that we were able to have a story line. They actually gave us a lot of time on TV. Things change in wrestling so sometimes we (Twisted Sisterz) wrestle together and sometimes we wrestle apart. But, it was really cool. I got to wrestle Madison Rayne, Britt Baker… It was really cool. Also just being in the locker room and talking to all the veterans…”
On the vibe of Ring of Honor: “Seeing the transition with AEW and now and how they had to part ways with some of the big stars and how they had to bring in the newcomers and how they’ve become big stars in ROH. It is pretty incredible. You see things change and you have to change pretty quick. I don’t know what is going to happen with Ring of Honor. I know some people have left that have gotten signed. There’s 2 things. 1 is there is a great opportunity for people like me and (other) newcomers to come and make an impact. Hopefully they want you in the company. And 2, it is a time to rebuild.
On Madison Rayne choosing to leave ROH for Impact: “She’s a very outspoken woman. She knows what she wants. She’s been in the business since she was 19. I feel like when somebody leaves a company or asks for their release, it is because they feel they can do something more in other places or better opportunities come up. I feel like Madison went where she feels she has a better opportunity to do better. The Impact Knockouts division is getting stronger. I think she wants to be a part of that too.”
On if she is eyeing that Impact Knockouts Division also: “Absolutely. That is something my team, my husband, and I have been talking about. (laughs) The possibility of working in other places and asking for opportunities. Right now, our focus is Japan. There are some other things in the works. But, I have to reach out to them and see if that would be a possibility for me to have an opportunity.”
On the acting aspect of her persona in Lucha Underground: “That is interesting. We as wrestlers, we are trained to wrestle and have the best matches possible. But when I started, I started as a manager. So, I always knew that if I got injured, that was a possibility that I could shine on. This character (Kobra Moon) is so different from all the characters that you have seen on TV because of the snake… It is very gimmicky. I was very invested in making sure this character went over, quote unquote, or that the people really were engaged in this character so that when I would wrestle, it would make more of an impact. It was a really good experience for me. English is my second language. Most of my promos were in English. Pronunciation and memorization was a big thing. With TV, you could do a lot of things. But, when it was live, you had to make sure you could convey the story live and through the TV. It was really good. I actually really did enjoy that part of the show. It challenged me in a different way to where I had to be in a certain mindset and perform different emotions instead of “Oh, let me just kick you in the head and sell for me.” You had to act!”
On inter-gender wrestling and if it can be accepted by the mainstream fans: “I mean, they’re introducing it little by little. Their argument will always be that a man will always beat a woman’s butt no matter what. But, for the sake of entertaining, once it is in their face, people can believe it. Especially if they do a good job booking the matches. Like, if they do a match where the girl is small and the guy is really, really big – You’re not going to make that believable. Whoever is making the story has to make it believable. Then, in that aspect, it will be accepted. But, even in movies, like, I just watched Captain Marvel. People were complaining… I think it is because she was a woman and she was small. People are always going to complain! Even with women’s matches, people still say they’re not as good as the male matches. It is still the same. I’m going to say to give it 2 more years and then we’ll see. The more they introduce it, the more people are going to get used to it. Not everyone is going to accept it. But, they’re going to get used to it and it is going to be normal.”
On Lucha Underground Season 5 and her status: “I mean, I’m still under contract. It was announced on Twitter that some of us are trying to get our releases. But, I’m still under contract. I’m still working. If Lucha Underground continues, I will continue to be Kobra Moon. If things change, probably, you guys will know before I do.”
NOTE: This interview was done exactly an hour and a half before Thunder Rosa was notified that she was given her Lucha Underground release.
On her overall thoughts coming away from Lucha Underground: “I will always be grateful to Lucha Underground for my TV time and my experience. Lucha Underground will always be my home. I am pretty much a home grown talent. They are the ones who gave me the opportunity no one else did. You will not hear me bash them. At the end of the day, I was the one who signed the contract. I chose to do that. I have nothing bad to say about Lucha Underground because they have always supported me when I’ve asked for support. The only thing I can say as the days, weeks, and months pass is that we’re not able to work with Lucha Underground and with our characters the way we thought we would. But, you know, it is just part of the business.”
On the decision to bring Kobra Moon and not Thunder Rosa to AXS TV’s WOW Women of Wrestling: “No. They said, “Hey, you’re playing Kobra Moon in the WOW Women of Wrestling.” I said, “All Right!” (laughs) Literally, that is what I said. Give me my gear, give me my stuff, and I’ll play it! In a way, I was like “eh” because I really wanted to play something that was a WOW character, you know? It is what it is.”
On her take on WOW: “I’ve gotten some really good reviews on my matches. I’ve only had 2 matches (in WOW) and I was able to show something that I was not able to show in Lucha Underground and that is the wrestling part. I really do enjoy it.”
On the women’s revolution and women main eventing WrestleMania: “There’s still work to do. There’s a lot more spaces for us. There’s a lot more women’s promotions and inter-gender promotions popping up here and there. The platforms are different. It is not just WWE. It is WWE, TNA – I mean Impact, AEW, ROH, Women of Wrestling, all the indies… What else? There are still companies that don’t have women’s matches. But, I think they’re getting to the point where they will start having women’s matches. There is still work to do. In the main indy shows, there is only space for 1 or 2 women’s matches. That’s it! It is very competitive. And now, we have a lot more wrestles coming up. It is getting really competitive. But, I think that is good. It gets you out of your comfort zone!”
On interest in AEW: “I know a lot of people that are in AEW now that worked with me. I would like to be part of that up and coming talent and be like, “Oh yeah, I was one of the first ones that got signed.” When you’re grinding so hard and working so hard, that should be your end goal, you know? I would like to have a bigger opportunity than the opportunities I’ve already had. When I started wrestling, there was a sense of urgency. I knew that I, probably, wasn’t going to be wrestling for 20 years. So, I want to be the most successful that I can be in that amount of time. Like I tell my husband, I want to be the most successful Mexican born female wrestlers in the United States.”
