Gabby Ortiz talks about the good and bad of becoming a meme after a match on AEW Dark: Elevation with Thunder Rosa.
Thunder Rosa and Gabby Ortiz had a match on December 13 on AEW Dark: Elevation. The match was normal as can be but weeks later, a picture began surfacing of Gabby in position for the Fire Thunder Driver and after Thunder Rosa asked Twitter for captions of the photo, memes were born.
This picture is everywhere but let’s have fun…. CAPTION THIS! pic.twitter.com/KDoRo0MarN
— Thunder Rosa (@thunderrosa22) January 25, 2022
Gabby Ortiz recently spoke with Fightful Overbooked’s Lillie about what it's like to become a meme and how she has handled it in the following months.
“Yeah…it's insane,” Gabby began. “My face isn't even in it which is like the wildest thing. Don't ever underestimate the power of someone's butt! I did and was proven very wrong. So that spot was called and in my head I just remember we had practiced in the locker room because the ring wasn’t available,” she recalled. “So I had to practice posting for her and she was like ‘just be a little bit lighter.' So that’s what was going through my head…be light…be light because…you know I’m a little bottom-heavy obviously. So that was what was going through my head. That's it.”
Gabby says she was only really concerned about making sure that everyone was happy with the match and the meme that came out of it was an extra bonus. She does talk about the struggles in becoming a meme in such a fashion because social media can be creepy at times but, she says that both she and Thunder Rosa try to take it all in stride.
“ I just know that the match went well up until that point and it was short and sweet and was hoping for just that. I know that like the match went well up until that point and that it was short but sweet and I just was hoping that Dustin Rhodes, in the back, was happy with it because he was our coach, I thought that this is it. 'This is my match. It's gonna show [people]. I'll get some followers, I can promote and then it'll be done, and then I can go back into extra work again.'"
“Weeks later after the match had happened the picture started circulating,” she continued. “The photographer's name is Scott Lesh, he’s a good friend of mine and has been taking pictures of me since I started, and we both were just like…what the hell is going on now. Luckily people were really nice about it. There was only one person that was like oh you think you deserve followers and money because your butt picture got famous and he's the only one that was like….yes I do… like what do you mean!?!? But everyone else was really cool about it. However, it was slightly dehumanizing at some points. Being a meme can be a little dehumanizing because there's a lot of creepy things said about me and Thunder…but she and I just tried to take it all in stride, I've known her a long time so we were talking about it on DMs. It was funny.”
That photo is now iconic but Gabby is hoping to one day have a career between the ropes that eclipse is the popularity of that meme.
To stay up-to-date with Gabby Ortiz, you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
