Thunder Rosa is one of the most undeniable talents in pro wrestling now, but that wasn't always the case.
Rosa was brought in with little experience to Lucha Underground, and was thrust into the spotlight and the face of criticism. With a quick ascension to television for her, she has strong advice for the students she trains, or the up and coming wrestlers she books at Mission Pro Wrestling, and hasn't forgotten who saw something special in her.
"Patience is key," Rosa told Fightful. "Being patient and staying positive because at that moment in my career as a professional wrestler it was very dark and I felt like nobody wanted me. Absolutely nobody wanted me. I was getting no’s up the ass. ‘No, no, no, no, no. You’re not gonna get this. You’re not gonna get that.’ Nobody wanted me, I just got released from Lucha Underground, thank God. But, it was like, all that stuff and I had nothing. I was having issues on the indies because I was ‘charging too match.’ It was rough, you know? I always knew who I was. From the beginning. From the moment I went to Japan and the fans didn’t believe I was wrestling for six months. I knew there was something special. I knew there was something special when Chris DeJoseph said I have the 'It factor.' But, he was the only one who saw it. Nobody else wanted to give me a chance to shine."
There are plenty of ups and downs as a pro wrestlers, but particularly when you're on your way up and paying your dues. Rosa has seen plenty of those despite her quick rise to television wrestling fame.
"Especially right now with the Dogg Pound Dojo, the school that I run with my husband and Jazz and Rodney. We talk about this pretty much every single day in our class because there’s so many ups and downs for our students financially, emotionally, spiritually, with injuries and stuff. We just have to keep them motivated and that’s one of the hardest parts of them all. For example, one of my students, with all of the stuff that happened with the blackouts and everything, he lost his job, his wife lost her job, whatever, and I told him, ‘Until you don’t get your financials and your family issues together, you cannot come to school. You have to be patient. The school’s gonna be here. We’re gonna be here. But, you have to work on these things because this is gonna be break or make it in the business. I’ve seen it so many times. So, I know you guys have to believe us. Believe us. I’ve been in the business for seven years. Jazz and Rodney have been in the business for 20,000 years. So, we’re not just bullshitting you or giving you a coach talk. This is some real stuff.’"
Rosa recalled the advice she was given early on by a man that helped countless other independent wrestlers. Life first, then wrestling.
"Like, I remember when I signed up for APW, Roland Alexander had four things in a list that you have to get together—financials, family, wrestling and there was something else. But, it was those two, financials and family, if you don’t have those together, you can’t do wrestling. I don’t care how good you are, you will end up quitting. I’ve seen it so many times with a lot of the females that I train throughout the years. They start really hot, they like it a lot and they’re like, ‘Dude, I don’t have a car,’ ‘Dude I don’t have this,’ ‘Dude, I don’t have that,’ ‘Oh, my partner broke up with me,’ blah-blah-blah. They fall apart and all their dreams, down the drain."
You can learn more about Thunder Rosa's Mission Pro Wrestling at this link.
