Thunder Rosa isn’t focused on trying to top her memorable Lights Out match with Britt Baker.
Rosa and Baker met in an Unsanctioned Lights Out match on the March 11, 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite, a bout that remains one of the most celebrated women’s matches in company history.
During a recent appearance on the Battleground Podcast, Rosa reflected on the match’s lasting reputation and what it means to still hear fans discussing it years later.
“I’m blessed that people still talk about it and still talk very highly of this match,” Rosa said. “Because that means that we made history. They haven’t had another female match that has won Match of the Year in AEW with any of the females and they’ve been fantastic matches.”
Rosa said what she and Baker accomplished remains a significant milestone, but she doesn’t approach her current work with the goal of surpassing it.
“But we were able to do that and that’s a huge deal in professional wrestling,” she continued. “So, I am not trying to outdo myself. That’s not the point.”
Instead, Rosa said she is currently interested in pushing herself into unfamiliar territory. She pointed to wrestling a full lucha libre style in Mexico as one example, noting that her background was primarily in American wrestling.
“For me, right now, is how can I challenge myself to do things that I thought that I will never do,” Rosa said. “Like doing fully Lucha Libre in Mexico since I train American wrestling and it’s like changing your mindset and being flexible to do all these things.”
That doesn’t mean Rosa has lost her appetite for the more violent style that helped make the Baker match so memorable. If presented with another opportunity to work that type of match, she said she would have no problem getting creative.
“If you have me do a match, like a edgy match, believe me, I’m going to find a way to do some crazy stuff,” Rosa said. “Because that’s just how I am.
“I’m an artist and when you give me weapons, guess what? I’m going to use them damn weapons. I’m one of the best at doing that. There was a point in my career that I was doing one of those matches a week in the indies. I was on fire. I was crazy.”
Rosa believes she approaches things differently at this stage of her career, however, explaining that maturity has taught her when to push the limits and when to pace herself.
“Now, like I said, I am more mature. I pace myself,” she said. “I just know that there is seasons in your life where you want to do certain things and I think, right now, this season in my life is to challenge myself to a point in where I’m like, ‘Oh shit. I know, I’m still super good and I still can do this.’”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rosa discussed the process behind her trademark face paint. Depending on the design, available time and whether she has help from a makeup artist, the process can range from around 30 minutes to several hours.
“It also depends on the artist. Also depends [on] how much time do I have,” Rosa explained. “Like today, I have a makeup artist doing my hair and makeup. Sometimes I do my face paint myself, and I do very simple stuff. I don’t use jewels cuz I don’t carry them.”
After years of doing the paint herself, Rosa said she has learned how to speed up the process considerably when necessary.
“So, I’ve gotten really fast at actually doing my face paint,” she added. “When I’m in a rush, I can do my face in 30 minutes. You just have to sketch, you get used to it, and that’s how you do it.”
Also during a separate recent Thunder Rosa interview, the AEW women’s pioneer spoke about her very viral video with Mia Khalifa and her past real-life hatred towards Britt Baker.
