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Thunder Rosa is one of the best female wrestlers in the world, but the journey to the top of the mountain is never-ending.
Rosa, whose real name is Melissa Cervantes, currently plays for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) – the two biggest promotions in North America. But while most professional wrestlers begin their journey to the ring at school, Rosa was a social worker before wrestling caught her eye.
“I became a wrestler 13 years ago after I made the decision to stop being an activist. I was a social worker, so, one day, I decided that I wanted to be a wrestler after going to a wrestling show and I just attended a few shows there and I felt that it was the next step that I had to take,” he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “I feel like the call was like – it was going to be a big stage. I just decided to go tryout and after I did the tryout, I fell in love with professional wrestling.”
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Thunder Rosa wrestles Deonna Purrazzo during AEW Clash on June 15, 2024, at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Rosa said the aura of pro wrestling is what drew him to it in the first place. Everything from theater to sports.
He said he is ready for this challenge even though he has never played many games in his life.
“It’s everything. It’s all the details, all the different things that affect sports, meaning, you know, the plays, the level of athleticism,” he said. “It’s like you can go with it again because it’s very difficult. It was going to be a big challenge for me physically because I’ve never done it as a sport and I didn’t feel like I could do it at the time.”
Rosa said she had to start from scratch, “learn to roll, learn gymnastics, learn how to build my body, learn how to control the body, a lot like gymnastics, the basics of many different sports and I think I had to really like to put it together and be really true to myself.” She said she had to work harder than everyone else in her training courses because most of the time she was the only woman in the class if not the room.
He said there wasn’t a single moment he could point to when he knew taking a chance on pro wrestling was the right move. It wasn’t until he realized that he didn’t have time to go to work at his day job that he thought he could do combat work.
“There is no time because I feel like when you find and lead things sometimes you feel like you have imposter syndrome and no matter what you do it’s not enough, right?” Rosa told Fox News Digital “I feel like even when the big opportunities came it was like, ‘Oh I’m lucky this happened to me.’ No, I was not lucky. People just saw that I have skills and talent and I have the IT factor and they gave me a chance.
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Thunder Rosa wrestles Deonna Purrazzo during AEW Clash on June 15, 2024, at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“I feel like when things started rolling in with the big opportunities in professional wrestling then I was like, “Okay, I think I can quit my full-time job and become a professional champion.’ I think it was my first contract with Lucha Underground when I realized I didn’t have enough time to go to work. That was the time when it was time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life and career. So, that’s when I thought, ‘Okay, I think I can do this. I think it is possible. It will be difficult, but it is possible.’
Rosa joined AEW in 2020 and began defending the National Wrestling Alliance Women’s Championship against “Dynamite.” She lost the title to Serena Deeb. She would capture the AEW World Women’s Championship gold for the first time when she defeated Britt Baker in a cage match.
She was the fifth woman to hold this title. However, he had to give it up due to a back injury.
Rosa told Fox News Digital that she is proud to help women’s wrestling grow.
“It was very good to see the journey that most of us have traveled in the last six or seven years here at AEW because we have seen something small grow so much that we had shows with 80,000 people,” he said. “The way we or I were able to help the women’s division and grow and we were given a big platform with a lot of opportunities at stake. I take it with great pride. A lot of things happened again in 2021-2022 that really broke down a lot of barriers for a lot of women who are now in the women’s division and they are all very open to the continued work to come. The future.
“It was also very interesting to see how different companies have worked together and now work with each other. They exist and live in harmony with each other and that, I think, changed the nature of professional wrestling forever because we do not live in an island. I feel like this subculture or this culture of professional wrestling has lived within this big niche and it has become very interesting but I feel that it is very big and very interesting. how AEW has been important in those things.”
Melissa Cervantes, known as “Thunder Rosa”, dressed as Catrina in honor of the first game of the San Diego Padres City Connect, smiles during their game against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park on Friday, April 10, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
Rosa vowed to continue using her voice to speak for women and children, which she stressed is very important to her. He also said that his eyes are focused on the last part of the year and the Grand Slam in Mexico.
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“I have a lot of things planned. I’m continuing to work very hard every day to get better at my craft. I’m continuing to work really, really, really hard outside of professional wrestling to represent women and young children because I think that’s something that’s very important and important and that I’m representing my community. I’m continuing to focus on the opportunities that are in front of me,” he said.
“For now, we will focus, like a laser focus, on the Grand Slam in Mexico City. Then, there are big things that happen in September, October during Dia de Los Muertos and like all those things. There are many opportunities that come at that time. So, I take everything day by day and, of course, I want the gold, but that is not for me. I will always work hard and keep losing. win. And the last Forbidden Door, we had a great match with Divine Dominion and Olympia We always leave something for the fans and, I will continue to work hard to have gold in the future, but if not, I will enjoy the journey.
