clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

AEW did Thunder Rosa dirty on Dynamite

By Sean Rueter
/ new

While I don’t know too many people who are fired up for more of the Hangman Page/Adam Cole feud, that wasn’t the AEW World title program I’ve seen the most #discourse about since Dynamite went off the air from Cedar Park, Texas last night (Mar. 23). It’s the first segment of Thunder Rosa’s reign as Women’s champion that got people talking.

The new champ was announced for what we figured would be a moving speech like this one. Instead, she was cut off by a Vickie Guerrero “EXCUSE ME” before she could say a word...

... which was a distraction so Nyla Rose could run up from behind and lay the champion out to announce her presence as Rosa’s first challenger.

It was a letdown for fans who wanted to hear from the wrestler who ended Dr. Britt Baker’s reign last Wednesday, and booking many felt was disrespectful (there’s also criticism of Guerrero’s “fake green card” jab, which is lazy but does fuel Thunder’s babyface message that she belongs in America as much as anyone born here). As Nyla says in this promo she tweeted out, the disrespect was the point:

Which is quality heel work, if for nothing else than Rose claiming Austin as her town while calling the prominent South Texas supermarket chain “Heb” instead of H-E-B. But even while this works on paper as something that makes us want to see the hero kick the villains’ butts, it also feels... disposable. And given the criticism that’s been leveled against Tony Khan for the booking of AEW’s women’s division, giving the start of the new champion’s first feud a couple minutes of TV and a Twitter video is bad optics, if nothing else.

Nyla says her promo will run on Rampage, where she’ll also squash someone to remind us she’s a former champ herself. But they were always going to have an uphill battle selling Rose as a legitimate threat to Rosa’s title. Now they also have to overcome a controversial start to their feud.

Let us know what you think, and here’s the rest of the highlights from last night’s Dynamite. As usual, AEW doles out YouTube videos slowly. But we’ve compiled what they’ve released as of this morning in a playlist, and tried to catch you up with the rest of the episode via Twitter clips below that.

  • CM Punk Sends a Direct a Message to the AEW World Champion
  • MUST SEE: Jeff Hardy takes Flight in the 8 Man Tornado Tag Match
  • The Blackpool Combat Club Puts AEW on Notice

For complete results and the live blog for Dynamite this week click here. To read a complete recap & review of all the night’s events click here.

More From Cageside Seats

Loading comments...

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Cageside Seats Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your pro wrestling news from Cageside Seats