Thunder Rosa responds to sandbagging accusations

Since her AEW Women’s World title defense against Marina Shafir on the June 8 Dynamite, Thunder Rosa has faced accusations she sabotaged their match. Shafir and former Women’s champ Dr. Britt Baker seemed to support that sentiment on social media, which helped to bring past incidents Rosa was involved in back into the spotlight.

During an appearance on our sister site MMA Fighting’s The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani asked Thunder Rosa about the entire situation. This clip from the show comes after the champ delivered a fiery promo about how she has a chip on her shoulder as the first Mexican woman to win a title from a major promotion, who’s succeeded despite not fitting a mold and despite doubters & detractors.

“No [the sandbagging accusations aren’t true]... I have nothing but respect for my opponents. Nothing but respect for my opponents. For anyone that dares to stand in the ring with me, I have nothing but respect for my opponents. And I send them nothing but blessings. Moving on forward, I will continue to work harder to have the best matches I can bring, and bring the most opportunities to all the women that are behind me, so that when they step in the ring with me they’re like, ‘Ok, cool.’ Like I said, people are gonna talk, and that’s fine. I’m not worried about it. I will continue to move forward, and I will continue to show with my body of work what I am all about. That’s all I have to say.”

Asked later about her relationship with Baker, La Mera Mera similarly kept it general and positive:

“I have respect for my opponents, every single opponent I meet in there. Every time we’ve been in the ring, we’ve been fine. We’ve had great matches.”

Let us know if that changes your mind one way or the other on the incident. You can watch Thunder Rosa’s entire conversation with Ariel Helwani here.