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The entire world has mourned with Uvalde, Texas after a school shooting resulted in the deaths of 19 children, two teachers and 17 others being injured. Last week, AEW Women's Champion Thunder Rosa announced she would be auctioning off all of her ring gear from her Championship defense against Serena Deeb at the 2022 Double or Nothing PPV. Earlier today, Thunder Rosa sat down with PWInsider.com to discuss how her local community is doing after such a massive tragedy, her auction assisting the victims of the shooting and much more. Thank you to Billy Krotchsen for the transcription.
The auction is now live at this link.
Mike Johnson: Normally when we get to do an interview, it's hopefully sparked by a fun topic or a big event. It's often about promoting pro wrestling or breaking down someone's career or getting excited about a milestone show. Today is a different sort of conversation. There are things that happen in the world at large that are far more important and far more impactful than professional wrestling. Several weeks ago, there was a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. It was absolutely terrible and horrifying and sad. Pro wrestling has always allowed us to have an escape from the sadness of the world. No matter what you love, no matter what talents you like, no matter what matches you care about. It allows you an escape. There are a number of performers, a number of promotions, who do a lot to give back to the world at large through community outreach, and through assisting charities and things of that nature and I can't think of a talent who could have done more over the course of her entire journey from Mexico to the United States to STARDOM in Japan to Lucha Underground to the NWA to AEW, to raised awareness of a number of causes and assisted with so many charities than AEW's reigning World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa. There is a charity auction going on right now, with all of the proceeds going to the victims of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, all of the items that Thunder Rosa wore to the ring, the robe, the crown, her gear, a number of signed items and more are all going to the winner of this auction. So first of all, Rosa, first of all, thank you for sitting down and talking to us. You are from that local community. How are you? What has it been like living through this with sadness permeating the entire community? What is it like being there locally in the community as they endure this?
Thunder Rosa: Well, first of all, thank you so much for being so open to help us out and spreading the word of this. It's been hard and one of my very close friends who, she works with me, her name is Melanie, she actually knows a couple of the people that lost their kids. Unfortunately, this last Sunday, I was going to one of the funerals of the young girls that passed away. I wasn't able to because I was sick, but I talked to her and she says that was probably one of the saddest moments she's ever had, you know, dealing with the family. All the communities involved, a very small community and everyone knows each other. So this guy that is a friend of hers, he's a wrestling fan and he was a DJ for one of the local promotions over there in Uvalde and he just said it was like, it broke your heart. She's like, 'I don't think I cried so much, just like how sad it was to see this father, he lost one of his daughters and he still has four kids and one of them was at the school when this happened.' So it's just so tragic because there's stories that are so similar with all the families and those families that you know fortunately, they still have their kids, but the kids were present during the time of the shooting. How much trauma will exist in the next...after this? So it's like, how is like a community going to rebuild after this? The beautiful part of this is a lot of people from all over the world and from all over the country have come and supported in different ways. I was just reading an article in The New York Times about mariachis that came from different parts of the country to play for the family. Just like bring them some sort of happiness or comfort when they were playing the music. It's been rough...I mean, I know it's just, you know, like in nowadays, like if something happened yesterday and like tomorrow, we forget, like this is something that people can't forget. There were so many kids and so many adults affected. That is going to be hard to forget and for me, when I was at Double or Nothing, like when I first came up [with the idea], I was coming with the idea that I was going to represent women that have disappeared in Mexico, there's so many similarities, right? This might not have to do with the shooting but it was it was something that I wanted to do and then the shooting happened, I was like, well, this is my community. That same week, I went to talk to like elementary school kids about how school is like one of the safest place for so many kids. Now like that's just taken away. So I don't know, it's just it's really really sad.
Mike Johnson: The auction is going to feature every piece of your gear from that evening, as well as a letter of provenance, explaining and proving that this is the actual material, a photo signed by yourself, your opponent that night Serena Deeb and Aubrey Edwards who was the official that evening for the match. When did you know that you were going to auction this off and were going to raise some money? Did the idea occur to you before that night? Did it come to you the day after, like, at what point did you decide - I'm going to make this powerful entrance, which I really think was one of the more powerful moments of night and then take that moment and gift it back towards the community and try to spread some goodwill back? At what point did the whole idea come about?
Thunder Rosa: I think it was right after it happened. Everything was already made. And I didn't have any, you know, desire to like auction off anything and then that happened and I just made some connections with local reporters, and she posted something that they were raising money for the families and I went and like texted her like do the families need any money for the funerals and she's like, no the funerals are paid for but we're raising money for the expenses that are going come afterwards. So she gives me a couple of things, and then I was like, oh my god, maybe we should auction off the gear. So it was like, that was the idea and I said, I'm going to write Uvalde on the heart so people know when I'm coming that I'm remembering the community of Uvalde. So that's how it happened...the importance of this gear again, it's like everything was made by hand. Everything, I think, shows just like, again, it was a community of people that came together and helped me bring this to life. I want whoever, you know, wins the auction, I want them to understand that this is so important for me because everything that I have done in my career is kind of like a community effort, I have a group of people that are always like, behind me, they're always supporting me, and that has helped me to get where I need to get, and this is no difference now like the community here in Texas state and Uvalde, San Antonio, like we're all getting together to continue to help these families cause they're going to need it for many, many years.
The auction is now live at this link.
Mike Johnson: It was announced a couple of days ago when the auction was launched, that Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars...if anyone doesn't know, he's the lead personality from the reality series Pawn Stars, has gotten involved in auctioning off the Double or Nothing ring gear. How did that connection take place? Obviously he's had wrestlers, including Mick Foley on the show in the past, but how did the connection between yourself and Rick Harrison come together?
Thunder Rosa: My media director, he came with the idea. He's like, you're in Vegas dude, you should just go and talk to him. And I'm like, well, you can't do that! So he went and did all the footwork and in literally less than 24 hours, they came on board.
Mike Johnson: As I am looking right now, the current bid that I see is $5,000, which is amazing. In a perfect world, obviously, if everybody who's listening to this, reading this, we want you to go and bid. You know, $5,000 is a great number, but in a perfect world, what are we hoping that number gets up to L Obviously, everyone wants to see this go as high as possible to help as many people as possible.
The auction is now live at this link.
Thunder Rosa: Yeah, I'm trying to make like three or four times what I paid on that gear. For me, this is like again, just a little thing that I can do for our community, in the State that has given me so much and I know that I hope everybody understands that even that $10,000, those $10,000 are going to be very, very well used with the family with whatever assistance they needed.
Mike Johnson: Your heritage has always been a big part of who you are on camera. When you get to inspire and hopefully help a community like Uvalde through your presence, through your appearances, what does that mean to you, that you get to carry that on your shoulders when you go out and represent Texas and Mexico to the entire world?
Thunder Rosa: Well I didn't really see it that way, but I think for me representation is so important because again, like it's so beautiful when I receive letters or, or cards from other women, men, and not necessarily Mexican or from Texas, and they tell me how my effort, my performance in like, just the way that I am as a human being inspires them so much to continue to be a part of where they come from, but it's like, it is very, very important that when I come out every time they understand and they see that there is someone that represents, that it's someone that cares or there's someone that is trying to make a difference in such a, you know, difficult, hard world which is like professional wrestling and even then, there's some days you're like, like man, I don't think this is happening, like keep reminding you like how important it is, even just like come out with your flag or like use of certain stuff in your gear is just, it's just amazing. I mean, I'm not a masked wrestler, so it's even more important for me to like, all the time, right, represent where I come from.
The auction is now live at this link.
Mike Johnson: I have been to a number of Dynamite events and pay per views where you get one of the largest reactions just for your ring entrance just coming out on stage. It doesn't matter where on the show you are, whether it's Dark or it's Dynamite or it's Battle of the Belts or a pay per view. All those moments have to mean a lot to you as a performer and to feel that energy from the crowd, but the Double or Nothing the gear that you're auctioning off, that was your first PPV championship defense against Serena Deeb. What did that match mean to you, given the journey of everything you've been through in your life and your career to get to that moment and then have the additional emotional impetus of everything that happened in Uvalde. In hindsight, how did you feel about the match and what did that moment mean to you?
Thunder Rosa: I felt really, really well through the match. When we were done, I hugged Serena and I said, "We did it," you know, like, you don't get to see women like us performing for 17 minutes in such a hot crowd and like, people were so invested when you don't have like super high spots and like flips and everything was just like pure wrestling and good storytelling. I really feel it went really well. It was that way for both of us, I think it was a great accomplishment. During the build up, there were criticisms of what we're trying to say and show, and when we went out there and wrestled, everybody was like, 'Wow, this looks great, I wish they would have wrestled one more time.'
The auction is now live at this link.
Mike Johnson: Last night you wrestled Marina Shafir on Dynamite. Obviously Britt Baker is always floating around, and is going to be a threat. We saw you at Battle of the Belts a couple of weeks back wrestle Nyla Rose. In your mind, what's next on your docket like when you look across that locker room? Who's the next person that you hope you get to have a big moment with like you did at St. Patrick's Day Slam with Britt or you got to have with Nyla at Battle of the Belts or just last week with Serena Deeb in Vegas? Like what's the dream challenger for you next in AEW in your mind?
Thunder Rosa: There's a couple, definitely. I would like to wrestle Jaime Hayter. She's such a hard hitter, it's always a pleasure to be in the ring with her. Kris Statlander, I have not been able to wrestle her ever since I got to AEW. I would love to wrestle her. There's so many - Athena, Toni Storm, Ruby Soho. I would love to have a couple of weeks with her, I think she's such a great heel. And I would love to wrestle Allie and have a good storyline with her. There's like so there's so many.
Mike Johnson: That's the beauty of the locker room right now in AEW is that it's so stacked that on any given day., any two great performers could go out there and if they're given that, that trust to have the time on Dynamite, on Rampage they can go out and have a great match and tell a story at the level. How has how you viewed AEW and how you view the locker room and your responsibilities in the locker room changed since becoming the Women's Champion?
Thunder Rosa: You were talking about representation and I think as a woman, like I always want to have like, great representation. I was talking to somebody and I was telling him how I perceive something so different again, the first one of my kind to be a champion. So sometimes, people are so used to a certain style of wrestling for women, and I don't feel like I fit the mold, if that makes sense. I just feel like it's important to show that diversity and things can be different and can be fun, me showing that every time I'm in the ring with every single opponent, it's so important.
The auction is now live at this link.
Mike Johnson: Well that's the gift of pro wrestling is that in the right moment, the performers are doing something that they've inspired to do and through that performance they get to inspire untold others that they're not even aware of, a ripple effect that keeps going. One of the things that you get to do with this auction is not only raise awareness and help the community of Uvalde, but hopefully inspire others to do the same whether it's donating or volunteering, or just seeing what they can do to help affect some positive change so that something terrible like this never happens again in our lifetimes. I know realistically that's probably not going to happen, but we can hope to effect some change.
To everyone listening or reading, there are eight days left in the auction for Thunder Rosa's gear from Double or Nothing as we record this. We're going to be plugging the auction every day until the very, very end of this auction so it'll be up every day on PWInsider. If you are interested, the link's right with this interview. You can go and bid and bid often. But Thunder Rosa before you go, you've had the opportunity now to really raise awareness for the situation and try to give back to the community that means so much to you. What do you say to everybody that's bid so far, everybody that's hopefully going to bid in the next eight days as a piece of wrestling history becomes something that will hopefully inspire those who have gone through this tragedy?
Thunder Rosa: I just want to say thank you to everyone who rallied and I know that this is like a small little thing that I tried to do with my team and I'm super proud that, you know, that now you're getting the word and AEW is on board too. Again, I'm really thankful for everyone because they're, they're believing what I'm doing and anytime that I feel like there's something that needs to be said or a cause that needs to be supported, I think with this platform is a great way to like raise awareness that is like we should keep our school safe. That's so important. For me school and education saved my life and helped me get out of poverty. And now like so many kids, and so many families no longer feel that this would be a safe way for them and for their kids.
Mike Johnson: You're right and the world should never ever be like that, no matter where in the world you're living and all we can do is pray for those who have been affected and try to create a better future and a better system. I'll say this - obviously we do a lot of content here on the site. We do a lot of interviews and a lot of audio. We do a lot of ranting and raving about wrestling, which we all love, but this is probably one of the most important interviews I'll do all year, and I hope that there's nothing more important than this interview because nothing is more important than what happened to these children and these teachers and this community and these families.
So if you guys can help, by all means go to GSPawn.com and even if you can't bid, spread the word, everybody's online with social media, let's use it for good for once, instead of complaining about something, spread the word and help everybody do what they can to help Thunder Rosa and AEW and most importantly the community of Uvalde. I thank everybody for listening.
Rosa, you've always been an inspirational personality when it comes to pro wrestling, and I think this is another piece of your legacy. I know it's not a piece of legacy that you asked for, but you're standing up during a time period where people need something to help inspire them and to help this community. Personally, I think you should be praised for doing this and we look forward to continuing to cover your career. We hope all's well with you and your personal life and your professional life. and I thank you for doing what you're doing and for taking some time out to talk with us.
Thunder Rosa: Thank you.
***
Official details:
Thunder Rosa's Ring Worn Gear from 2022 AEW Title Match
Ring worn wrestling gear from Thunder Rosa's 2022 Women's World Championship match. This outfit was worn by Thunder Rosa in her title winning victory at the May 29th, 2022 All Elite Wrestling "Double or Nothing" event, in which she successfully defended her title from Serena Deeb. This item is being auctioned in co-operation with Thunder Rosa and will include a hand signed and notarized letter of provenance from the wrestler. The winner will also receive an autographed photo of her wearing the outfit during the match, co-signed by her opponent Serena Deeb and referee Aubrey Edwards.
Thunder Rosa (Melissa Cervantes) is a Mexican and American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is the current AEW Women's World Champion in her first reign. She debuted in 2014 and has also appeared in World Wonder Ring Stardom ("Stardom"), Impact Wrestling ("Impact"), and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). She appeared in seasons 2 through 4 of the wrestling-based TV series Lucha Underground as Kobra Moon, and also founded and owns Mission Pro Wrestling (MPW), a Texas-based independent promotion devoted to women’s wrestling. She made her mixed martial arts debut in 2019 at Combate Americas.
100% of the proceeds from this auction are going to the families and victims of the Uvalde School Shooting. The funds will be donated to Victims First (victimsfirst.org) a registered 501(C)3 organization that dedicates themselves to making sure all donations go to the affected victims.
"I live in San Antonio. Uvalde is 45 minutes (away). And I'm very, very involved in the community. The fact that 19 kids died the way they did breaks my
heart.“ - Thunder Rosa
The auction winner will receive the following items..
Head piece: Butterflies and Flowers representing the lost lives of Mexican women. "I had the headpiece all day for photos and other activities, but as I was walking up the steps to the ramp to make my entrance I banged the headdress and it almost fell! That's why I am holding it in the photos as I walked down the ramp into the ring.” - Thunder Rosa
Robe: Knitted Robe with a “Sagrado Corazon” in the middle reading "Uvalde."
Leotard: Semi-transparent black Leotard with Vibrant neon Aztec theme flowers and symbols, crafted by AEW lead Seamstress/Designer Sandra Gray.
Black Trunks
Pair of Boots matching leotard pattern made by Isais De Jesus Morales.
Glitter remains of the facepaint.
Signed 8x10 photo of Thunder Rosa from the event autographed by Thunder Rosa, opponent Serena Deeb and referee Aubrey Edwards.
Notarized letter of provenance from Thunder Rosa.
Price includes shipping in the continental US. All Sales Final. No Returns, Refunds or Exchanges. International shipping available for an additional fee, please contact us for a quote.
To bid on this item you must have an account with us. Login or create one by clicking the link below. We reserve the rights to cancel bids if they are suspected to be fraudulent, you may be contacted to verify legitimacy of bids and/or place a credit card on file for larger bid amounts. Failure to provide such info will result in bid removal. Please make sure to fill in all applicable contact information so our sales representatives may reach you if required. For questions or other inquiries email orders@gspawn.com, phone (702)272-0006 or chat with us.
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