A former AEW champion is getting much closer to a return to the ring.
It’s been a year-long road to recovery for former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa, who hasn’t wrestled since she was part of a six-woman tag match taped on Aug. 10, 2022 due to a disc issue in her back. However, her heavy presence in the promotion for AEW Collision had led to speculation that there was light at the end of her tunnel.
Rosa herself has provided that light, posting a video to social media where she and AEW’d ringside physician, Dr. Michael Sampson, discuss the status of her recovery. Dr. Sampson reveals that Rosa will be taking part in a five-minute “mini match” next week to see how she feels, and if all is well, could be cleared soon afterward.
Toward the end of the video, Rosa suggests that it could be “three more weeks,” and Dr. Sampson replies, “I think that’s fair.”
And now @docsampson13 with a very important medical update.#aew #medicalupdate #pain #patience pic.twitter.com/9vrkGbNtF4
— Thunder Rosa (@thunderrosa22) August 11, 2023
Rosa will return to an AEW that in some ways is very different than it was a year ago with the addition of Collision and various moving parts around the roster. Yet some things will be very familiar: Hikaru Shida, who Rosa took on during her first reign in an unsuccessful title challenge at All Out 2020, is once again AEW Women’s World Champion.
There’s also a question of how Rosa will be accepted back into the locker room, or if she has some lingering bitterness over some of the sentiment that was shown during “AEW: All Access,” when some of the top women’s talent was clearly upset that Rosa initially didn’t have to relinquish her championship when she stepped away due to her injury — though AEW later reversed course on that decision.
In any case, it will be good to have another star back in the mix, and it sounds like it may not be long until those Collision ads promoting Rosa actually make sense.