Thunder Rosa

Rosa in May 2022

###

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

**Melissa Cervantes** (born July 22, 1986), known by her ring name **Thunder Rosa**, is a Mexican-American professional wrestler currently 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"), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW), where she is a former NWA Women's World Champion and a former International Princess Champion.

Cervantes, initially a social care worker, made her way to wrestling in late 2014. Cervantes won the NWA World Women's Championship in 2019, this led her to debut in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), initially debuting against the then AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida, Cervantes began making into the ranks, this led her and the incoming higly-popular Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D main eventing *Dyanamite* for the first time ever in March 2021. Cervantes began making her way to the top; before a year later at the same namesake event, Cervantes defeating Baker in first AEW Women's *Steel Cage* match to win the AEW Women's World Championship.

Cervantes also founded and owns Mission Pro Wrestling (MPW), a Texas-based independent promotion devoted to women’s wrestling.

## Professional Wrestling Career

### Early career

Cervantes made her wrestling debut in late 2014, in a Supreme Pro Wrestling battle royal in Sacramento, California. In 2015, she performed regularly throughout California, and on April 12, she made her Japanese debut for World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), the world's top all-woman wrestling promotion.

### Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (2019–2020, 2022–present)

On April 29, 2019, Rosa made her Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling debut, teaming with Yuki Aino against MIZUKI and Yuka Sakazaki. In winning the International Princess Championship on January 5, 2020 from Maki Itoh, Rosa became the first gaijin titleholder in Tokyo Joshi Pro history. On October 7, Rosa announced she had relinquished the championship as COVID-19 restrictions precluded her from traveling to Japan. On June 19, it was announced that Rosa would return to TJPW facing Miyu Yamashita on July 9 at *Summer Sun Princess* for her AEW Women's World Championship where Rosa defeated Yamashita to retain her AEW Women's World Championship and that marked the first time Rosa returned to TJPW since the COVID-19 Pandemic started in March 2020 while this marked the first time that the AEW Women's World Championship was defended outside North America.

## Professional wrestling style and persona

In keeping with her training (by North Carolina's Matt Carlos and Dylan Drake), Cervantes/Thunder Rosa "wrestles *stiff*". Her wrestling style is an aggressive, energetic and explosive blend of harsh striking, intense submissions, lucha libre, technical skills and impressive feats of strength. Thunder Rosa has been popular with fans whether presented as a "face" (hero) or a "heel" (villain). Her persona is intentionally nonconformist: fearless; aggressive; supremely self-confident; recalcitrant; outspoken.

Cervantes' "Thunder Rosa" ring name is a tribute to Thunder Road, a rehabilitation center for teenagers Cervantes worked at for over 2 years, which overlapped with the training and launch phases of her wrestling career. It was a collaboration between Cervantes, her husband and a Thunder Road coworker on a car ride home after attending a wrestling show. Cervantes wanted a name that appealed to both Latinos and non-Latino Americans, would honor her work with teens, and be easy for fans to chant during her matches.

Cervantes’ Day of the Dead face paint represents many things at once: rebirth; triumph over personal and family tragedy; and to honor, celebrate and fight for the memory of people’s dead loved ones. The face paint was suggested to Cervantes by a Latino wrestling booker of an indie show she was working in California; he said her face would distract the crowd from her character because it was “too pretty.” Cervantes did not use the Day of the Dead face paint elsewhere, for fear of being typecast by non-Latin promoters/bookers as a “Mexican wrestler” caricature/stereotype.

When Cervantes’ uncle attended one of her matches (at a Lucha Underground taping), he told her it was the first time he had attended a wrestling show in years. Cervantes’ grandfather died of a heart attack at a Tijuana wrestling show; her uncle, then a child who watched wrestling weekly, was sitting on her grandfather’s lap at the time. Due to the close, painful association of wrestling with his father’s death, Cervantes’ uncle had hated wrestling ever since. However, watching Cervantes wrestle rekindled his childhood love of wrestling, and convinced him she had been destined to become a wrestler. The paint also symbolizes the rebirth of Cervantes’ career, after a concussion in Japan put her out of work for a month. Cervantes’ husband suggested that when she resumed performing, she also resume the face paint to stand out from other wrestlers.

## Personal life

Before wrestling and during the early years of her wrestling career, Cervantes was a professional social worker, doing case work with at-risk young adults struggling with mental illness, homelessness, substance abuse and other life issues. When she realized that season three of Lucha Underground would pay enough to surpass her income as a social worker, Cervantes' husband encouraged her to focus 100% of her time and effort on wrestling.

Cervantes married Brian Cervantes on December 21, 2006 and together they have a son Anakin, born on August 31, 2005.

Cervantes graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology. She became a US citizen on February 21, 2019.

## In Wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Fire Thunder Rosa* (Sitout scoop slam piledriver)
	+ *La Rosa Driver* (Hammerlock guillotine drop)
	+ *Snake Sleeper* (Dragon sleeper)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Armbar
	+ Camel clutch
	+ Cannonball
	+ Corner clothesline, followed by a double knee strike to a low a cornered opponent
	+ Curb stomp
	+ Crucifix pin
	+ Dropkick, sometimes from the top rope or to a cornered opponent
	+ Death Valley driver
	+ Diving hurricanrana
	+ Diving splash
	+ Double foot stomp, sometimes running or diving
	+ Double knee backbreaker
	+ Double underhook suplex
	+ Electric chair drop
	+ Forearm smash
	+ Full nelson reverse STO
	+ German suplex
	+ Gory bomb
	+ Gory neckbreaker
	+ Handstand headscissors takedown
	+ Hangman's neckbreaker
	+ Inverted DDT
	+ Inverted Samoan drop
	+ Low dropkick
	+ Missile dropkick
	+ Modified cloverleaf
	+ O'Connor roll
	+ Powerbomb
	+ Rocking horse
	+ Running clothesline
	+ Running knee strike
	+ Running senton
	+ Samoan drop
	+ Snapmare, followed by a running low–angle front dropkick
	+ Single leg dropkick
	+ Springboard arm drag
	+ Shoulder block
	+ Stunner
	+ Sunset flip victory roll
	+ *Three Amigos* (Triple rolling vertical suplex) – used as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero
	+ Tilt-a-whirl DDT
	+ Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown
	+ Triangle choke
	+ Tombstone piledriver
	+ Wheelbarrow arm drag
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"La Mera Mera"**
	+ "The Unstoppable"
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "A Quien Le Importa" by Thalia
	+ **"Blood And Glory (Thunder Rosa AEW Theme)"** by All Elite Wrestling

## Championships and accomplishments

* **All Elite Wrestling**
	+ AEW Women's World Championship (1 time)
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ Match of the Year (2021) vs Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D
	+ Ranked No. 5 of the top 150 female wrestlers in the *PWI Women's 150* in 2021
* **Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling**
	+ International Princess Championship (1 time)