Former World Champion Returns On AEW Collision

AEW Collision saw this major favourite get physical for the first time in over a year.

by Andrew Pollard
Thunder Rosa
AEW

Having not wrestled for well over a year, Thunder Rosa made her return to an AEW ring on last night's Collision.

There, La Mera Mera came to the assistance of Abadon after the Living Dead Girl was on the receiving end of a two-on-one beatdown from Julia Hart and Skye Blue. That came after Abadon had defeated Jazmin Allure, with the post-match seeing Blue join Julia in attacking the spooky grappler.

Having seen enough, Thunder Rosa made the save, helping Abadon fight off Skye and Hart. A handshake followed between Rosa and Abadon, with it later confirmed that next week's AEW Collision will feature Thunder Rosa & Abadon vs. Julia Hart & Skye Blue.

Advertisement

Next week's match will be Thunder's first bout since an August 2022 episode AEW Dark: Evolution, where she teamed with Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm to pick up a win over Nyla Rose, Emi Sakura and Marina Shafir.

Thunder Rosa was forced to vacate the AEW Women's Championship shortly before All Out 2022, with severe back problems forcing the one-time NWA Women's Champion to spend a prolonged spell on the sidelines. While she's not wrestled for 16 months, Thunder has still been involved with AEW, working as part of the company's Spanish announce team.

Advertisement
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.