Last night’s (Nov. 23) episode of Dynamite included the surprising news that Tony Khan decided to strip Thunder Rosa of the AEW women’s world championship. He also retroactively removed the “interim” label that has been in use for the women’s champions ever since Rosa took a leave of absence from AEW in August due to injury.
While most of AEW’s backstage drama over the last few months has centered around CM Punk and The Elite, Rosa has also been a lightning rod at times, with accusations of working stiff and sandbagging her opponents in the ring. There were even rumors that she had heat backstage for not dropping the AEW women’s title to someone else on the roster before taking time off.
With all of that in mind, Rosa kept things civil and respectful when she reacted to the news that she is no longer the AEW women’s world champion:
Thank you #ThunderArmy for all the support and @aew for being there for me. Dream-like moments happened in this run, and this is not how I wanted to lose the championship, but you deserve a present champion; on to the next chapter.
— Thunder Rosa (@thunderrosa22) November 24, 2022
Rosa expresses agreement that the interim status needed to go away, and seems to be cool with Jamie Hayter leading the way as the new AEW women’s world champion.
Do you think AEW should reconsider the way it uses the interim label going forward, Cagesiders?