Thunder Rosa: Maki Itoh Sells Tickets And Gets People Talking, I Like Making Her Cry

Thunder Rosa and Maki Itoh got face to face at both AEW Revolution and a recent Dynamite, but it wasn’t the first time they did battle.

One of Thunder Rosa’s career highlights came in Tokyo Joshi Pro in defeating Maki Itoh years ago. She recalled the feud when speaking with Fightful for an exclusive interview.

“Two years ago, we had a little feud. You can go on Youtube and see the promo we had. There’s a lot of chemistry. That’s where I took the Tokyo Joshi Pro International Princess Championship from her hands. My favorite part is when she was crying for like two minutes after. We had a couple of cool moments, so she wasn’t a stranger for me. At Revolution we had a cool opener, so that was a lot of fun. I was like ‘what?’ (surprised that she was there),” Thunder Rosa told us.

The two had a very….interesting back and forth to say the least.

Shut up fuckin’ idiot. I’ll break your lower back. https://t.co/mg3hXVzXdy

— 伊藤麻希 Maki Itoh (@maki_itoh) January 4, 2020

They’ve flipped each other off, beat the brakes off of each other, but could we see them ever team up? Despite the ill will between them, Thunder Rosa tells Fightful she maintains respect for Itoh. But could we see them team up?

“She sings in Japanese and I’ll sing in English, but I’d dance better than her. Just don’t tell her, though. She’s very popular in America. I remember three years ago when she came to New York, I knew who she was, and she’s something else on Twitter. I started to know her and the things she used to do, and I thought she brought something completely different from the business. I met her and saw what she does. She’s very charismatic. Charisma sells a lot more than great matches. I know great wrestlers with zero charisma, and can’t sell tickets. She can sell tickets. She got people talking, she gets people pissed,” said Rosa

Oh memories @maki_itoh https://t.co/hLYoMmWfCs

— Thunder Rosa (@thunderrosa22) February 9, 2021

Both Maki Itoh and Thunder Rosa make history this week, as Maki Itoh headlines the first ever AEW Dark: Elevation in her match with Riho, and Thunder Rosa main events AEW Dynamite in a Lights Out Match against Dr. Britt Baker DMD. Her Mission Pro Wrestling promotion returns with Empty Promises, Saturday March 20 on Title Match Wrestling. She’ll also be in action on NWA Back For The Attack Sunday, March 21 on Fite TV.

Photo credit: AEW