Is Serena Deeb Thunder Rosa’s Next Challenger For The AEW Women’s World Championship?

The rivalry between Hikaru Shida  and Serena Deeb began in late 2021 in All Elite Wrestling’s women’s division. The two have been paired off in several matches, since then. The latest strike in the feud came on April 27’s episode of AEW: Dynamite, in which Deeb and Shida faced off in a street fight. Deeb was at her most relentless, and claimed victory by making Shida tap out with a Sharphooter submission.

Looking on was AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa, backstage. Her appraisal of Deeb’s performance seems to hint that Deeb will be her next challenger for the AEW women’s title.

Deeb was Thunder Rosa’s first opponent in AEW, on Thunder Rosa’s August 22, 2020 debut on AEW: Dynamite. At that time, she was the reigning NWA World Women’s champion. Thunder Rosa continued to defend the title in AEW against other opponents, like Ivelisse. Eventually, Thunder Rosa lost the NWA title to Deeb at UWN Primetime Live. Thunder Rosa’s NWA contract was purchased by AEW, making her a full time performer on the AEW roster, in 2021.

Thunder Rosa and Deeb have a similar in-ring acumen, both technically skilled performers who are not afraid to take risks, and persevere relentlessly against their opponents.  So far, Thunder Rosa has defended her title against former champion Nyla Rose at April 16’s Battle of the Belts. Deeb is someone whom Thunder Rosa could have a series of challenging and evenly matched bouts with, giving her the kind of opponent who’d make her championship reign memorable. Deeb’s series with Shida has shown that she can sustain a long-term feud. Her “Professor of Professional Wrestling” gimmick is the kind of arrogance and superiority that the spirited and down-to-earth Thunder Rosa would shine cutting promos against defiantly.

Given their matches for the NWA women’s title, which Thunder Rosa eventually lost to Deeb, Deeb has history with the current champion. A new rivalry between them, which April 27’s episode seems to hint, would bring Thunder Rosa and Deeb full circle, to Thunder Rosa’s earliest days in AEW.

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