Stephanie Vaquer’s emotional Spanish-language sit-down promo on the May 20 episode of WWE NXT was meant to be a moment of authenticity and representation. But for some fans, it became a reason to lash out with hate—and that didn’t sit well with Dave LaGreca and Thunder Rosa.
During a Busted Open Radio segment on May 21, both hosts got real, raw, and furious over the online backlash aimed at Vaquer, who was targeted with xenophobic comments for not cutting her promo in English. Some fans tweeted she “needs to learn English” if she wants to succeed in WWE. That triggered one of the most emotional shoot segments in Busted Open history. LaGreca started calm—but didn’t stay that way for long.
“So if I’m a major company right now, and you’re worried about a language barrier with your audience, I think that’s a bunch of horsesht,”* he said. “If you’re emotionally invested in that character… you talk about breaking barriers—you can break barriers with somebody that you’re absolutely committed, dedicated to, and love.”
He went on to praise Stephanie Vaquer:
“I think Stephanie Vaquer is somebody that has grabbed me emotionally to the point where that language barrier doesn’t really mean a lot. I hear a lot about, ‘Well, she still doesn’t have a good grasp of the English language,’ or, ‘If she wants a major push and to be on the main roster, she’s going to have to grasp the English language.’”
Then LaGreca erupted:
“I say that’s a bunch of fcking sht. I think that’s a bunch of fcking sht.”
When Thunder Rosa didn’t jump in immediately, LaGreca doubled down:
“Anybody who said that—fck you. Fck you, you piece of garbage sht. Fck. Because it doesn’t matter about language barriers… this is—it’s fcking global! Get out of your fcking shell of these four walls that you live in, you dumb fck. I’m tired of reading this sht on social media. I’m tired of reading this racist fcking sht from people. Go fck yourself.”*
Thunder Rosa, who has lived through similar attacks as a Mexican-born wrestler, followed with one of the most heartfelt rants of her career.
“Just imagine this—you read that. I have to live through it all the time. I live through it all the fcking time,”* she began.
“When they told me to go back to my country, when they told me to shut the fck up, that I can’t speak English. When they told me that I am unfit to cut promos on TV—all the time. And I read that all the time. It just like… it sucks your life away.”*
Rosa credited Vaquer’s promo team for understanding how to tell a story without needing perfect English.
“Whoever is her writer, whoever is helping her talk and do these promos, is brilliant,” she said. “Not everybody gets that opportunity. Because I remember when they were writing promos for me in Lucha Underground, my English was not as good as it is now. That was like ten years ago. I had to ask them to change the words because I couldn’t pronounce them. And there was nobody there to teach me how to do it. So you have to find a fcking way to do it yourself.”*
She described the emotional exhaustion of constantly being judged for language instead of talent:
“There’s so many people like me who have the same issues, because we can’t pronounce certain things. It’s a struggle. It’s not only we have to learn the style of wrestling—especially on TV—and on top of that, we have to learn how to speak and say certain things a certain way.”
“Then we mispronounce things and people make fun of us all the time. It’s fcking hard. It’s so hard. And it’s just the fact that we cannot be reading all that all the time—because if you do, you get disheartened. And you’re like, ‘Sht, what the fck do I need to do now to better myself?’”*
Rosa continued, addressing both listeners and haters:
“It is very, very difficult. It is true. For people that are not from here, and I want all the listeners to understand this—and all my haters too, on Twitter, that always say, ‘Oh, I don’t listen to Busted Open on Wednesdays because I hate Thunder Rosa.’”
“Guess what? I work my ass off. And the people that are in the same shoes that I’m in, we work our asses off to learn English and to be able to transcend and translate on TV—so you can understand our struggle, so you can understand what we went through, so you can understand what we continue to go through every single day.”
“Because we are not from here. Because some people do not want to accept that we are here, and we are going to stay here. We work triple as hard as anyone else, because if we don’t, we don’t get an opportunity.”
This wasn’t just another segment—it was a turning point. One where racism, xenophobia, and outdated gatekeeping in wrestling were put on blast, live and unfiltered.
Do you believe language barriers should limit opportunities in pro wrestling? Or is emotional connection more important than fluency? Drop your thoughts in the comments and let your voice be heard.
Do you think promos need to be in English to connect, or is WWE finally ready to embrace a global voice? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.