VOW 2021 Match of the Year: #9 (Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker)

A bloody, brutal and now iconic lights-out match between Thunder Rosa and Dr. Britt Baker.

2021 MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• Introduction & Honorable Mentions
• 100-76
• 75-51
• 50-26
• 25-11
• Top 10 Reveal/Audio Show ($)
• #10: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi

VOICES OF WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

#9
Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD
3/17
AEW

Overall Points: 266
Total Votes: 55
% of Ballots: 31.3%
3 First Place Votes

“Blood and violence can be a shortcut to make a boring match good, but this wasn’t the case with this match. It had intensity and a great story and the more violent elements just added the final cherry on top. Also helped answer a lot of critics of AEW’s women’s division.” -Joe Towner

“A division-defining match for the company and something that raised the stock of both competitors. One of the few bouts that felt like it was creating two stars in a single match and something that hasn’t really been matched in any national company in terms of sheer violence that clicked when it needed to.” -Jeremy Peeples

“On screen, this match was the logical conclusion to a weeks-long feud that had reached a fever pitch. Behind the scenes, AEW desperately needed to elevate wrestlers in its women’s division, especially Britt Baker, whose push was falling flat on some of the company’s fanbase. This was a rousing success: Thunder Rosa looked she belonged on a national stage, and Britt Baker proved even in losing that she’s main event material. Both of them took and dished out punishment that I frankly don’t think the crowd was expecting. (I certainly wasn’t — I didn’t even watch this match live because I stupidly believed it wouldn’t be very good.) A star-making performance for both women.” -Paul DeBenedetto

“A shockingly violent U.S. women’s match that made one rising star and one main eventer.” -Fred Morlan

“Spaceforce1 was a regular user on Wreddit during the pandemic that would report Dynamite spoilers when they were doing closed tapings. We don’t know who he is, but when Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker took place, he stated that he REFUSES to spoil the match. We knew that this was going to be good, and boy did it ever deliver.” -Doug Fowler (Skeach101)

“AEW’s women’s division catches a lot of flack from the stopwatch crew, and typically undeservedly so. 2021 saw an amazing highlight of what the future holds for the promotion’s women when the amazing Thunder Rosa/Britt Baker D.M.D. feud spilled over into their phenomenal, bloody Lights Out match. The kind of match that makes me look forward to the future for the whole division, and towards the inevitable title clash between Rosa and Baker, whose chemistry only got better with each step that culminated in this banger.” -James “NuclearConvoy”

“Not only was this the best match I saw in 2021, but it was the rare cases in wrestling where the loser gained more than the victor. Baker was already a star coming into this match, but she emerged from it as the undisputed face of the women’s division. The success she experienced for the remainder of the year can be directly traced to this match.” -Jeuron Dove

“This is the high point of Dr. Britt Baker’s entire AEW run (even above her heel turn promo). She and Thunder Rosa put on a clinic of emotion and violence and left us with several images that will resonate with wrestling fans forever.” -Brian Moore

“To some it might have been gory self-mutilation but to me it’s intensity coupled with the shock and awe of Baker’s blood loss made this match my personal MOTY and something that will be remembered generations from now. The emotion on Rosa’s face after the match showed what this meant to not only her but the women’s division in AEW. Rosa vs Baker will be the match that will be the measuring stick for other women’s matches to be judged on in both AEW and WWE for the next few years.” -Peter Edge

“This was the best American women’s wrestling match since Bayley/Sasha, and probably the most brutal American women’s wrestling match ever. This match MADE Britt Baker, and solidified Thunder Rosa as one of the best in the world. This might be the most important match on this list.” -Steve Case

“A bloody war that made both women stars” -Sidney L. Pullar

“Is a very good match but is just as much a moment in time that serves a marker for how big and important women’s wrestling in AEW can feel.” -Sam Brown

“The image of Britt Baker coated in blood smirking at the camera is seared into my brain forever” -Tyler Forness

“This was maybe the most profound “A Star is Born” moment in wrestling last year. Dr. Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa beat the hell out of each other and bled like stuck pigs and I really didn’t think it was going to go this hard. Maybe it was depressed expectations from years of American women’s wrestling not being allowed to have the edge that men’s wrestling has. Maybe it was underestimating the women involved, Britt Baker in particular. Maybe it was even a little bit of underlying sexism on my own part, that I didn’t believe they’d actually do this kind of thing. I didn’t think Britt Baker had this in her and boy did she prove me wrong. She relished the violence and confidently upped the ante at every turn, always delivering some look or character touch to match Rosa’s solid-as-ever work. I’m psyched for this rematch, whenever we finally get around to it.” -Casey Fiore

“There are matches that surprise you, not because you doubt the work of the wrestlers, but on how far it will go. Baker vs Rosa is one of those matches to me. I did not expect it to be that violent and bloody, and it is one that once you see it, you won’t forget it, and you’ll wonder what the next step in this story is.” -Abraham Delgado

“Absolute spectacle that was better then it had any right to be. Easily the best women’s match AEW has put on up until this point.” -Chris Duarte

“This will be looked at for years to come as THE defining match in AEW’s women’s division. The amount of crazy stunts, blood, and violence alone may have been enough to put this match on a lot of people’s lists. If you add in that it was the culmination of a lengthy tv program between Baker & Rosa, plus the fact that it was a match that perhaps helped to silence a bit of criticism AEW had been receiving over a lack of focus on their women’s division, and you have a recipe for an incredibly memorable match.” -Liam Renner

“One of the most talked about matches of 2021 was the Unsanctioned Lights Out Match between Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa. This was a bout that had been building up for a number of months, but the fact that it got to headline Dynamite was a very cool surprise at the time. These two absolutely made the most of the opportunity, and knocked it out of the park with one of the most memorable matches in the history of AEW. It’s hard to forget those incredible images of both Baker and Rosa being busted open, while they tried to kill each other with all sorts of crazy weapons spots. This surpassed everyone’s expectations, and it’s had the AEW fanbase hyped up for nearly a year for the eventual rematch (hopefully with the AEW Women’s Title on the line) that we all know is on the way.” -Sean Sedor

“This match I think is the best women’s match in AEW women’s wrestling history so far. Rosa and Baker killed it. This match was brutal and it lived up to the hype.” -Filip Pejic

“I really don’t like hardcore matches, truth be told. It usually just feels like a stunt show to me. Britt got a lot of cred for the blood in this match, but what put it on my list was how it really felt like a war of attrition that escalated beyond what both characters were expecting in storyline. When it was over I felt that both Rosa and Britt had pushed each other to new levels. This is one of the definitive matches in AEW’s short history.” -Kevin Ely

“A crucial match in the development of the AEW women’s division and the elevation of Britt Baker. Plus, a visceral, brutal, brilliant match.” -Warren Hayes

“Britt Baker was already on her way to becoming one of the most well-regarded women’s wrestlers in North America by March, but this match catapulted her right into that status. The feud between Baker and Rosa has been great, and this Lights Out match showed the two at their brutal best. It convinced those few holdouts that Baker was the destined AEW Women’s Champion — and it made a lot more people give Rosa the respect she deserves to boot. It may not be a match for everyone, but this one did everything right.” -Jeremy Thomas

“Thunder Rosa, Britt Baker and the AEW women’s division all came out of this match better than before they went in. Especially made Britt Baker bringing toughness to go with her character work. Surprise surprise, you can lose a match and get over more if it’s booked right.” -Gareth Hodgson

“For a Women’s Division that seems to have struggled more than its peers in the advent of AEW, this match felt like a graduation from challenges it had experienced the year before, and indeed, since the start of the promotion. This was two stars that AEW had genuinely built, with a rivalry that fans had truly invested in. Britt Baker had been an obstacle to Thunder Rosa’s advancement and success since her arrival in All Elite Wrestling, and issues would finally be settled in a Light’s Out affair – a hallmark of AEW storytelling, when a rivalry has reached its breaking point.

While Britt Baker’s improvement across all aspects of her wrestling game is undeniable, she’s not known as being the most superb in-ring technician. However, Thunder Rosa is an amazing talent unto herself, and was able to elevate Britt Baker to a match that felt like the best women’s wrestling has to offer, anywhere, bar none. And when it was over, not only was Thunder Rosa victorious, but Britt Baker had broken through into becoming a genuine star, as she stared on defiantly in defeat, covered in her own blood. For what was a brutal and artistic match, it was made even sweeter with the unmistakable moment of knowing a star had been made.” -Reuel Castillo

“When you think about the ability to have legendary matches, you don’t think up Britt Baker DMD, but that’s what happened here. Britt Baker performed above and beyond her abilities when matched up with the incredible Thunder Rosa and as a result, we got beautiful and bloody magic. This is without a doubt the most important and significant match of Britt Baker’s career, and it ranks right up there for Thunder Rosa as well.

AEW’s women’s division justifiably gets put under the microscope a lot. . . these two women did their best to take it from under the microscope and put it on the map. Ever since this match there has been a lot of, mixed decisions and mixed reactions to how the division has been handled but you can’t deny these women went out there and put it all on the line to give us something truly special and magnificent. Excellent stuff and both of them should be proud of the bloody mark they have left on AEW’s short history.” -Jeri L. Evagood

VOICES OF WRESTLING 2021 MATCH OF THE YEAR