There are not many things one wishes to remember about Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3,” although it did deliver this one memorable quote from Aunt May. “Revenge is like a poison.” There’s some significant truth to that. How many times in the arts and real life have we seen someone start down the path of revenge, and by the end of it that figure is changed, mutated into someone, or something, a bit darker than we’re used to.

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Following “AEW Dynamite” last night, Thunder Rosa cut a promo that reminded me of that Aunt May quote. Then again, it was a promo framed around revenge; Rosa was only moments removed from being humiliated by “Timeless” Toni Storm after the AEW Women’s World Champion surprised Rosa with an attack that included a champagne toss to the face, a tray shot, and Storm wiping a good chunk of the face paint off Rosa’s face.

Add that all together, and it’s no wonder Rosa brought the fire and the fury as she promised to defeat Storm for the Women’s Title at AEW Dynasty, while also suggesting she was in Storm’s head. It also hinted at a new direction for Rosa, where she suggested that if Storm was scared of Rosa with face paint, imagine what it will be like when Rosa took the face paint off. On the surface, it was a well-done, standard promo that set the table for what should be a hotly anticipated PPV match.

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Yet through it all, I couldn’t help but notice Rosa’s behavior was a little bit more than someone peeved their rival got the better of them with a sneak attack. Perhaps some of it was how Rosa cut most of the promo while looking in the mirror, or that her smudged face paint look made her out to resemble everyone’s favorite supervillain, the Joker. But even besides that, there was a manic desperation to the way Rosa spoke and reacted, the kind of reaction that wouldn’t make sense over one attack until you remember Rosa’s road to this exact moment.

It’s then when you realize this isn’t just about Thunder Rosa getting revenge on Toni Storm for an attack, hell it isn’t even about getting revenge on Storm. It’s revenge on the year Rosa lost in the ring, when she was forced to sit out for the year, and forced to vacate the AEW Women’s World Title Storm currently holds. It’s one thing to be dethroned by someone better; it’s another thing to be dethroned by the forces of nature, to know that you lost something not at the hands of another, but by the cruel winds of fate.

For most people, Thunder Rosa’s promo was standard. For me, as she looked into that mirror, I saw a desperate, starved, semi-broken soul, poisoned by the search for revenge against bad odds and the woman that benefited from her slide. Maybe Rosa will quench that thirst at Dynasty, or maybe this promo Rosa’s momentary lapse of reason before she finds herself. Or maybe in the throes of this obsession, perhaps we’ll learn exactly what Rosa is capable of doing.

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Written by Eric Mutter