Nyla Rose is a former All Elite Wrestling (AEW) women’s heavyweight champion, and currently wrestles for both AEW and for their sister company Ring of Honor. She’s known as “The Native Beast,” and is one of the most intimidating grapplers in the squared circle.
Nyla Rose is also a television actress, she was the star of a Canadian sitcom called The Switch. Here’s a trailer for it.
Oh, and in case you haven’t figured it out yet … Nyla Rose is the first transgender athlete to sign and perform with a major professional wrestling company, when she joined AEW in 2019.
Last December, All Elite Wrestling had a show / television taping in Oklahoma City. The show was well-received, and Nyla Rose defeated Alejandra Lion in two minutes flat as part of the show’s Ring of Honor tapings.
Apparently Nyla Rose’s match – while short – caught the attention of the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission. And they were not happy. So much so, in fact, that they actually admonished AEW for allowing a transgender person to perform on the card.
I’m not kidding.
Pardon me a second, I have to get a shovel to scrape all this bigoted bullshit out of the way.
First off, the resolution unanimously adopted by the OSAC made sure to list Nyla Rose as “born male” and referred to her with he/him pronouns. Essentially saying, “We don’t care about who you are, as far as we’re concerned, you’re male and we have a problem with you wrestling against a female.”
The resolution also threatened AEW that if they allowed Rose to wrestle in the women’s division in Oklahoma again … there would be stronger penalties against the wrestling company.
Ooh. Stronger penalties. That threat just makes me shiver in my timbers.
All Elite Wrestling is a very inclusive wrestling organization. In addition to having professional cis-mail and cis-female performers in the ring, they also have fully accepted gay wrestlers (the Acclaimed’s Anthony Bowens, for example).
They also employ bisexual wrestlers, including current AEW women’s champion “Timeless” Toni Storm. Their women’s roster also includes “The Living Dead Girl,” Abadon, who is non-binary, and at one time they also employed Sonny Kiss, who is gender-neutral. Heck, with the exception of Sonny Kiss (who is no longer with AEW), the company’s “Fight Forever” video game allows people to play as, among others, Anthony Bowens, Toni Storm, Abadon – or Nyla Rose, if you so chose.
But, yeah, let’s focus on this narrow-minded bigotry perpetrated by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission. What are you planning to do if Nyla Rose shows up in Oklahoma City or Tulsa or Lawton or Fort Sill and has a match against Toni Storm or Athena or Deonna Purrazzo or Mariah May? Do you plan to go into the squared circle and try to stop the match from happening? Will you dare take a steel chair or a foreign object to one of the wrestlers to get them disqualified?
I mean … you DO know that this is professional wrestling, right?
So … here’s a suggestion to AEW Chief of Chiefs, Tony Khan. June is Transgender Awareness Month. I say … hold a pay-per-view in Oklahoma City (or Tulsa, or Lawton, or Fort Sill) and have Nyla Rose wrestle a 30-minute “Texas Death Match” against, oh, I don’t know, Thunder Rosa or Julia Hart or Skye Blue or Hikaru Shida or Riho or Lady Frost or Billie Starkz or Anna Jay or AZM or Abadon or Toni Storm or Little Mean Kathleen or Session Moth Martina or the Renegade Twins or … or …
And if the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission sends AEW a fine …
Pay the fine in dimes and nickels. Loose change. And then announce that AEW is returning to Oklahoma and the card will feature all-intergender matches. Men versus women. Mixed tag team battles. Joshi versus Luchadores. Make this happen, TK.
I mean, the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission must have a staff full of talented professional wrestlers.
Because with statements like they made against Nyla Rose, it’s amazing that they can wrestle their own heads so far up their own asses.
Chuck The Writer 
Let’s talk about the fact that Nyla is also multi-racial, which would only give the small-minded GOPer in Oklahoma even more reason to reach for the Rolaids or Maalox. The fans who pay their hard earned money for AEW or WWE, for that matter, don’t care what these pearl clutching jabronies think. The transphobic nabobs are looking to score political points, but watch. It’ll backfire on them when it counts the most, at the ballot box, when they’re forced out.
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I deeply empathize with Nyla’s experience, as it highlights a poignant issue with society’s understanding and respect for gender identity. The presumption of genderโa concept steeped in traditional binary normsโhas unfortunately led to situations where individuals are misidentified, sometimes maliciously so. This assumption not only disregards ones personal identity but also overlooks the nuanced and diverse spectrum of gender experiences.
I can empathize with her situation deeply. Whenever I’ve been mentioned in the news or featured in an article, journalists have often used he/him pronouns for me because of my name, Thomas. Our society tends to view gender in strictly binary terms, leading to assumptions about my identity based on my name alone. However those who know me have recognized me as female my entire life.
The issue of gender identity becoming a point of contention in public discourse is indeed regrettable. It fosters unnecessary division in a world where acceptance and understanding should prevail. Affirming someoneโs self-identified gender is not just a courtesy but a fundamental recognition of their identity and humanity. As we strive for a more inclusive society, it becomes crucial to advocate for and practice respect for each personโs chosen identity. This support and acceptance are essential, not only for the well-being of individuals but for the collective harmony of our communities.
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