Nyla Rose Opens Up About Oklahoma Athletic Commission Situation, ‘Hateful Bigots’

In January 2024, the Oklahoma Athletic Commission met over a transgender wrestler competing at an AEW event. The wrestler in question was Nyla Rose, who faced Alejandra Lion on the ROH on HonorClub tapings. Having a transgender wrestler compete is against the OSAC rules.

It was noted that, while the boxing, kickboxing, and MMA applications ask about gender reassignment, wrestling applications do not. Mike Brower stated that the application needs to be updated.

A motion was made by Dr. Larry Lovelace that AEW should be warned not to let this happen again, or else action would be taken.

Speaking to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Nyla Rose opened up about the situation.

“To be perfectly blunt, hateful bigots with no basis for anything. The athletic commission is a scam. They’re just a bunch of greedy people who have found an avenue to work people out of money, and they’re using new laws and loopholes to do what they want to do, basically,” she said.

Asked about Tony Khan standing by her side, Nyla replied, “I was a little shocked. I was very surprised, but incredibly grateful that he would, with zero hesitation; there was no thought there. He knew the right side of history to be on, and that’s where he stood, ten toes down. For someone in his position to do that, he absolutely did not have to, and he did. That speaks a lot about who he is as a person and as a man. I’m so grateful to him for that.”

Tony said he was disappointed to see the warning from the Athletic Commission, but stood by Nyla.

Asked if this had happened to her before the situation with the Oklahoma Commission, she said, “I’m sure I have, but I probably did not know because it wasn’t so bold and blatant. There have definitely been times when I’ve been left on read or given answers or reasons that didn’t quite add up, and I think that was people tiptoeing around the delicate nature of things. With a certain regime in charge, people feel very emboldened now to kind of speak their hateful hearts. That’s a big part of what happened in Oklahoma and, to Oklahoma’s credit, maybe not all the way. A lot of them do have to follow what the legal guidelines are, so they have to do what they’re told to do so they don’t get in trouble. That’s a situation where it’s a 50/50 split because at a certain point, the government is involved in things with an athletic commission, and that trickles down. It’s 50/50 between people trying to cover their ass and people being hateful and ignorant.”

The commission ultimately referred the rule to the state legislature.

Asked how she gets past a situation like that, she said, “That’s where the strength of our community comes into play with protests and educating people and the public. Education can put out a lot of those fires. A lot of people are reacting out of fear. It’s kind of a trickle-down, and I hate to make it seem like a silly situation, but Yoda said it best: “Ignorance breeds hate and hate breeds fear.” That whole speech, it’s very true. It’s misdirected anger because they don’t want to feel like they are less than for not knowing something.”

She was then asked if she wanted to say anything to people out there who might still feel a certain way towards her and the transgender community.

Nyla admitted that she doesn’t know if she could say anything to get people to change or educate people because the change has to come from within and they don’t want to make the change because they are comfortable.

“Education can put out a lot of fires,” she said. “Just getting to know somebody can do it. I have had so many people come to me privately or DMs and apologize. ‘Hey, I was ignorant before. I didn’t like you because of this reason.’ As they’ve gotten to ‘know me’ over the years on television and social media, they realize that I’m just a person and entertainer. I just want to do my job and go home and play video games and open Pokemon cards. The same thing they want to do, I want to do as well, I just walk a slightly different path. Once that change comes from within and they realize we’re the same, some of those people’s hearts do open.”

She credited those who do apologize, acknowledging that it’s hard and she appreciates those who are willing to admit they are wrong.

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