- Rose’s match from All Elite Wrestling was flagged to be in the wrong
- ‘The Native Beast’ has competed for AEW since the company’s inception in 2019
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Transgender professional wrestling star and former All Elite Wrestling women’s world champion Nyla Rose is banned from competing in the state of Oklahoma, after the state’s athletic commission classified her match from last December to be intergender.
Rose won a two-minute match on AEW television last December taped in Oklahoma City against a cisgender female. She was born male and has transitioned, competing in the company’s women’s division since the start of the promotion in 2019.
The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission, which regulates all combat sports in the state, has a ban on intergender competition that stretches across boxing, mixed martial arts and professional wrestling.
Rose’s wrestling license in the state is registered as a female, but the athletic commission determined her match to be a violation of state rules.
The commission decided to warn AEW from having Rose face a female competitor again inside state lines, or ‘there will be punitive action made against them,’ per Fox 25.
AEW CEO Tony Khan recently responded to the action taken against Rose.
‘I was really surprised by this,’ Khan said. ‘It was not something I was expecting and of course, I was disappointed by the commission’s position and by that warning. I don’t think we did anything wrong. I’m really, really disappointed, shocked by it.
‘I don’t think there should be discrimination against transgender wrestlers or transgender people at all and, you know, they have rights and to that end, I absolutely stand by Nyla Rose. AEW stands behind Nyla Rose and all transgender people who want to play sports and this is wrestling.’ Khan continued.
Rose competed in match to crown the inaugural AEW women’s champion, losing to Riho, but eventually beating the Japanese high-flyer to win the belt.
Khan did not state whether Oklahoma’s warning would prevent him from running shows in the state moving forward.
‘She deserves the same chances as everybody else,’ Khan said. ‘And if the AEW locker room, which consists of people from all over the world, all kinds of different backgrounds, all different beliefs, if everybody in the locker room can embrace Nyla, I would hope that the Oklahoma Commission could do the same thing.’
After Khan’s went viral, Rose thanked him personally on social media.
‘Thank you @TonyKhan thank you @AEW forever grateful. Forever proud,’ Rose said on X.
Rose was the first transgender wrestling to sign with a major American promotion.
