Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the Oklahoma Athletic Commission would be cracking down on AEW for having Nyla Rose, a trans woman, wrestling in their state. The event occurred in December of 2023 when Rose wrestled Alejandra Lion on ROH Honor Club ahead of an AEW Dynamite taping. The OSAC, which oversees wrestling, boxing and kickboxing events, rules state that “the Commission will not approve sanctioning permits between human participants and non-humans or between males and females. A male participant is a person of the heterogametic sex born with XY chromosomes. A female participant is a person born of the homogametic sex with XX chromosomes.”
On January 3rd, the match was brought up in discussion at their meeting, claiming they were notified of it happening only after a local wrestling promotion clued them in. During the meeting, the Chairman of the Commission Mike Bower suggested updating wrestling applications to answer if someone has had gender reassignment surgery. As for AEW, according to the minutes from the January meeting, it was voted upon to warn AEW “not to do this again or there will be punitive action made against them.”
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Rose responded to the news on X (formerly Twitter) writing, “WHO THE F–K WAS IT?!! Don’t worry Oklahoma, I’ll find the dastardly Transgender that *checks notes* entertained fans!!! HOW DARE THEY MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY?!!!” Other wrestlers in and out of AEW voiced their displeasure as well, including independent wrestler Hyan who has worked with Rose in the past, stating that she’d no longer take bookings in the state.
During AEW’s media call ahead of AEW Dynasty this coming weekend, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about the developing story. Khan made it clear that he stands by Rose and all transgender people in sports.ย
“I was really surprised by this. 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,” Khan expressed. “I’m really, really 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, there was nothing wrong with it.”
Khan added that Rose is a great wrestler and she’s someone that’s been with the company from the start. “Nyla Rose is a great wrestler. She’s been a great world champion and I love Nyla, I love working with Nyla. She’s been a great part of our history, she was the first transgender world champion ever and she’s a great part of the AEW Together program. She does a ton for the community, she’s a great person with a great heart and very supportive of the other wrestlers. One of the funniest people on social media — I personally have nominated Nyla to TBS for the best social media presence on more than one occasion over the years. And she’s an AEW original, she’s been part of this team since 2019. Going back to the very first year of AEW, the first shows, the first Dynamite and look at everything that was accomplished and, you know, to just put that label on her. That’s not right, she’s much more than that. She’s a great athlete and I hope everybody can look at Nyla and see that she’s a great wrestler, a great person and she deserves the same chances as everybody else.”
Additionally, Khan was asked about hosting future AEW events in Oklahoma given the ruling and whether or not he’d put Rose on the card and risk any repercussions that will come from it. “All I can say is we have a great plan for our shows in 2024 in 2025. We’ve got a great new team working on routing and to take all this into consideration. I definitely am treating this as a developing story, was kind of surprised by this, but definitely want to do our best to support the fans across America and all over the world and bring AEW wrestling everywhere. We have great fans, we have great fans in Oklahoma that are important to us and great fans all over the country. And so we’ll do anything we can to support those fans, So it’s something we’re gonna have to think about.”
