Nyla Rose is addressing the Oklahoma Athletic Commission, warning AEW for booking her against a cisgender woman

Rose looks back on the situation.

In late December 2023, Nyla Rose was in action at an ROH at HonorClub tapings in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She wrestled Alejandra Quintanilla.

The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission would then issue a warning to AEW about Rose, a transgender woman, wrestling a cisgender woman. They informed the company that they should not do that again or punitive action would be taken against them.

AEW president Tony Khan, Gisele Shaw and Jordynne Grace, among others, showed their support for Nyla. She spoke about that ordeal while sitting with Renee Paquette for her “Close Up” show. Rose said she was made aware that the news broke shortly before it broke. She praised AEW for protecting her from it. The former AEW Women’s World Champion joked that it frustrated her to see so many people supporting her needing to become a babyface.

Where do we even start with that? (Rose responded to the Oklahoma Athletic Commission’s warning to AEW about wrestling a cisgender woman) It’s such a crazy, crazy situation. It absolutely blindsided me. I had no idea anything was going on there… A few weeks after we went there, but kudos to our company and to our team that was like the ozone layer, up there to protect me and I think we were against it , but I had no idea that even continued. They say, “Hey, something’s coming out. You have to be aware of this.’ Right before (it came out when I found out), just because it was going to be in the news, but our team was out there defending and protecting, that’s what I’m saying, and then I was like, ‘Hey, okay, listen. We have to tie you up. This is what’s going on, this is what we’re dealing with.”

I was frustrated (that everyone was behind me) because it forced me to become a baby. I had some really bad plans in place and everyone was so kind, loving, accepting and supportive that I had no choice. I had no choice, so the evil cloak was put away for a while. I owe you guys for being so good to me.

Earlier in the chat, Rose spoke candidly when asked if she feels she has been misrepresented as a television character. She then brought up the idea of ​​a possible babyface run in AEW.

So the short answer is yes. But I don’t think I was necessarily miscast. When AEW first started, we needed someone like me, the big bad guy… But characters evolve over time and I think we’re at that point now. If anything, I’d say missed opportunities. I think, and I’m sure a lot of fans agree, I see the tweets and the fans have wanted this for a while and we’re trying to get things moving in that direction, but for some reason there was always a workaround. So things got delayed a little bit, but I think we’re on that track now. I just wish we could have done it a little earlier. I had some antics and ideas to go along with it, but… I can definitely fall back on it.

Rose has been a part of AEW since its launch year in 2019. She became the first openly transgender wrestler to sign with a major American wrestling company.

She saw action on the 6/19 Dynamite in an Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal against Kris Statlander.

If quotes are used in this article, please credit Close Up w/Renee Paquette with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcripts.