Trans Wrestler Nyla Rose Competed Against a Cis Wrestler. The State of Oklahoma Lost It

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The co-owner of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) says he’s “disappointed” in the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC), after the OSAC reprimanded the company for featuring transgender wrestler Nyla Rose in a match against a cisgender woman.

On December 20, 2023, Rose (the first out trans woman to be hired by a major U.S. wrestling promotion, and the second-ever AEW Women’s Champion) appeared on a show in Oklahoma City under AEW’s Ring of Honor subsidiary brand, facing off against competitor Alejandra the Lion. As fans are well aware, professional wrestling matches are predetermined, and while violent, involve realistic stage combat rather than attempts to permanently injure one’s “opponent.” But wrestling is still legally a “professional combative sports event,” so Oklahoma athletic regulators swiftly stepped in to object to the match, based solely on the fact that Rose is trans and Alejandra is not.

Wrestling news site RealRasslin obtained a copy this week of OSAC’s formal reprimand to AEW, which repeatedly refers to Rose as a “male” and was initially issued “a few weeks” following Rose and Alejandra’s match, as The Oklahoman confirmed. The Commission’s rules prohibit athletic competitions “between males and females,” as defined solely by their chromosomes, a rule which is printed in the state’s official pro wrestling license application. OSAC officials claimed that Rose violated the law by marking “female” on her application, issuing a formal warning to AEW with a promise of “punitive action” should the company run more matches between trans and cis wrestlers in Oklahoma going forward. Under Oklahoma law, violating an OSAC statute can result in a $1,000 fine or 30 days in jail for a first infraction, with additional infractions carrying penalties up to $5,000 or one year in prison. Oklahoma’s chromosomal regulations have been in place since 2012.

Rose regularly works with cis women in her matches, such as her longtime in-ring rival Hikaru Shida. Though her “Native Beast” character references Rose’s Oneida heritage, AEW has not referenced her trans identity in its storylines. During a media call on Wednesday in advance of AEW’s Dynasty pay-per-view event, co-owner and president Tony Khan expressed “shock” at OSAC’s warning and said he fully supports Rose and other trans athletes.

“I was really surprised by this [...] and of course I was disappointed by the commission’s position and by that warning,” Khan told reporters during the call, according to a transcript of his remarks from EWrestlingNews. “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

“I don’t think there should be discrimination against transgender wrestlers or transgender people at all,” Khan went on to say. “They have rights, and to that end, I absolutely stand by Nyla Rose. AEW stands by Nyla Rose and all transgender people who want to play sports. And this is wrestling. There was nothing wrong with it [...] if everybody in the locker room can embrace Nyla, I would hope that the Oklahoma Commission could do the same thing.”

When asked if AEW would continue running events in Oklahoma following the warning, Khan demurred. “We have great fans in Oklahoma, they’re important to us,” he said. “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.”

In several posts on X, formerly Twitter, Rose (known outside the squared circle as Brandi Hicks Degroat) angrily rejected OSAC’s position, comparing the commission to the bigoted X-Men villains “Friends of Humanity” and sarcastically assuring her followers that she would “find the dastardly Transgender that *checks notes* entertained fans!!!” Rose, who herself often plays a “heel” (i.e. antagonistic) character, also expressed mock annoyance that OSAC “made [her] a babyface,” or hero. But she then broke character momentarily to thank fans for an outpouring of support on social media, joking that she was “probably dehydrated from all the happy crying.”

Brandan Bulmer, a wrestler and promoter with the independent wrestling brand Unified Wrestling Oklahoma, told The Oklahoman that OSAC’s gendered sports crackdown has become “kind of crazy,” especially in the past five years, going back to the start of Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s administration. Bulmer described a “battle royal” he helped put on a few months prior to Rose’s December match, in which a cis woman wrestler put on a dominant performance against several cis male competitors, but was eventually eliminated via a (staged) kick that knocked her out of the ring. After that match, he said he was also formally warned, and said the Commission threatened him with a $1,000 fine and a possible court date.

Bulmer also said that some trans performers are being held back by the law, because independent wrestling promotions — where LGBTQ+ wrestlers are often more prominent than in larger companies like AEW and WWE — may not have the resources to risk OSAC fines or jail time. “I had one [trans wrestler] ask me, ‘Where do you see me on the [show] card? Where do I fall in?’ [...] I can’t give them a straight answer because I don’t know what's going to happen with all this nonsense,” Bulmer recalled.

Tuft spoke to ‘TV Insider’ about her recovery from open heart surgery, her admiration for fellow trans wrestlers, and her desire to make a return.

Since assuming office in 2019, Gov. Stitt has overseen a major push to restrict trans rights in Oklahoma, especially those of trans youth and athletes. In 2022, Stitt signed a law that banned trans students from participating in K-12 or collegiate sports leagues that do not correspond to their assigned sex at birth. Later that year, Stitt also signed a law that banned public hospitals from providing gender-affirming medical care to anyone under 18. In January this year, Oklahoma Superintendent for Public Instruction Ryan Walters appointed “Libs of TikTok” founder Chaya Raichik to a committee advising school libraries, sparking backlash from parents and LGBTQ+ youth alike.

Rose, who has established herself as a queer wrestling icon, comic book writer, and annihilator of haters, last performed on the March 27 episode of Ring of Honor’s weekly streaming show Honor Club in Quebec City. She is currently scheduled to appear as a guest host on the PPV.com stream of AEW’s Dynasty event on Sunday, April 21.

“I’m glad Nyla is going to be hosting that,” Khan told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s something that’s been in the works for a while. I think the world of Nyla, and that’s how I feel about it.”

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