Nyla Rose was interviewed by Dan Greene of Sports Illustrated and the “Native Beast” talks about being discovered by All Elite Wrestling and becoming the first transgender wrestler signed by a major U.S. promotion. Rose shares her willingness to shoulder such a responsibility as well as how that aspect of her life won’t be a PR element for AEW.
On coming out as trans and doing it for her own health and well being:
“My mother made no secret of how proud she was of me before (transitioning) and how she had the child that she wanted,” Rose says. “I never wanted to take that away from her. I felt on some level like I would be stealing her happiness, as crazy as that may sound.”
Eventually, Rose explains, “There was a point of no return where I was like, I have to do this for me. I’m sorry. I tried to be who you wanted me to be. I tried to live for other people, but at a certain point I had to stop doing that for my own health and well being. I had to be myself.”
On the emotional impact of being accepted by Cody Covey, an independent promoter out of West Virginia:
“I just didn’t want him to catch any flack,” Rose says. “He was like, ‘That’s cool, I don’t care. Can you wrestle?’ For him to have that vote of confidence and just not care, it was incredibly emotionally overwhelming.” When Rose returned backstage after her match, she wept. “It kind of all hit me,” Rose says, “that I don’t have to give up on my dream.”
“As much negativity that I do see, I do see much more love and acceptance,” Rose says. “It’s just that sadly negative things seem to get highlighted more than positive things.”
On being ready to accept any backlash and wanting to set a tone that will fuel the next wrestling generation:
“If I can bear the weight, if I can hold up all the hatred and everything and carry that on my back, I know that I’m strong enough to do it,” she says. “If the people out there need to beat me up and I need to absorb that so that the next generation, the youth, can have an easier time, I gladly welcome that.”
“I’m really hoping to set the tone and set the pace and create that environment that’s going to fuel the next generation,” she says. “Not just trans people, but inspire anybody to say, ‘Hey, these women lit that on fire. I want to be that. I want to do that.’”
“AEW has felt that I am worthy of a chance,” she says. “All I can ask is that some of the people out there, the fans who might be a little bit tight-minded, just give me a chance to show you what I can do in the ring. That’s all.”
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