Earlier this week, it was reported that the records from a January meeting of the Oklahoma Athletic Commission took issue with a past AEW event. In particular, OSAC called out AEW for having transgender wrestler Nyla Rose competing in a match against a female-born opponent.
The minutes from the meeting noted that OSAC motioned to “warn” AEW not to allow transgender competitors in matches again, or “punitive action” would be taken.
OSAC’s actions were heavily criticized online, with many peers, co-workers and fans coming to Nyla’s defense. On Thursday, Tony Khan also addressed the Commission’s actions during his AEW Dynasty media call.
Khan said that he was very disappointed about the Commission’s reaction. He went on to praise Nyla for not only being a great wrestler, but a great ambassador for AEW. Khan said he hopes that OSAC reconsiders their position and embraces Nyla just like AEW has.
Tony Khan reacts
“Well, I would like to talk about that story with the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission and the warning they issued against AEW when we featured Nyla Rose on a show in Oklahoma City last December. I was really surprised by this; it was not something I was expecting and of course, I was disappointed by the commission’s position by that warning,” Khan explained. “I don’t think we did anything wrong. I’m really, really shocked by it. I don’t think there should be discrimination against transgender wrestlers or transgender people at all. 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.
“Nyla Rose is a great wrestler, she’s a great world champion and I love Nyla. I love working with Nyla and 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,” Tony Khan continued. “She’s very supportive of the other wrestlers, one of the funniest people on social media; I’ve personally nominated Nyla to TBS for the best social media presence on more than one occasion over the years. She’s an AEW original, she’s been part of this team since 2019, going back to the first year of AEW, the first shows, the first Dynamite.
“And look at everything Nyla has accomplished, and to just put that label on her, it’s just 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 and she deserves the same chances as everybody else. And if the AEW locker room — which consists of people from all over the world, all kinds of different backgrounds, beliefs — if everybody in the locker room can embrace Nyla, I would hope that the Oklahoma Commission could do the same thing.”
Khan also highlighted how Nyla is working with PPV.com on promoting AEW Dynasty, something that he said was in the works “weeks ago.”
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