Tony Khan Responds To Nyla Rose Oklahoma ‘Official Transgender Warning’

AEW

AEW President Tony Khan has responded to former AEW Women’s World Champion Nyla Rose’s Oklahoma “official transgender warning.”

As previously reported, the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC) recently ruled that AEW was in violation of their rules in reference to a match featuring Nyla Rose on an ROH episode on December 20, 2023.

It was noted that the OSAC “had no idea as the wrestler had filled his (sic) wrestling license application as a female.”

The OSAC sent a warning to All Elite Wrestling about a transgender wrestler competing in the state.

During the AEW Dynasty media call, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about the situation with Nyla Rose and the state of Oklahoma. He answered:

“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 the show last December. I was really surprised by this.”

“It’s 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. I’m really shocked by it.”

“I don’t think there should be discrimination against transgender wrestlers or transgender people at all. They have rights. To that end, I absolutely stand by Nyla Rose.”

“AEW stands by Nyla Rose and all transgender people who want to play sports. This is wrestling. There was nothing wrong with it.”

On the history that Nyla has made in the company since its inception, Khan said:

“Nyla Rose is a great wrestler and has been a great world champion. I love Nyla and working with Nyla. She has been a great part of our history.”

“She was the first transgender world champion ever and is a great part of the AEW Together program. She does a ton for the community. She is a great person with a great heart.”

“She is 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.”

“She is an AEW original has been part of the team since 2019, going back to the first shows. Looking at everything Nyla has accomplished, to put that label on her, it’s not right.”

“She is much more than that. She is a great athlete. I hope everybody can look at Nyla and see she is a great wrestler, a great person, and deserves the same chances as everybody else.”

“If the AEW locker room, which consists of people from all over the world and all different backgrounds and beliefs, if everybody in the locker room can embrace Nyla, I would hope the Oklahoma commission can do the same thing.”

When asked how he plans to address this issue in the future, Khan answered:

“All I can say is we have a great plan for our shows in 2024 and 2025. We have a great new team and take all of this into consideration. I treat it as a developing story.”

“I’m kind of surprised by this but we 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, they are important to us. We’ll do anything we can to support those fans. It’s something we’re going to have to think about.”

Nyla Rose responded to Tony Khan’s comments via Twitter/X, writing:

Thank you @TonyKhan thank you @AEW forever grateful. Forever proud

AEW Dynasty is this Sunday, April 21 from St. Louis, Missouri and will be headlined by Samoa Joe defending the AEW World Title against Swerve Strickland. For the full lineup for the show, click here.

Transcription via Fightful 

Thank you @TonyKhan thank you @AEW forever grateful. Forever proud 🫶🏽

— 🪓NYLA “the rizz” ROSE (THE REAL ONE) 🥀 (@NylaRoseBeast) April 18, 2024

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• Oklahoma State
• Nyla Rose
• tony khan
• AEW

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