Tony Khan “Disappointed” By Oklahoma AC Warning About Nyla Rose
Tony Khan has responded after AEW was given a warning by the Oklahoma Athletic Commission.
According to minutes from a recent meeting shared online, OSAC voted to warn AEW about having Nyla Rose – who is transgender – compete in women’s matches noting that “there will be punitive action made against them” if it happens again.
AEW held its first event in the state of Oklahoma back in December 2023 and Nyla Rose competed in a match that aired on Ring of Honor against Alejandra Lion.
Fans and AEW stars were quick to offer messages of support to Rose after the warning went public, praising her character outside of the ring, and role in the company.
Tony Khan Defends Nyla Rose
During a media call ahead of AEW Dynasty, Tony Khan was asked about the warning concerning Rose and quickly came to her defence. Khan said that he was disappointed with the warning as he felt the company had done nothing wrong.
“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. 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.”
Nyla Rose was most recently in action on the April 11th episode of ROH HonorClub where she defeated Kat Von Heez. The match was taped a day earlier.
During the same media call, Tony Khan said he would “look into” claims by CM Punk that he’d been forced to pay his own medical expenses in 2022. In a recent interview, Punk said he had been left to pay for his own surgery after suffering a torn triceps at All Out in 2022.
H/t to Fightful