A villain in the ring, pro wrestler Nyla Rose is a hero to fans
A post shared by Nyla Rose (@nylarosebeast)She may play a villain in the ring—a “heel” in wrestling parlance—but to fans, Nyla Rose is a trailblazing hero.
When Rose signed with All Elite Wrestling before its launch in February 2019, she made history as the first openly transgender wrestler in history to sign with a major American promotion.When she won the AEW Women’s World Championship a year later, she achieved another milestone, becoming the first trans wrestler to win a title in a major American promotion.But as she recently revealed, Rose had hit a low point in her career just before signing with AEW.
Having starred in the 2016 Canadian television series The Switch, she was thinking about taking a break from wrestling to pursue acting, when AEW executive vice president and wrestling legend Kenny Omega got in touch.“It was such a blessing from the universe at that point because I was so down on myself.
And the universe was like ‘Alright, let’s give her a bone. Let’s give her something.’”Of course, she’s faced plenty of backlash from both old school wrestlers and fans who’ve argued that she has no business competing against cis women—despite the fact that these matches are scripted and choreographed!At a televised match in December, someone in the crowd held up a transphobic sign misgendering Rose as she made her way to the ring.
