Oklahoma Commission Takes Issue With AEW Including Trans Wrestler in Match

AEW hosted a match between Nyla Rose and Alejandra The Lion in Oklahoma City in December.

Courtesy of All Elite Wrestling

Oklahoma commissioners issued a warning to All Elite Wrestling due to an event held in Oklahoma City at the Paycom Center in December.

The event featured a match between famous transgender wrestler Nyla Rose against Alejandra The Lion, a cisgender wrestler.

Per Fox 25 in Oklahoma, the commissioners argued the professional wrestling promotion violated rules enforced by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission.

"The Commission will not approve sanctioning permits between human participants and non-humans or between males and females," the OSAC rules read. "A male participant is a person of the heterogametic sex born with XY chromosomes. A female participant is a person born of the homogametic sex with XX chromosomes."

The match was brought up for discussion in January. The commission voted to warn AEW "not to do this again or there will be punitive action made against them."

Back in March 2022, Oklahoma became the 13th state in the United States to sign a bill into law banning transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams. That law has been criticized by civil rights groups for targeting a group of people who already are discriminated against.

Rose, a former AEW women’s champion, was one of the first performers the company signed when it launched and is the first openly transgender wrestler to sign with a major American professional wrestling promotion.