Nyla Rose is one of the top female stars in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). On Wednesday, Rose, 38, will have a chance to be one step closer to winning the AEW Women’s World Championship for the second time as she faces Ryo Mizunami in the AEW Women’s Championship Eliminator Tournament Finals. What Rose is doing is groundbreaking as she’s the first transgender wrestler to work for a major wrestling promotion.
Rose officially made history in February 2019 when she signed a contract with AEW. At the time, the company was in its baby steps of launching, and Rose was joining AEW after competing in the independent scene since 2013. She caught the eyes of AEW officials in late 2018 when current AEW World Champion Kenny Omega sent her a direct message to her on Twitter. Omega told Rose that he and a group of people are launching a new wrestling promotion and asked if she wanted to join. Rose checked Omega’s Twitter page to see if was legit, and it led to a phone call.
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“I went and had a very quiet heart attack,” Rose told Sports Illustrated, “dancing around the house like, What is life right now?” From there, Rose competed in AEW’s debut event in May 2019, and her Twitter followers went from 600 to 11,700. After her AEW debut, Rose said she has heard from many fans about the impact she is making.
“A few months ago here you are thinking you’re this little speck on this giant blue planet,” Rose said. “Now suddenly you’re thrust into this position like, oh holy crap, I can make a difference. So I don’t take that lightly.” AEW is known for marketing itself as “for everyone.” Along with Rose being the first transgender to sign with a major wrestling promotion, AEW has Sonny Kiss on the roster, who is openly gay.
On Feb. 12, 2020, Rose made more history by defeating Riho to become AEW Women’s World Championship, becoming the first transgender to win a world championship in a major United States Wrestling promotion. She lost the title to Hikaru Shida in May 2020. However, Rose can make history again by becoming the first multiple-time AEW Women’s World Champion if she defeats Mizunami on Wednesday during AEW Dynamite and Shida at AEW’s pay-per-view event Revolution on Sunday.
