Nyla Rose Frustrated By AEW Absence

Nyla Rose has not wrestled a televised match for All Elite Wrestling for 22 months and the former AEW Women's World Champion has admitted to finding the situation a "little frustrating."

"It is a little hard. It is a little frustrating. In this business you do have to be a little bit selfish to a degree. You can be selfish while being selfless, and this I think is one of those moments. I want more for myself. I want to do more. I want to entertain you guys more in a multitude of ways. So it is a little frustrating when things like that happen, but there are amazing things happening. There are great things happening. So being able to kind of sit back and see these things, see Mercedes rise to the top and win the AEW Women’s Championship, and now she's starting to butt heads with Thekla. Things like this. Willow's whole journey, like things like that. Like, okay we can sit back and enjoy this as well, but dammit, when’s my turn?" Rose told Denise Salcedo.

Nyla Rose is an AEW original, signing with the organisation in 2019, and she was the second-ever AEW Women's World Champion, holding the title for 101 days in 2020. Rose's usage has deteriorated since those early highs, though, and she hasn't been booked in a televised match by All Elite Wrestling since she teamed with Harley Cameron in a loss to Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa on the November 22, 2024, episode of AEW Rampage.

Rose also addressed AEW receiving a warning from the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission over booking her on the company's tapings from Oklahoma City in December 2023, with a transgender wrestler performing in Oklahoma being against the athletic commission's rules.

The warning was criticised within professional wrestling, including by AEW CEO Tony Khan, who noted he was "really surprised" and "disappointed" by the OSAC ruling. AEW returned to Oklahoma in February 2024 but did not hold another event in the US state until January 2026.

"To be perfectly blunt, hateful bigots with no basis for anything. Athletic commission is a scam. They're just a bunch of greedy people who have found an avenue to work people out of money, and they're using new laws and loopholes to do what they want to do, basically," Rose said.

On Tony Khan's reaction to the OSAC warning, Rose added: "I was a little shocked, to be totally honest with you. I was very shocked. I was very surprised and incredibly grateful that he would with zero hesitation, like there was no thought there. He just knew the right side of history to be on and that's where he's stood 10 toes down. For someone of his calibre in his position to do that, he absolutely did not have to, but he did. That speaks a lot about who he is as a person and who he is a man. I’m so grateful to him for that."

During her absence from AEW TV, Nyla Rose has continued to wrestle on the indies for the likes of Pro Wrestling: EVE, Metroplex Wrestling, and Marvelous in Japan, where she is currently one-half of the reigning AAAW Tag Team Champions with Nightshade.

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