Nyla Rose (August 3, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and actress currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where she is a former one-time AEW Women's World Champion.
Professional wrestling career
Early Career
Born in Washington D.C., Rose attended the KYDA Pro Training School, trained in West Virginia. Her instructors included John Kerman, C.A. Elliott, Christian York and Xander Maddox. She made her in-ring debut on December 8, 2012. During her rookie year in August 2013, Rose won her first singles title after winning Covey Promotions' Women's Championship. She went on to win the CP Women's title twice more, becoming a three-time champion. Rose also became a two-time Warriors Of Wrestling Women's Champion and won the Women's Championship title in the United Pro Wrestling Association. She also won World Domination Wrestling Alliance's WDWA West Virginia Championship. Rose also wrestled internationally, including Japan's Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO1 and Pro Wrestling WAVE promotions.
All Elite Wrestling (2019-present)
During February 2019, it was announced Rose signed a full-time contract with All Elite Wrestling. The news produced greater headlines as Nyla Rose became the first openly transgender person to be signed to a major promotion. On May 25, Rose made her AEW debut at AEW Double or Nothing, competing in a four-way match against Britt Baker, Awesome Kong and Kylie Rae. The following month, she returned on June 29 at Fyter Fest, competing in a triple threat match against Riho and Yuka Sakazaki. On October 2 during the series premiere of AEW Dynamite, Nyla competed against Riho for the vacant AEW Women's World Championship, ending with Riho scoring an upset victory to become the first AEW Women's Champion. Rose retaliated during the attempted post-match interview, in which she power-bombed the interviewer before turning her attempted revenge towards Riho. She was repelled by Riho's mentor Kenny Omega, intervening on Riho's behalf until Rose was escorted away from the ring by an AEW official.
Over the next few weeks, Nyla dealt with her anger by powerbombing everyone around her through tables, culminating in a three week suspension after she attacked a referee following her match with Leva Bates on the December 4th episode of Dynamite.
Nyla began 2020 with another unsuccessful attempt at the Women's Championship, failing to capture a pinfall during a Four Way match with Riho, Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida on the January 1st episode of Dynamite. Rose would soon begin a win streak, appearing in two squash matches over Shanna on AEW Dark on Janaury 8th and 15th and defeating Penelope Ford and Britt Baker in singles competition during the Jericho Cruise.
AEW Women's Champion
After returning to Dynamite to defeat Big Swole on January 29th, the Native Beast would challenge Riho for the title once again with very different results. On February 12th in Austin, Texas Nyla defeated Riho to win the title. Nyla's win made history as the first time an openly trans person to hold a title in a major promotion.
On February 19th, Nyla appeared in an interview segment on Dynamite with Tony Schiavone to celebrate her title win. Beginning by immediately antagonizaing the audience, Rose called her win "justice" because she "should have been the first champion." After cutting down Riho, Rose grabbed Schiavone's mic and gave her ultimate declaration as champion: "I represent power. Unbridled power[...]I'm gonna be a one-time champion, because nobody out there can stack up to me. Nobody can beat me. And nobody is a beast like me."
Nyla's first title defense took place at AEW Revolution 2020, where she defeated Kris Statlander. On March 11th on Dynamite, Nyla teamed with Bea Priestley to defeat Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander. The match finish focused on the growing rivalry between Rose and Shida, with Nyla eventually pinning Shida with a Beast Bomb. Over the next few weeks, Shida would rise in the women's division rankings to become the #1 contender for the title on May 13th, while Rose remained largely off television; her return on the May 6th episode of Dynamite was a squash match over Kenzie Paige. On May 20th, Rose and Britt Baker defeated the team of Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander, with Rose picking up the pinfall again via the Beast Bomb to Shida. But Shida would have her revenge that weekend at Double or Nothing, pinning Rose in their No Disqualification, No Countout title match after hitting her with a kendo stick and landing a running knee to Rose's head. Rose's title run ended at 102 days.
Nyla and Vickie Guerrero
On the June 3rd episode of Dynamite Rose defeated Big Swole. The following week, Rose teamed with Penelope Ford to defeat Shida and Kris Statlander, with outside interference from Kip Sabian helping Ford score an upset pinfall over Shida.
During the first night of Fyter Fest 2020, Ford unsuccessfully attempted to win Shida's championship. The following week, Rose faced Kenzie Paige and KiLynn King in a Two On One Handicap Match. Rose powerbombed Kenzie onto Kilynn and pinned both women at once for the win, leading Jim Ross to comment simply, "Total dominance." At Fight for the Fallen, Nyla appeared in the ring for an interview with Dasha Fuentes. At first, Rose was still coy about the identity of her manager, but ended her promo by saying “I’m not telling any of you anything because I'm going to let them say it for themselves." At that moment, Vickie Guerrero entered, confirming that she was Rose's new manager and declaring "When Nyla Rose and I are ready to go after the AEW Women’s Championship, it'll be the perfect time."
Nyla and Guerrero's first match together took place during the AEW Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw, which premiered on YouTube on August 3rd. Rose teamed with newcomer Ariane Andrew in her AEW debut losing to Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
AEW TBS Championship Tournament
Nyla entered the AEW TBS Championship Tournament to crown the first AEW TBS Champion with a first round bye due to her high ranking. On the November 17th, 2021 episode of Dynamite Nyla defeated Hikaru Shida to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. In their semifinal match on December 22nd, Rose lost via pinfall to Ruby Soho, eliminating her from the tournament.
Acting career
Rose has starred in the Canadian comedy series, The Switch.
Personal life
Rose is of Oneida and African-American descent, and is a transgender woman. She is also an avid video game player, citing The Legend of Zelda series as her favorite games.
In wrestling
- Signature and Finishing moves
- Beast Bomb (Sitout Powerbomb)
- Camel clutch
- Guillotine Choke
- STF
- Entrance Music
- Nicknames
- "The Native Beast"
- "The Barbie Breaker"
- "The American Kaiju"
- Managers and valets
- Teams and stables
- Mabutachi 2 Manjimanji - w/ Maruko Nagasaki, Mio Momono and Kyuri
Championships and accomplishments
- AEW Women's World Championship (1 time)
- CP Women's Championship (3 times)
- PWI ranked her #66 in the 2019 PWI Top 100 Females
- UPWA Women's Championship (1 time)
- World Domination Wrestling Alliance
- WDWA West Virginia Championship (1 time)
- WOW Women's Championship (2 times)
