Nyla Rose Talks Being Transgender In Wrestling & The Importance Of Diversity And Representation

Nyla Rose talks representation and trailblazing.

Nyla was a guest on a recent edition of the Women’s Wrestling Weekly podcast. During the interview, she discusses being transgender in the wrestling industry. Also, Nyla discusses the importance of representation in the medium.

The following highlights were passed along to Fightful by the Women’s Wrestling Weekly team:

NYLA ROSE SHARES HER THOUGHTS ON DIVERSE REPRESENTATIONS IN THE WRESTLING INDUSTRY 

“That’s a good question. I don’t know. It’s kind of a two-way street, right. Maybe, my presence will kind of encourage or spark interest, spark that comfortability, in some people, to say, “Hey, you know, here she is. She’s on this platform. She made it.” You know, but it is going to be up to the performer to go to a wrestling school and get their traction out there. But yeah, times are changing, gears are shifting, we’re starting to see a lot more diversity in every aspect of that word. 

NYLA ROSE SHARES HOW SHE HAS TRIED TO FIND HER PATH AND REPRESENTATION IN THE INDUSTRY

“Definitely, Definitely. There’s, you know… the wrestling industry has a history of being kind of, how do I put this delicately…it’s a very stereotypical business, in its history, as I should say, in its history. But like I said times are changing, gears are shifting, um, more and more day by day we are stepping away from those things, those stereotypes, those tropes… so starting out, you know, on the indies, you know, people would say they would have all of these suggestions for what you should do because you were Native. Well, I didn’t want to necessarily be a primary focus of my character, I’m definitely proud of my heritage, but I’m also black, there’s a lot of intersectionality going on here. You know, but, for me, it was trying to find a way to have subtle nods at my heritage, little tokens that I could be proud of to showcase to the world to kind of put myself, to kind of put Natives American on that forefront. 

NYLA ROSE SHARES WHAT SHE WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT BEING TRANSGENDER IN THE WRESTLING INDUSTRY 

“You know, I’m definitely tired of it, but I get it. It’s new for a lot of people, it’s a very new thing, it’s a new world, it’s a new experience, I get it and it’s new for a lot of people. Especially a lot of cis-gendered heteronormative people who don’t have to think about these sorts of things. So, I definitely get it, but I guess if there’s anything I could say, it might go over some people’s heads, but it’s you know, first and foremost, being transgender is not a sexual orientation, that’s a gender identity, and sex and gender are two totally different things. Or sexuality and gender are two totally different things, I should say. So, I think a lot, that’s where a lot of people get hung up on, because their so quick to lump transgender performers in with you know, lesbians, gay, bisexual performers, but, yes, LGBTQ community is one community, but these are two different things. That being said, I’m no different than you guys, like truly, at the end of the day, I’m no different than you guys, I just want to go out there and perform. Hate me for the right reasons.”

Check out more quotes from this interview here.