The All Elite Wrestling (AEW) women’s champion and transgender trailblazer Nyla Rose and her wife tag-teamed a transphobic man in the crowd and a commentator who defended him.
Towards the end of the AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash broadcast on Wednesday night, a man in the front row flashed a homemade sign that read:
“Nyla Rose is this guy’s dad.”
It also had an arrow pointing to the right of him.
Another fan caught a video of the moment Rose came into the ring to begin her TBS Championship tournament semifinal match against Ruby Soho.
The fan tweeted out the video and tagged the AEW, TNT Drama and Warner Brothers.
"Hey @AEW have you ejected this transphobe yet?"
"Has he been banned from all future events for bringing a transphobic sign and holding it up in front a trans woman during a live televised event?"
"Is @tntdrama aware? Has @warnerbros been notified?"
Rose took a second to read the sign and casually flipped the middle finger at the man before hopping into the ring.
Kel, Rose's wife, tweeted a picture of the middle finger moment with the caption:
"My wife is the strongest person I know.”
According to Outsports, Kel alerted security guards about the sign and the man was removed from the event. The man even tried to "disguise" himself by removing his hoody to avoid the consequences of his choices.
The AEW, among many other independent wrestling arenas, have adopted a fan code of conduct displayed at the top of the event. It says things like “treat all fans and staff with respect and courtesy” and no “foul, harassing or abusive language towards other fans or staff.”
Violations of the code means a fan will suffer “ejection without refund and potential loss of the ability to attend future events.”
But the bigotry didn't stop in the ring.
While fans of Rose were cheering her on, commentator Jim Cornette tweeted a not so hot take on the removal of the transphobic man and his sign.
While Cornette was spewing hate, Kel came back for round two.
Many other fans came to support Rose as well.
Kel followed up on the whole situation in a Twitter thread:
"The security team at AEW is absolutely amazing."
"The guy was escorted out."
"Just because it wasn’t fast enough for some of you, doesn’t mean they didn’t do their job."
"Their first priority it to protect the talent that is actively performing."
"They removed the a**hole with the sign as soon as they could."
"Neither myself nor Nyla would want them to not protect the other workers just because of one douche canoe holding a sign."
"He was dealt with; end of story. This is and always will be a Security Sam Stan account."
"Transphobes are gonna always be like this."
"After almost 10 year together, this is sadly something I’m used to seeing."
"It’s definitely become less over the years."
"All we have to do is keep holding them accountable and call them out."
"They fight back because they are p*ssed."
"That they are finally being called out on their bullsh*t."
"There is nothing they could say to me or Nyla that we haven’t heard 1000 times already."
Kel also thanked everyone for showing such incredible support for Rose.
She's happy people brought so much attention to the bigotry.
She continued:
"In life. I’m winning."
"She’s an internationally known wrestling star and my work is showcased every time she steps into a ring."
"We have a wonderful family and amazing friends. It honestly doesn’t get much better."
The love for Rose and Kel continues to pour out online.
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