The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission was unable to make a decision as to whether men and women should be able to compete against each other in professional wrestling matches.
As reported by OKC Fox, the governing body met on Tuesday, October 8th and spoke about changing the rule but were unable to reach a verdict after previously attempting to come to a decision back in July.
The report adds that the body remains “still conflicted” about the ruling. As such, the committee voted to the legislature to pick up the issue in a legislative hearing.
The conversations stemmed from an AEW match that took place in the state back in December 2023 featuring transgender wrestler Nyla Rose. The OSAC took issue with Rose wrestling a woman as it went against their rules, a move which generated a lot of backlash in the wrestling community. According to OSAC rules, a match between a transgender woman and a CIS-gender woman is deemed to be an intergender match and goes against the sporting guidelines.
Many showed their support for Nyla Rose following the ruling, including AEW President Tony Khan.
As reported by OKC Fox, some members objected to the change as they felt it would break a recent law passed regarding gender rules in other sports:
Some OSAC members said a rule change would violate a recent law that says athletes must play on a team matching their biological sex. Some members said that the law wasn’t applicable in the case of professional wrestling.
Commissioner Michael Stopp made the following statement to OKC Fox, stating that he doesn’t think the rule will pass:
“Even if they are defined by statute as male and female, are we still going to allow them to wrestle together,” Stopp said. “That’s the question, and it’s going to get lost. The rule will never pass.”
Pro Wrestler Hits Back At Oklahoma State Athletic Commission Claims
The backlash generated from the complaint saw many point out that professional wrestling is a pre-determined form of entertainment and not a legitimate sporting contest. Oklahoma wrestler Logan Knight said the following to OKC Fox regarding the updates:
“Professional wrestling is not a sport, it is sports entertainment. It is derived from a sport meant to entertain.”
Knight was also at the meeting and has posted a video to his YouTube channel.