AEW: Nyla Rose talks regaining the title, women’s wrestling and the woman behind the badass

Nyla Rose looks to becomes AEW’s two-time Women’s Champion at Full Gear

This Saturday night at Full Gear, Nyla Rose will face Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship. Shida defeated “The Native Beast” back in May at Double or Nothing to become the new women’s champion. Should Nyla regain the title, she would add another first to her repertoire: AEW’s first two-time women’s champion.

Ahead of Full Gear, I had the opportunity to speak with the former women’s champion to discuss a multitude of topics.

A second title run would be smoother as AEW Women’s Champion

During Nyla’s first title run, the wrestling world was turned upside down by COVID-19. Her initial reign lasted 101 days. With a second title reign, Nyla thinks that we’re in a groove now with shows in their current environment. “Right out of the gate, it would a smoother run with the title. It was a little bumpy. Everyone got thrown for a loop, no matter where your walk of life took you–be it pro wrestler, writer, janitor–everyone was thrown for a loop.”

“For myself, it would be like it has been the last few weeks, except now I’m in control because I’m the champion. I know the landscape, I know how to walk. I’ve got Vickie in my corner. It would be a lot easier and a lot more fun.”

Vickie Guerrero is the “X factor”

During night two of Fyter Fest, Nyla revealed that she had a manager. She pointed out that the current champions at the time had managers. Nyla felt that in order to regain her championship, she needed a manager. She later revealed that her manager was none other than the legendary Vickie Guerrero.

Now that she has her title shot, Vickie can help because “she is that X factor” as Nyla put it. “She’s on top of things. Two minds are greater than one. Two pairs of eyes on the prize. Two minds and two personalities. Vickie picks up on things that I may be missing or overlooking, especially with her history and her expertise. She’s able to fine-tune me, if you will.”

The duo call themselves the Vicious Vixens. Once they get past the goal of regaining the AEW Women’s Championship, there could possibly be an expansion into a faction.

“There’s strength in numbers. Vickie has been around wrestling for her whole life. She knows her stuff, she knows the in and outs.”

While she isn’t sure if it is something that will come to fruition, it is a topic they’ve discussed. The focus is Shida right now. “Regain and retain; those are the main focus points.” She points out how strength in numbers have helped the Dark Order.

Bridging the gap with AEW and other companies

AEW currently has a working relationship with NWA. Thunder Rosa has made several appearances in AEW and defended the NWA World Women’s Championship. Since then, new AEW signee Serena Deeb has won the title. She will defend the title against Allysin Kay on The Buy In before Full Gear.

Nyla would like to face Deeb. “She’s elevated herself. She’s got a title…I want it. First step is Shida, next step is getting that NWA title. I’d be ‘Nyla Two Belts'”.

Working with other promotions around the world is something Nyla would like to do in the future. She loved how all the other promotions worked together when she was wrestling in Japan. “There was so much synergy. They had amazing turnouts and the fans loved it. Everyone benefited from it. It’s definitely something I’d love to see become the norm in the US.”

“Right out of the gate, I’m thinking Sendai Girls, Marvelous, companies like that in Japan. Selfishly, my girls over at Marvelous–I’d love to get them over here and team up with Takumi Iroha and get my old partner back, Mio Momono.”

AEW women’s division has the talent, drive, and passion

When discussing some fan complaints about the women’s division, Nyla points out “the talent is there. The women have the drive and they have the passion. It’s only a matter of time. We’re just going to get out there and keep doing what we’re doing; keep grinding. We’re going to show the world and we’re going to blow them away.”

“It’s real easy for people to get online and talk down about things. The reality of it is that we had the women’s tag team tournament. It was fantastic. Negative things seem to get a lot of spotlight, so it just seems like it was magnified that way. But, the reception to that was positive. The reality is that the reception to the tag team tournament was absolutely positive. People get online and share a link and actually tune in instead of just complaining about it being on YouTube, that would make a world of difference.”

Cinematic matches are the continued evolution of pro wrestling

The wrestling world has had to adapt to not having big crowds. One creative way they’ve done that it with cinematic matches. AEW had its first cinematic match at All Out with Big Swole and Britt Baker. Nyla would like to try her hand at having a cinematic match.

“I’m definitely interested in that and have mentioned a few things. Maybe this is speaking it into the universe; maybe some things will see the light of day in the future, the near future. But, some things are on the way. I don’t want to give too much away, but some interesting, very fun things have been discussed.”

When discussing cinematic matches becoming something that happens as we get back to “normal”, Nyla believes that they are “the continued evolution of professional wrestling. It’s the next step.”

The woman behind the badass

On TV, Nyla is known as a badass. But, Twitter has proven that she also has a sense of humor. If you’ve spent any time on her timeline, you have likely seen her memes.

Nyla says she has to “get better at tagging them so that they don’t get away from me.” Pointing to her head, she says, “this thing right here, it never turns off. It’s a dangerous time we live in because I’ve got all of the editing software right at my fingertips. The second something comes up, I’ve got to create this.”

November is National Native American Heritage Month. As you’ve seen, Nyla proudly represents the Oneida (pronounced Oh-nigh-duh) on a national and even global scale. “It means the world in all honesty because a lot of people seem to think that Native Americans in general are this ancient civilization or an ancient society. They’re completely oblivious to the fact that like–I don’t want to make us sound like vampires, but like, we walk amongst you. (laughs) We’re still around; healthy, thriving communities. Sadly, a lot are very impoverished.”

“It is still something that is going on to this day. It makes me proud when I get feedback from Native communities that they love seeing someone in a positive light that’s not on TV whooping around and doing the stereotypical things. That brings me a lot of pride.”

One way that Nyla represents the Oneida is with her gear. For Full Gear, she has something special. “In all honesty, the look was inspired by the pay-per-view itself. We’re Full Gear, so I was like, ‘we have to do this look.’ As far as the base look, there is a lot of my Native American heritage that I wear on there. It’s a just a nod to that and to what makes me, me.”

Juggling a pandemic, parenthood, and mental health

When discussing balancing parenthood and working during a pandemic, she’s had to learn to juggle everything.

“In some cases, it’s a little strenuous, but you find ways to make it work. You can’t not do anything, you have to do something. And they’re not always going to be the right answers right away, but having that adaptability and just going, ‘well, let’s try this and see if it works.’ You find those new routines, you find ways to get that workout in. You just have to make it work.”

Nyla also stresses a great family and support system makes it so much easier.

Mental health has been a topic among wrestlers, not just because of the pandemic. More wrestlers have been open about their mental health and some have even walked away due to their mental health struggles.

In dealing with mental health, Nyla says the first step is admitting that there is a problem.

“Not sweeping it under the rug and having an open, honest discussion with yourself. Not to sound negative, but to admit things. Admit to yourself what’s going on.”

“If you need to take a break and just go on a long walk–that’s one of my personal favorite things to do. Just hit a local nature trail. I’ve heard the term ‘green bath’ somewhere, just immersed in nature and the trees. I don’t know if that’s a real thing, but I absolutely love the idea. Go take a green bath. Get out there and breathe some fresh air and stay off the toxicity of the internet for once.”

Nyla also recommends buying a heavy bag to let some aggression out.

“Read a book, play some video games. Do things that bring you joy. It’s about knowing what you need and how to express that and having the people there that are going to support you and give you what you need.”

Support AEW by watching Full Gear

Turning our focus back to Full Gear, Nyla fans might want to start a prayer circle for Shida because she’s going to beat her so bad.

Along with their match, she says all the matches will be good.

“This is such a cop-out, diplomatic answer, but the whole show is insane from top to bottom. Even The Buy In is going to be great. Serena vs. Allysin Kay is a dream matchup in all honesty.”

She also mentioned John Silver vs. Orange Cassidy and the “I Quit” match. She recommends buying some Depends because you’re not going to want to miss anything.

Focusing on next year, Nyla says that we can expect “a lot”.

“Me and Vickie, we’ve got some plans. Like I said, the first step is getting the championship. Once we get that secured, everything else is going to fall into place like a well-played game of chess.”

One last message from Nyla: “Watch Full Gear. Say a prayer for Shida. Continue to support wrestling. The pandemic has hurt a lot of people in the indies. Support wrestling.”

Full Gear airs on Saturday, November 7 at 8 PM ET on BR/Live. The Buy In starts at 7 PM ET on YouTube.