Lars Sullivan saw Nyla Rose talking about discrimination she believes she faced because she is transgender — and his response was about as subtle as a chair shot to the face.
The former WWE star jumped onto Twitter after Rose discussed the Oklahoma controversy and fired off a brutal one-liner aimed directly at the former AEW Women’s World Champion, writing, “What an angry, miserable old man.”
That was Sullivan’s entire response. No argument about the Oklahoma Athletic Commission. No pushback on Rose’s claims about promoters disappearing on her. No explanation. He simply went straight after Rose personally while referring to her as a man.
Rose’s comments came during her interview with Denise Salcedo, where she was asked whether the Oklahoma situation was the first time she believed being transgender had cost her a wrestling opportunity. Rose said she seriously doubts it.
“I’m I’m sure I have. I’m sure I have, but I probably did not know because it wasn’t so uh bold and blatant, right?”
Rose explained that she can look back at moments during her independent wrestling career when promoters suddenly stopped responding or gave her excuses that never completely made sense.
“Um there there definitely have been times I’ve been left on red or given like answers and reasons that didn’t quite add up and I think that was just people kind of like tiptoeing around the delicate nature of things.”
Then she got to the part that clearly struck a nerve. Rose said she believes some people now feel much more comfortable openly saying things they previously might have kept behind closed doors.
“Uh but with certain regime in charge, people feel very emboldened now to just kind of speak their hateful heart. And I think that’s that’s a big part of what happened in Oklahoma.”
Sullivan’s response came right after those remarks — and his own history makes the comment hit even harder. This is the same Lars Sullivan whose old bodybuilding forum posts exploded into a massive WWE controversy after racist, sexist and homophobic comments surfaced from years earlier. WWE eventually slapped Sullivan with a $100,000 fine and ordered him to undergo sensitivity training. Ringside News covered WWE’s explanation for the $100,000 punishment when the controversy blew up.
And the controversy didn’t exactly stop when Sullivan left WWE. Sullivan later went after Big E on social media and claimed the former WWE Champion breaking his neck was “karma” while attacking him over his past support for Black Lives Matter. Now Rose is the latest wrestler Sullivan has targeted online.
The Oklahoma situation Rose was discussing dates back to December 2023, when the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission took issue with her wrestling another woman under its rules governing male and female competitors. That situation eventually put Rose right in the middle of a much larger fight over how transgender wrestlers are treated by state athletic commissions. Rose also made it clear she wasn’t accusing every single person involved of personally hating her. She acknowledged that some officials may have simply been trying to follow regulations and protect themselves from getting into trouble.
“I think I think that’s one of those situations where it’s like a 50/50 split because at a certain point the government is involved in things when you have like the athletic commission because then that trickles down yada yada yada. Uh so I think it’s a very 50-50 mix between people uh trying to cover their ass and then just some people just being hateful and ignorant.”
That makes Sullivan’s timing pretty wild. Rose was literally explaining how she believes people have become more comfortable openly expressing hostility toward her, and minutes later Sullivan was online calling her an “angry, miserable old man.” Rose has not publicly responded to Sullivan’s post as of this writing.
What do you make of Lars Sullivan calling Nyla Rose an “angry, miserable old man” after her Oklahoma comments? Let us know in the comments.
