Following Nyla Rose's AEW Women's Title victory over Riho last Wednesday, former WWE superstar Val Venis took to social media to give his thoughts on the matter.
Venis criticized AEW and Rose, an openly transgender wrestler, for allowing Rose to win the Women's World Title. Venis wrote, "When I turn on the mind numbing boob-tube to watch two women wrestle for the championship, I expect to see REAL WOMEN wrestling. Today I identify as a Great Dane. Gonna enter the Westminster dog show and win the XL Dog title.”
He later clarified his comments, writing, "I never claimed #NylaRose was cheating. Its scripted & could be a heat seeking story line when portrayed responsibly. My position was & still is that portraying a biological MAN winning the Womens championship is not something to portray as moral, ethical or logical."
Speaking on a media call, AEW Co-Executive Vice President Cody addressed Venis' comments.
"It's disappointing. If you are someone that perhaps grew up liking Val Venis, he's kind of like the Disco Inferno of WWE, I don't know if anyone really knows who Val Venis is anymore. It's disappointing because I don't think he actually means the terrible, awful things, he's putting in writing. I think he's just trying to get a booking. We're not booking Val Venis and you're not gonna be booked anywhere near us."
He continued, "The real way to end some of this bigotry, transphobia, and negativity is don't hit the ball back. We all know who we're talking about here. They're the same people who do this. When we hit the ball back, you give them oxygen. I'm not giving Val Venis any oxygen when it coming to Nyla Rosa. Nyla Rose won the Women's World Championship because she was the best woman at AEW. That's just it. Stop hitting the ball back to those people. It's 2020, everybody should love everybody."
Venis was in the vocal minority of those who spoke against Rose's victory, with the majority supporting Rose for her achievement.
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