The Washington Post - 05.10.2019

B6 EZ RE K T H E  W A S H I N G T O N  P O S T.S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R  5 ,  2 0 1 9

Women’s World Championship
on the debut episode of a new
show, “Dynamite,” from All Elite
Wrestling, an upstart promotion
that aims to compete with WWE
with a message of inclusion.
When Rose signed with AEW
earlier this year, the company
and the wrestler played down
her gender identity, focusing the
story line on her strength in the
ring, her imposing size and her
Native American heritage.
As her fandom grew, so did the
backlash. Angry messages from
wrestling fans emerged in online
chat rooms and on Twitter
threads, bringing the usual out-
rage that comes from a transgen-
der woman competing in female
sports. Even in a sport that is
scripted and performative, some
still questioned whether Rose’s
placement in women’s matches
is fair.
“I’m actually a little concerned
about how she is with the other
wrestlers, because for most of
her life, she was stronger, pro-
portionately, by a lot. But now
she’s something else,” said Adam
Fried, a plumber from Silver
Spring, one among the scores of
mainly male wrestling fans who
had waited in line for Wednesday
night’s show.
Joshua Szafran, 28, a real
estate agent from Baltimore who
was wearing a Bluetooth in his
ear and a T-shirt with the words
“Eat Greg Eat,” said he felt it was
a “politically motivated” and “po-
larizing” choice for AEW to pro-
mote Rose so soon.
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” said
Szafran. “It definitely feels more
like virtue-signaling than any-
thing else.... They want to
virtue-signal and say they’re
checking all the boxes they have
to check.”
But for Chris Hirsch, a 32-
year-old who goes by the name
“Fuzzy” and drove 2^1 / 2 hours from
Harrisonburg, Va., with his wife
and 7-year-old daughter, it really

WRESTLER FROM B1

AVERAGE RECORD ACTUAL FORECAST

PREVIOUS YEAR NORMAL LATEST

<–10–0s 0s 10 s20s 30s40s 50s 60s 70 s80s 90s100s 110+

T-storms Rain Showers Snow Flurries Ice Cold Front Warm FrontStationary Front

NATIONAL Today Tomorrow

High

Low

Normal

Record high

Record low

Reagan Dulles BWI

Reagan Dulles BWI

Today’s tides (High tides in Bold)

WORLD Today Tomorrow

Sources: AccuWeather.com; US Army Centralized

Allergen Extract Lab (pollen data); airnow.gov (air

quality data); National Weather Service

* AccuWeather's RealFeel Temperature®

combines over a dozen factors for an accurate

measure of how the conditions really “feel.”

Key: s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, r-rain,

sh- showers, t-thunderstorms, sf-snow flurries,

sn-snow, i-ice

Moon Phases Solar system

NATION

OFFICIAL RECORD

Rise Set

REGION

Past 24 hours

Total this month

Normal

Total this year

Normal

Richmond

Norfolk

Ocean City

Annapolis

Dover

Cape May

Baltimore

Charlottesville

Lexington

Washington

Virginia Beach

Kitty Hawk

Harrisburg Philadelphia

Hagerstown

Davis

OCEAN:

OCEAN:

OCEAN:

OCEAN:

Temperatures

Precipitation

for the 48 contiguous states excludes Antarctica

Yesterday's National

80° 3:02 p.m.

70° 6:50 a.m.

72°/55°

94° 1954

34° 1974

78° 2:50 p.m.

68° 6:46 a.m.

72°/48°

90° 2013

26° 1974

79° 3:00 p.m.

67° 7:00 a.m.

71°/50°

92° 1954

31° 1974

Washington 1:37 a.m. 9:06 a.m. 2:21 p.m. 9:01 p.m.
Annapolis 5:46 a.m. 1 0:55 a.m. 5:15 p.m. none
Ocean City 1:05 a.m. 7:17 a.m. 1:42 p.m. 8:26 p.m.
Norfolk 3:18 a.m. 9:20 a.m. 3:56 p.m. 10:19 p.m.
Point Lookout 2:26 a.m. 7 :05 a.m. 12:54 p.m. 8 :07 p.m.

69

°

61 ° 77

°

66 ° 80

°

58 ° 72

°

54 ° 72

°

55 ° 70

°

56 °

Sun 7:07 a.m. 6:45 p.m.

Moon 2:28 p.m. none

Venus 8:18 a.m. 7:22 p.m.

Mars 6:12 a.m. 6:21 p.m.

Jupiter 12:38 p.m. 10:07 p.m.

Saturn 2:27 p.m. 11:58 p.m.

Oct 5

First

Quarter

Oct 13

Full

Oct 21

Last

Quarter

Oct 27

New

0.00"

0.00"

0.43"

31.03"

30.55"

0.00"

0.00"

0.42"

30.25"

32.34"

Trace

Trace

0.45"

27.25"

32.33"

Blue Ridge: Today, partly sunny, cool. High 52–56. Wind
southeast 4–8 mph. Tonight, mostly cloudy. Low 46–50.
Wind south 4–8 mph. Sunday, partly sunny, afternoon
shower. High 59–63. Wind southwest 4–8 mph. Monday,
afternoon rain. High 61–65.

Atlantic beaches: Today, partly sunny, afternoon shower.
High 66–72. Wind northeast 10–20 mph. Tonight, mostly
cloudy. Low 57–65. Wind southeast 7–14 mph. Sunday,
mostly cloudy, milder. High 74–79. Wind south 10–20 mph.
Monday, mostly cloudy. High 77–82.

Pollen: Moderate

Grass Low

Trees Low

Weeds Moderate

Mold Moderate

UV: Moderate

4 out of 11+

Air Quality: Good

Dominant cause: Particulates

72/60

71/65

66/62

68/61

65/56

65/59

68/58

69/58

64/56

70/66

72/67

67/54 65/54

66/55

63/51 69/61

72°

73°

77°

77°

Waterways: Upper Potomac River: Today, partly sunny, cool. Wind
northeast 5–10 knots. Waves a foot or less. Visibility unrestricted.

• Lower Potomac and Chesapeake Bay: Today, partly sunny, cool,
  breezy. Wind east 10–20 knots. Waves around a foot or the lower
  Potomac, 1–3 feet on the Chesapeake.• River Stages: The stage at
  Little Falls will be 2.8 feet today, holding nearly steady for Sunday.
  Flood stage at Little Falls is 10 feet.

Albany, NY 59/42/s 66/60/c

Albuquerque 76/51/s 76/46/s

Anchorage 50/35/r 46/32/c

Atlanta 82/63/pc 82/66/pc

Austin 96/69/s 96/63/s

Baltimore 68/58/s 76/64/c

Billings, MT 57/39/pc 59/40/s

Birmingham 94/69/t 86/69/pc

Bismarck, ND 56/43/r 58/36/pc

Boise 62/35/s 64/38/s

Boston 59/47/s 68/62/c

Buffalo 62/52/s 69/52/sh

Burlington, VT 55/40/s 64/58/c

Charleston, SC 79/68/c 83/67/sh

Charleston, WV 78/60/s 77/59/sh

Charlotte 70/60/c 80/63/c

Cheyenne, WY 63/33/s 58/30/s

Chicago 63/51/r 66/48/pc

Cincinnati 78/62/pc 75/53/sh

Cleveland 68/60/s 74/52/sh

Dallas 93/73/s 93/58/pc

Denver 68/37/s 61/34/s

Des Moines 67/44/r 65/44/pc

Detroit 63/56/pc 69/50/pc

El Paso 86/63/s 87/56/pc

Fairbanks, AK 40/27/sh 38/27/c

Fargo, ND 55/43/r 57/38/c

Hartford, CT 61/39/s 67/62/c

Honolulu 87/73/s 85/72/s

Houston 93/73/s 91/72/s

Indianapolis 74/59/pc 71/50/t

Jackson, MS 93/68/pc 89/67/pc

Jacksonville, FL 88/73/pc 86/71/c

Kansas City, MO 71/45/t 64/43/pc

Las Vegas 86/61/s 87/62/s

Little Rock 86/67/pc 87/58/t

Los Angeles 84/59/s 85/60/s

Louisville 84/67/pc 79/56/t

Memphis 89/69/s 89/58/t

Miami 89/77/pc 89/76/pc

Milwaukee 60/51/r 66/49/s

Minneapolis 59/47/r 62/44/pc

Nashville 90/68/s 83/59/t

New Orleans 92/76/pc 89/74/t

New York City 60/53/s 71/64/c

Norfolk 71/65/c 79/68/pc

Oklahoma City 83/59/pc 70/48/t

Omaha 67/45/t 66/42/pc

Orlando 88/72/pc 88/73/pc

Philadelphia 65/54/s 74/65/c

Phoenix 96/69/s 96/68/s

Pittsburgh 67/57/s 72/53/sh

Portland, ME 58/39/s 61/56/c

Portland, OR 66/46/pc 71/47/pc

Providence, RI 60/42/s 68/60/c

Raleigh, NC 71/61/c 80/61/c

Reno, NV 71/39/s 72/43/s

Richmond 72/60/pc 80/62/pc

Sacramento 83/51/s 87/52/s

St. Louis 76/55/t 71/50/pc

St. Thomas, VI 89/80/sh 89/81/t

Salt Lake City 61/39/s 62/40/s

San Diego 74/59/s 76/60/pc

San Francisco 77/55/s 82/56/s

San Juan, PR 90/78/pc 90/79/t

Seattle 62/45/pc 64/50/c

Spokane, WA 57/36/pc 61/40/s

Syracuse 61/47/s 68/56/sh

Tampa 91/73/pc 91/74/pc

Wichita 76/51/t 64/44/pc

Addis Ababa 68/51/r 70/50/pc

Amsterdam 57/45/pc 51/41/r

Athens 80/65/pc 78/66/s

Auckland 64/52/pc 63/53/pc

Baghdad 99/68/s 98/66/c

Bangkok 90/77/sh 89/76/c

Beijing 66/44/s 63/46/c

Berlin 51/34/pc 51/33/pc

Bogota 67/48/sh 66/47/r

Brussels 56/47/sh 56/45/r

Buenos Aires 67/46/s 69/53/s

Cairo 95/71/s 93/71/s

Caracas 73/66/t 73/67/t

Copenhagen 49/37/sh 47/36/pc

Dakar 88/79/pc 88/80/s

Dublin 61/48/r 60/48/pc

Edinburgh 55/48/r 56/47/r

Frankfurt 56/42/pc 52/43/r

Geneva 61/45/c 62/45/c

Ham., Bermuda 78/70/pc 77/72/pc

Helsinki 40/28/c 41/29/c

Ho Chi Minh City 90/74/t 90/75/t

Hong Kong 90/80/pc 87/77/t

Islamabad 84/62/s 82/64/c

Istanbul 69/58/sh 67/57/r

Jerusalem 82/60/s 80/62/s

Johannesburg 86/58/s 84/59/s

Kabul 66/50/pc 59/47/pc

Kingston, Jam. 88/77/t 88/79/t

Kolkata 91/76/t 89/76/t

Lagos 82/75/t 85/76/t

Lima 65/59/pc 65/59/pc

Lisbon 73/61/pc 80/61/pc

London 61/53/c 61/49/r

Madrid 81/53/s 81/53/pc

Manila 89/77/t 90/77/t

Mexico City 75/54/t 75/54/t

Montreal 54/38/s 60/54/sh

Moscow 50/37/c 39/33/r

Mumbai 89/77/t 89/79/t

Nairobi 74/58/pc 75/58/t

New Delhi 92/70/pc 94/72/pc

Oslo 44/27/s 45/29/pc

Ottawa 55/39/pc 62/48/r

Paris 63/54/sh 63/51/sh

Prague 52/38/r 48/31/pc

Rio de Janeiro 87/74/s 82/72/s

Riyadh 103/78/s 103/79/s

Rome 75/57/sh 74/58/pc

San Salvador 84/69/t 84/69/t

Santiago 73/41/pc 78/49/pc

Sarajevo 58/41/t 57/37/pc

Seoul 73/53/s 73/56/pc

Shanghai 79/65/c 77/64/pc

Singapore 89/78/pc 89/78/c

Stockholm 43/29/sh 43/32/sh

Sydney 67/59/r 77/65/pc

Taipei City 90/76/s 86/75/pc

Tehran 81/60/s 82/64/s

Tokyo 83/69/s 74/65/sh

Toronto 55/51/pc 68/50/sh

Vienna 57/43/r 53/35/pc

Warsaw 51/35/c 47/34/pc

Today

Partly sunny

Sunday

Partly sunny

Monday

Mostly cloudy,

showers

Tuesday

Partly sunny

Wednesday

Mostly sunny

Thursday

Partly sunny

M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M

through 5 p.m.yesterday

Difference from 30–yr. avg. (Reagan): this month: +14.7° yr. to date: +3.0°

High: Marion, AL 103°

Low: Daniel, WY 11°

World

High: Al–Ahsa, Saudi Arabia 113°

Low: Ust–Omchug, Russia –11°

Weather map features for noon today.

WIND:ESE 7–14 mph

HUMIDITY:Moderate

CHNCE PRECIP:0%

FEELS*:69°

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:75°

S 8–16 mph

Moderate

15%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:77°

SSW 8–16 mph

Moderate

65%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:72°

N 8–16 mph

Moderate

5%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:72°

NE 7–14 mph

Moderate

5%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:69°

NE 7–14 mph

Moderate

10%

A full taste of fall

Fall-like temperatures in the mid- to
upper 60s are below average for this
time of year. It may be a slight shock
to our bodies, having come from 98
degrees on Wednesday. Easterly
breezes remain light to moderate, with clouds
slowly increasing only near sunset. Night brings
calm winds. A raindrop or two can’t be ruled out
near dawn. Temperatures bottom out near 60
degrees downtown, while temperatures near the
mid- to upper 50s are possible away from the city.

The Weather

W A S H I N G T O N P O S T. C O M / W E A T H E R  .  T W I T T E R : @ C A P I T A L W E A T H E R  .  F A C E B O O K. C O M / C A P I T A L W E A T H E R

wasn’t “that big of a deal.”

If it had been a mixed martial

arts fight, Hirsch said, “then I’d

have an issue with it. But wres-

tling is entertainment.”

Hirsch said he doesn’t person-

ally know anyone who is trans-

gender. “Everyone has their own

opinions on it,” he said. “To me,

it’s wrestling. Leave it alone.”

Die-hard wrestling fans like

Hirsch didn’t come to make a

political statement. They came to

see punches thrown and bodies

flipped. They came to be enter-

tained.

And that was exactly what

Rose said she had hoped for.

Rose knew there might be fans

watching who have never known

a trans person. With Rose in the

ring, “they can see another way

someone lives their life. Some-

thing they’re not normally used

to,” she said in an interview

Wednesday before the show. “So

it eventually becomes not a big

deal.”

For Rose, fighting in such a

major ring, in her hometown, is a

big deal. A formally trained ac-

tress and martial artist of Oneida

heritage, Rose grew up watching

wrestling on TV with her grand-

mother in a lower-middle-class

home in the Mount Pleasant

neighborhood of Northwest

Washington.

She attended T.C. Williams

High School in Alexandria,

where she was on the wrestling

team for one week and “hated it.”

“It was not as theatrical as I

hoped it would be,” she said. “I

thought they were going to let

me get a crazy costume and get

some entrance music and be all

flashy.” She stuck with the drama

club instead and eventually en-

tered the independent wrestling

scene to pursue a career that

combined her love of both.

“I’ve always known who I

was,” she said about her gender

identity. But she didn’t start

medically transitioning until she

was in her mid-20s, once she had

already started wrestling at

smaller independent shows.

She assumed the wrestling

world would reject someone like

her. But six years ago, she was

given a chance to fight with a

promotion owned by Cody Covey,

Rose recalled to Sports Illustrat-

ed. She decided to tell the owner

that she was transgender. “He

was like, ‘That’s cool; I don’t care.

Can you wrestle?’ ” After the

match, Rose broke down in tears.

“For him to have that vote of

confidence and just not care, it

was incredibly emotionally over-

whelming,” she told Sports Illus-

trated.

In the years that followed, she

continued landing spots in inde-

pendent promotions on the East

Coast and in Japan. In February,

she signed with All Elite Wres-

tling.

On Wednesday night, she

faced a roaring crowd in her

hometown.

“Nyla! Nyla! Nyla!” fans shout-

ed.

“She’s the Native Beast!” a

commentator said, using her

wrestling moniker, a nod to her

Native American heritage.

A commanding figure, with

tattooed tributes to the Legend

of Zelda and “General Tso’s

chicken” — in Chinese characters

— Rose grabbed Riho like a rag

doll, flinging her around. She

lifted the tiny wrestler up in the

air, Riho’s legs kicking around.

At one point in the match,

Riho kicked Rose out of the ring

and tried diving on top of her.

But Rose caught her easily in her

arms like a baby.

Later, back in the ring, Riho

tried picking up Nyla for a “pow-

er bomb” but failed.

“Her body just collapsed,” a

commentator on the live broad-

cast said.

“No shortage of spirit, of

pluck, moxy or grit from Riho,

but Nyla Rose just with a dis-

tinct, overwhelming advantage,”

a commentator said.

Riho had been training to be a

professional wrestler her entire

life. And as she drop-kicked and

punched Rose, the fans around

the ring got onto their feet. It was

clear Riho was the “babyface” of

the match, the crowd favorite.

And it was clear that, at least

according to the AEW script,

Rose’s size didn’t matter all that

much after all.

“The fans are really into this

one.... No matter who wins this,

we have been impressed with

both these ladies,” a TV commen-

tator said.

“It’s been a hell of a match,”

said another.

At the match’s climax, Riho

sprinted across the ring, kneeing

Rose in the face, stunning her

and pinning her down.

“One, two, three!” the crowd

chanted.

Riho was crowned the winner,

the first AEW Women’s World

Champion.

“Un — be — lievable!” the

commentator on the TV shouted.

[email protected]

In first, openly transgender woman stars in wrestling championship in D.C.

PHOTOS BY ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

LEFT: A packed arena awaits the start of the All Elite Wrestling Women’s World Championship at

Capital One Arena in Washington on Wednesday. ABOVE: Nyla Rose, an openly transgender wrestler,

appeared at times to dominate her opponent, Riho. But in the end, Riho made a surprise comeback.

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