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    not your typical rose

    Barrier-breaking wrestler Nyla Rose goes beast mode with Ken Hoffman in new interview

    Ken Hoffman
    May 16, 2022 | 12:45 pm
    Nyla Rose
    The Beast is broadcasting from Houston Wednesday.
    Nyla Rose/Instagram

    Wrestler Nyla Rose is not the girl next door … unless your neighbor is a quick-witted, former sitcom star turned in-your-face, kick-ass, biracial, bisexual, ground-breaking, rule-breaking, transgender female wrestler.

     

    You’d be smart to clear the aisle and keep your comments to yourself as she heads to the wrestling ring. There have been transgender wrestlers in professional wrestling before, but not in a national major league company like All Elite Wrestling and never one to win the women’s world championship title like Rose did in 2020.

     

    All Elite Wrestling will broadcast its weekly “AEW Dynamite” show from Fertitta Center on the UH campus on the night of Wednesday, May 18. Among the stars scheduled to appear are: AEW champion Hangman Page, Jeff Hardy, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Dr. Britt Baker DMD, Samoa Joe, Chris Jericho, and William Regal. CM Punk will be on commentary during Hangman Page’s match. Tickets starting at $29 are available here.

     

    We caught up with the rock star Nyla Rose over the phone last week.

     

     CultureMap: Were you a wrestling fan as a kid? Who were your favorite wrestlers?
     Nyla Rose: Absolutely! Mostly I watched on TV with my grandmother. I started to go to live shows when I was 12 or 13. I was rooting for everybody, I was just happy to be there. Specifically my favorite wrestlers were the Texas Tornado, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and, of course, Bret Hart.

     

     CM: Not Ric Flair?
     NR: Sorry, I wasn’t a Ric Flair fan. As I got older I came to appreciate him but as a kid I wanted to see him get his head punched in.

     

     CM: Did you dream about becoming a wrestler when you went to the live shows?
     NR: Oh, 100 percent! I never thought it was possible, though. It was more of a fantasy. I didn’t know how you go about doing that. I put it on the same level as watching the Simpsons. Man, I would like to go to Springfield and hang out with the Simpsons.

     

    I didn’t know that you could go to wrestling school and become a pro wrestler. It was as far-fetched as being in a cartoon with Tom and Jerry.

     

     CM: Your nickname is the “Native Beast.” They say that wrestlers typically take their natural personalities and crank them up 1,000 percent. What appeals to you about playing the lowdown heel role instead of a goody-goody babyface?
     NR: I really don’t know. I just out there and do what I do. Maybe I have a natural mean streak. If we pull back the curtain, you get away with a little bit more as the bad guy. To me, it’s just more fun. I don’t know if it’s true with everybody about turning up your personality but it’s definitely the case with me. We all have different facets of ourselves.

     

    Being able to tap into our experiences make for the best character. My character is a bit of a bully. While I might not be a bully in my personal life, those are experiences I had in my life. I tap into those and turn them on their head.

     

     CM: Where did you grow up? Tell me about your parents.
    NR:
    I grew up in Washington D.C. for about half of my younger years. Then we moved out to the suburbs in Alexandria, Virginia. I’m still out that way. My mother is Black and Native American. My father is white and Native American. I identify as a Black Native woman.

     

     CM: You wrestled for several years on independent circuits before joining AEW in 2019. Then you won the AEW women’s title from Riho in 2020. That was fast. Tell me about it.
     NR: It happened super quickly. I absolutely did not see that coming. I was given a unique and very blessed opportunity to have the match, but I did not think for one second that someone like me would be fortunate enough to hold the title, especially so early on with the company.

     

    To be given the reins and for the company to have faith in me to be the champion was a completely surreal and amazing thing to happen. Hopefully I can do it again.

     

     CM: Have you ever wrestled in Texas? This is a legacy wrestling state and the fans don’t hold back. You better bring your A game.
    NR:
    I love wrestling in Texas! I’ve been there on the independent scene, also with All Elite Wrestling.

     

    It’s an amazing place with fantastic people, despite what some of my tweets may say (laughs). Texas crowds bring lots and lots of energy and it’s always a good time.

     

     CM: How old were you when you realized that transitioning to female was something you needed to do?
    NR:
    That’s a tough question to answer. I didn’t know that (transitioning) was even a thing. How do you go about doing that? I knew who I really was as young as 2 or 3 years old. When I did learn what transition was, that it was medically possible, something attainable, I probably was about 12 or 13.

     

    I didn’t think it was possible for me, though, so I resigned myself to living the life I had to live. When I was 26 or 27 it really weighed on me and I knew a change had to happen.

     

     CM: You realized who you were as a child but waited until you were in your late 20s, so you lived many years …
     NR: Pretending.

     

     CM: How difficult were those years?
     NR: It was incredibly difficult, absolutely insufferable. To everybody who knew me back then I have to apologize because I was not a very good person. I didn’t like who I was and I was miserable and I may have taken that out on other people. It wasn’t until I found my truth that I found happiness and peace.

     

     CM: Professional wrestling is a tough business with tough people. Under the best circumstances, wrestlers don’t roll out the welcome wagon to new performers. How has the business treated you?
     NR: Fans like to voice their opinion. You overhear things on your way to the ring. As far as other wrestlers, I almost wish it had been more direct. There was a lot of talking behind my back. Somebody might be two-faced, telling me one thing but then you hear from somebody else how things really are.

     

    Or, you overheard something. That was a little heartbreaking for me. But it also was very freeing in a sense that it let me carve out my own path. This is who I am. I know what I’m going to do and I do it.

     

     CM: Do you see yourself as a role model for people who are in a similar situation that you faced when you were younger?
     NR: I don’t see myself as a role model but I do understand that I am one. I understand what I mean for so many people because when I was growing up there was nobody like me on TV. If there was, it was treated like a joke. I get it, I understand.

     

    Here you have me, who’s proud of her indigenous heritage, who’s proud of her blackness, who’s unapologetic of being trans, who’s proud of being bisexual and who lives freely and openly and puts it in your face and doesn’t back down. I know there are people who see me and think they can live like that, too.

     

     CM: You compete even-up against women. It’s a hot button issue in high school and collegiate sports. Should transgender female athletes be allowed to compete against cisgender (born female) women?
     NR: I think if they are meeting the requirements set forth by the hosting group or athletic commission or the Olympic committee, whatever, then they absolutely should be allowed to compete.

     
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    game, set, zina.

    Best of Ken Hoffman: Interviewing Houston's greatest tennis icon

    Ken Hoffman
    Aug 29, 2024 | 12:30 pm
    Zina Garrison, tennis player
    ITATennis
    Garrison, a tennis legend, is now the tennis director of Houston Parks and Recreation.

    Editor's note: After the sudden death of beloved columnist Ken Hoffman on July 14, CultureMap is republishing some of our favorite "Hoffman's Houston" columns. In honor of the U.S. Open, here's Ken's interview with Houston tennis legend Zina Garrison; it was originally published on June 27, 2022.

    As a child, Zina Garrison learned how to hit a tennis ball on the public courts at MacGregor Park during the 1970s and became, simply, the most accomplished player ever from Houston.

     

    She developed into a Grand Slam champion, a Top 5 ranking in the world, Wimbledon finalist in 1990 with 20 tournament titles, Federation Cup captain, and Olympic gold medal winner and later Olympic coach.

     

    Now Garrison is back where she started, only this time she’s devoted to making Houston a great place to learn and play tennis … again. Like she did.

     

    “I am now the tennis director of Houston Parks and Recreation,” Garrison tells me. “I’m over all the public tennis programs and facilities. The job came open recently and I applied for it.”

     

    Wait... she’s the greatest champion this city has ever produced — and she had to apply for that job?

     

    “To be honest, I was more interested in the benefits than the money. As you get older, you start thinking differently,” she shares.

     

    Unlike the major sports leagues in America, tennis doesn’t provide any healthcare insurance or assistance once a player, even a legend, retires.

     

    “They’re working on it,” Garrison, 58, notes. “But as of now, nothing.”

     

    Garrison said her first priority as Houston’s tennis director is to repair the public courts.

     

    “I want to bring the public tennis facilities up to where I’d be proud, where everybody would be proud, to bring people to use our courts. There are cracks in the courts. Nothing’s really been done in the last 20 or maybe 30 years,” she says.

     

    “I’ve traveled to Florida and some other places and they have really nice public courts. Tennis in Houston was really thriving for a while and we had nice courts and people could play in the parks. We had junior programs. We flourished. That’s my main goal.”

     

    While I had Garrison on the phone, I served up some questions:

     

     CultureMap: Wimbledon is on. You’re familiar with that tournament, right? Who are your picks to win the men’s side and women’s side?

     

     Zina Garrison: Yes, I’m familiar with Wimbledon. I have my alarm set for the early morning so I can watch. I have a weird pick, a more personal pick, for the men.

     

    I would love to see Rafael Nadal keep going on, but it’s going to be tough for him. The guy from Italy, Matteo Berrettini, I watched him play a couple of weeks ago and I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people. And I am absolutely in love with that little guy, Carlos Alcaraz, from Spain. He’s made me watch tennis again.

     

    On the women’s side, I don’t think it will be Iga Swiatek. I think it’s just too hard to keep a streak like hers (35 matches in a row including the French Open title) going in today’s game. It’s really wide open. I don’t really have a pick, it’s just who comes in and plays well at the right time.

     

     CM: What do you think about Natela Dzalamidze, the doubles player from Russian who switched her nationality to Georgia so she could play Wimbledon, which has banned players from Russian and Belarus this year?

     

     ZG: I don’t like that she was able to do that. I was just on the phone with (former pro turned broadcaster) Chanda Rubin talking about what’s going on in tennis these days.

     

    First of all, there is the human rights stuff that’s going on in Russia and Ukraine. We have to start forcing accountability for actions. A lot of people didn’t agree with what Wimbledon did, but I think they had to take a stand.

     

     CM: The women’s GOAT is easy — it’s Serena. But who do you think is the men’s GOAT?

     

     ZG: Wow, that’s a hard one. If you had asked me earlier this year, I would have said Roger Federer because of everything he’s accomplished. But right now I’m going to have to go with Nadal. Nadal has taken tennis to a whole ‘nother level, of getting people to watch, coming out of the pandemic, where he has matches and you think he can’t come back and he’s still grinding no matter what.

     

    For me, he is the epitome of what we need in this world right now: Never give up but not be selfish about helping others. I know it sounds clichéd, but that’s what I’m going through right now.

     

     CM: When I first met you, you were painfully shy. It was hard to get an answer out of you. Now you’re a TV commentator and a regular chatterbox. What happened?

     

     ZG: I was an introvert but I had always been intrigued by people of wisdom. A lot of it came as I developed confidence in myself. I had always been told at a very young age, if you really knew me, I spoke a lot. If you didn’t know me, I would be quiet. I would only speak about things that I was extremely passionate about.

     

    As I’ve gotten older, because of my experiences. I feel like I can help people so I’m not afraid to say what I want to say.

     

     CM: Starting the week after Wimbledon, coaches will be allowed to communicate with men players during matches. Up to now, that’s only been allowed in the women’s game. Every other sport allows coaching. Do you think tennis should allow coaching, too?

     

     ZG: I don’t think coaching should be allowed. That’s one of the great things about tennis. That’s a part of the sport, that you grow and figure things out. You learn to think for yourself.

     

    There’s always been little signals from coaches, but now you have these full blown conversations. Another bad thing about allowing coaching is it gives the players the opportunity to blame a loss their coach. That’s not good for the sport.

     

     CM: You were known for wiggling your butt when receiving serve. Did you know you were doing it? Did you do that on purpose?

     

     ZG: It started off as kind of a joke with my coaches. They said, we need you to move your feet. I said, you mean like this?

     

    So, it started as a joke but I realized that it helped get my feet moving: Okay, I’m going to keep doing this.

     

    I’ll never forget that year after I got to the Wimbledon finals, 1990, I went over to Japan and there were 1,200 people there … and all of them started wiggling!

     

     CM: What was the first extravagant thing you bought for yourself when the tennis prize money started rolling in?

     

     ZG: It was 1982, and I bought a candy apple red Volkswagen convertible with a white top.

     

     CM: You were on the Biggest Loser, the show where contestants compete against each other to lose weight. Let’s just say you didn’t win. Are you happy you went on that show, or do you regret it?

     

     ZG: I was one of the first who had to leave the competition. (No, you were THE first.) It was an experience, but I probably shouldn’t have done it. I think I regret going on there. It wasn’t what I thought it was.

     

    It was reality TV and at the time I didn’t know what reality TV was .I was more ready to get out of there than anything else.

     

     CM: Now here’s the big question, Zina. For years, I’ve had a running disagreement with ESPN 97.5 FM morning host John Granato about which is a more demanding, tougher sport – golf or tennis?

     

     Granato says it’s golf, because the tournament winner has to beat every other player that week, while in tennis the winner just has to beat seven players at most. And, each week, golfers have to contend with a different course.

     

     But, I say it’s tennis because players have to be in top physical condition, while nearly anyone in any shape can win a golf major.

     

     Plus, in golf, players have a caddy helping them make decisions. In tennis, players are on their own.

     

     In golf, you can have a bad day on Thursday and still win the tournament. In tennis, if you have a bad day in the opening round, you’re on a plane out of there.

     

     In golf, it’s the player against the course. There’s no defense in golf. In tennis, there’s a human opponent trying to beat you.

     

     In golf, the ball is lying still. In tennis the ball is coming at you at 140 mph.

     

     So which is the tougher sport, golf or tennis? I’m right ... right?

     

     ZG: Are you serious? Who is this guy who says golf is harder? The answer is tennis and it’s not even close.

     

    You’re playing against someone. You’re only controlling the ball when it’s on your side of the net. You can’t control what the other player is doing. It’s almost like a boxer coming at you.

     

    You have to have both the physical and mental capacity to win. In golf, if you have a bad day, it’s because you’re having that bad day. There’s no opponent competing with you. So, I’m saying it’s tennis.

     

     CM (note to John Granato): I win. Granted, it might have been the way I asked the question. Also, Garrison is a former tennis pro.

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