Former pro wrestler Gabbi Tuft says she wants to return to a WWE ring “very shortly” and face one of the company’s biggest stars, two years after publicly coming out as transgender.
Tuft, who underwent open-heart surgery in 2019, revealed to TV Insider she recently stepped between the ropes for the first time in over a decade while visiting a training school owned by industry veteran Dustin Rhodes (formerly known as Goldust). “Since I did that there has been a huge resurgence and feeling for what I love,” Tuft said, adding that she was actively seeking medical clearance to compete once more.
“I said to my doctor, ‘Hey, review my scans. Am I clear to go wrestle if I want?’” Tuft said. “I’m hoping to hear back from [them] this week to see if I’m a hundred percent clear. If that’s the case, very shortly I may resume training.”
In her original run with WWE from 2008 to 2012, Tuft wrestled under the moniker “Tyler Reks,” a troublemaking villain or “heel” who played a reliable foil to the company’s heroes. As Reks, Tuft faced off against numerous high-profile male stars of the era, some of whom are still active in WWE, like Kofi Kingston, The Usos, and (somehow) CM Punk. In her comments to TV Insider, Tuft praised one potential future opponent who’s rocketed to wrestling fame and Sapphic adoration over the past few years: Rhea Ripley.
Ripley, the current Women’s World Champion and resident leather-clad demoness of the “Judgement Day” team, has become a huge breakout star over the past few years, appealing especially to queer wrestling fans who dig black lipstick and shoulders. (It helps that calling her “mami” and/or “papi” is, according to WWE’s storytelling, canonically appropriate.) Ripley “is such a force in WWE. She is powerful,” Tufts told TV Insider. “To be honest, when I look at her and her athleticism and tenacity, I see a phenomenal opponent. A phenomenal match in the making.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Tuft praised fellow trans wrestlers Nyla Rose and Gisele Shaw, who perform in All Elite Wrestling and Impact Wrestling (soon to be rebranded TNA, again) respectively. “I love Nyla and Gisele [....] It’s incredible to see them part of the women’s division,” Tuft said, hinting she feels “like there is a spot there for WWE” to finally introduce an out trans wrestler.
“You haven’t seen it there yet. It’s raising questions as to why. Are they waiting for the right opportunity?” Tuft wondered. “It’s definitely a question in my mind. Maybe someday there is someone who can fill that hole very soon.”
Although WWE has yet to feature an openly trans or nonbinary wrestler on TV (and no, “Santina” and other comic-relief drag characters don’t count), the company has slowly opened its doors to queer authenticity, both in and out of the ring. WWE wrestler Steffanie “Tegan Nox” Newell came out as bisexual in 2020, followed by ring announcer Kayla Braxton the next year, while lesbian star Daria “Sonya DeVille” Berenato got engaged to her “ride or die” partner this February. (Kimberly “Piper Nevin” Benson made a coming-out post in 2019, but has since deleted it and hasn’t discussed her sexuality since.) And while WWE’s stories about gay relationships can get, uh, messy, Tuft is right to point out that the company could just hire a trans wrestler and let them wrestle, much as AEW has with Nyla Rose.
Whenever WWE is ready, Tuft has made it clear she’s willing to lace her boots back up and re-debut — not as the “monster of a male” she says she once was, but as a trans athlete who loves her body.
“[T]he day I stopped caring about what other people thought, was the day I truly became limitless,” Tuft wrote in her 2021 coming-out post. Alas, “limitless” is already taken as a wrestling catchphrase, but if Tuft does get cleared for an in-ring return, we’ll be first in line to get her merch regardless.
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