Former WWE Superstar Who Left Men's Division Now Re-Entering the Ring to Train as a Transgender
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
A former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar who once weighed a hulking 280 pounds soon might be paid to throw women around as a transgender wrestler.
Thanks to surgeries and hormone therapy, Gabe Tuft — known as Tyler Reks in WWE before he left in 2012 — “transitioned” into Gabbi Tuft in 2021.
He recently decided to re-enter the ring as a “woman” 10 years after retiring in 2014.
This is a dodgy career move that was unheard of until a few years ago, when liberals and their corporate media lapdogs began rabidly promoting transgenderism.
Consider the absurdity of this scenario: A 45-year-old male athlete decides to come out of retirement a decade after leaving his sport to compete against women who are in their prime.
Of course, in the scripted world of professional wrestling, anything is possible.
In January, Tuft posted TikTok videos of himself practicing in the ring to face off against women.
“It’s been 11 years since I ‘ve been in a ring,” he wrote in a caption.
@gabbituft Day 1…of many. – #AEWCollision #aew #AEWdynamite #WWE #WWESmackdown #WWERaw #rhodeswrestlingacademy ♬ Sweet Dreams – PuppetMaster
@gabbituft Day 2…Maybe I’ll wrestle guys – #aew #AEWdynamite #AEWCollision #WWE #WWESmackdown #WWERaw #RhodesWrestlingAcademy ♬ Get It – Big Boss Vette
The 6-foot-2 Tuft — who said he weighed 280 pounds with 6 percent body fat at his peak — told Fox News on Feb. 5 that it was difficult to lose all the muscle mass he had built up over the years in order to be eligible to wrestle as a woman.
“It is a chore,” Tuft said. “I was shocked how much muscle I retained.
“I forced my body to burn muscle with these long extended cardiovascular sessions at high intensity and stayed in keto for a very long time, and I stopped lifting weights.”
Claiming he was once the “alpha male of alpha males,” he said taking estrogen during the past few months to qualify for the women’s wrestling division has been grueling.
“It’s been it’s been a sobering … year to six months,” Tuft said, describing his experience with hormone therapy as “like going through a second puberty.”
He said his transgender journey has been fraught with emotional landmines punctuated by suicidality and a broken marriage from his wife of 22 years.
“We are separated now, and we’re kind of like in the middle of a divorce that we’re not in a rush to finish,” Tuft said. “She and I are still best of friends. We co-parent … Everything’s amazing now.”
He told Fox News that his brother had committed suicide in 2012 following a crippling methamphetamine addiction.
By 2020, Tuft said he too felt suicidal, although he said his instability was unrelated to drugs or even to his desire to be a woman.
“I didn’t want to live,” he said. “I couldn’t give you a solid reason as to why. I really couldn’t. And I still can’t. And it’s one of those soul-searching moments.”
Shockingly, Tuft said he still doesn’t know why he wanted to kill himself or why he suddenly wanted to transition into a female.
“[I]n all honesty, I don’t know exactly why this happened or why I felt the incredible urge to transition or not be here,” he told Fox News. “It’s one of those things I’d love to get answers to.”
Does this make any sense? You feel like killing yourself and don’t know why, but you suddenly think changing genders will cure your existential crisis.
Aside from the excruciating mental health issues inherent to transgenderism, the issue of allowing men to compete in women’s sports has ignited a volcanic backlash from critics who say it’s unfair.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who’s a physician, has said the very idea is misogynistic and anti-science.
Similarly, MMA commentator Joe Rogan has said allowing men to beat up women in contact sports is akin to sanctioned domestic violence.
“We’re built different, and it’s just a fact. And anyone who tries to argue that is crazy,” he said in a 2018 podcast.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.
Rogan, a self-proclaimed social liberal, said transgender athletes shouldn’t be allowed to fight women in combat sports because we need to “keep women from getting beaten up by men.”
While pro wrestling is scripted entertainment rather than actual athletic competition, one wonders how female wrestlers would feel about being thrown around the ring by Gabbi Tuft.
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