Transgender wrestler Gabbi Tuft, formerly WWE’s Tyler Reks, is ready for her close-up again

It’s been 12 years since Gabbi Tuft wrestled on television as WWE’s Tyler Reks. Since then, professional wrestling has changed a lot – and so has she.

Tuft publicly came out as a transgender woman in February 2021, after several years of treatment and surgeries. She lives in Texas and is raising her daughter, now 13, and has started a business as a personal trainer and life coach.

And Tuft wanted nothing more to do with professional wrestling – until now.

Tuft said she has reached an agreement with a major wrestling company to return to the industry soon. For weeks, her social media accounts have been counting down to June 25 with the message: “Mom is coming.”

In a recent interview with Sentinel, Tuft did not reveal his wrestling destination. “I have the element of surprise,” she said. “When the day comes, I want a massive explosion of people on the edge of their seats.”

Tuft said her journey back into the ring began in late October 2023, when she made a social visit to the Rhodes Wrestling Academy in Leander, Texas, owned by Tuft’s former WWE colleague Dustin Rhodes . When she got into the ring, something clicked.

“When I first stopped by, it was just to check in with Dustin and some of his trainers that I knew from WWE, just to chat,” Tuft said. “When the students were taking a break, I stepped into the ring and felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. They were old friends with whom I had already played many matches and that day I started to ask myself questions: if I want to start training, what does that look like?

Tuft’s commitment was immediate. She began to understand what she could do physically (“I was a little slower than before, but it was like riding a bike”) and even to understand who she could be, what character she could play , as part of the new life she had carved out for herself.

Since then, she has trained intensively at the Rhodes Academy; at America’s Academy of Pro Wrestling in Austin; and with WWE Superstar Natalya at her Dungeon wrestling school. She has also made public appearances backstage at WWE’s NXT shows in Orlando, as well as All Elite Wrestling events.

“I’m 45 years old. I don’t have time to mess around. It’s now or never,” Tuft said. “I’m not going to think about it for six months – if I have to, I’m at 110 %, right now I’ve done every workout possible and spent every day watching current wrestling shows. I would walk around my house and office cutting promos out loud and deciding exactly. what I want to do.

Tuft said her transition didn’t start with a sudden epiphany. It wasn’t, as some have speculated, a reaction to the hypermasculinity of professional wrestling – his decision to begin transitioning didn’t happen until years after he left WWE.

It was, she said, the discovery of long-repressed feelings.

“When I was a kid, I played with girls’ toys, like My Little Pony and Barbie, as well as Star Wars and He-Man,” Tuft said. “I tried on girls’ clothes. But I learned that this kind of thing was not acceptable, so I buried it. I made the decision (to transition) at the age of 36, but I can’t pinpoint any triggering moment.

Today, Tuft describes herself physically as “mostly” female, with some estrogen and virtually no testosterone. She’s about 100 pounds lighter than during her WWE peak, but her body fat percentage is also higher as her figure changes. For now, though, she said she’s taking a break from debilitating surgeries (she’s had five in the span of four years) while she pursues her wrestling dream.

When Tuft first went public, she said the reception among her former wrestling colleagues was almost universally positive and welcoming, as was that of the public. But after an appearance on the popular podcast “Talk is Jericho” in September brought his story back to the forefront, fans and trolls on social media became nasty and critical.

“When Chris (Jericho) posted my episode on Twitter,” Tuft said, “all of a sudden I got very mixed reviews, with a lot of (fans) saying things like, ‘What a waste, he had it all and he threw it away,’ or ‘Be a man, suck it up.’ And at the time, to some people, I was living the embodiment of what most men dream of (as a WWE wrestler). But it wasn’t about that, it was about being. in peace.

So where does Tuft’s great countdown lead? Take a look at her social media and you’ll get a good idea of ​​what she wants to do. Her character is named Mother and she told the Sentinel that this plays into the mixed reactions she personally received from the public during her transition. Based on her description, like all the best wrestling characters, she takes aspects of her own life and turns them to 11.

“You can’t please everyone,” Tuft said, referring to his character alternately in the first and third person. “Half the world will look at this character, a trans woman, and wonder why I’m back, they’ll hate me; the other half will understand me and absolutely love me. It doesn’t matter, the whole world will be watching. “Mother sees you, my child. » She recognizes each of her “children”. I want my “family”. I need love and human connection. I need meaning.

Tuft’s WWE alter ego, Tyler Reks, spent three years in the company after a stint with Tampa’s Florida Championship Wrestling, but never reached the top of the card. Reks is probably best known for his team with Curt Hawkins in NXT and on Smackdown, but Tuft now says that Reks’ character was never given the opportunity to build. She left WWE in August 2012, requesting her release and returning home to her then 8-month-old daughter.

“I’m not a good guy in the ring,” Tuft said. “I’m a really good heel now. Who Tyler Reks was was unclear. You could have handed me to the fans on a silver platter and they still wouldn’t have known who I was. But now I know my value, what I bring to the ring, I know who I am and who my character is, how I can entertain.

All this constitutes a truly full circle moment.

“I left to be reunited with my family, with so much ahead of me,” Tuft said. “Now that (my daughter) is almost 13, I travel all the time for business anyway and she’s okay with it, so it’s time. This is the real me, me as authentic as possible, knowing who I am, and no one can control me. This is 100% my creation and I am 100% sure I can finish what I started.

Gabbi Tuft knows her character. She knows herself. And soon, so will the world.

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