Mr. Wonrfuls: On Wrtlg's Gay Characters - Colette Arrand

Contents:

• MR. WONRFULS: ON WRTLG’S GAY CHARACTERS
• GAY WRTLG UNIVERSE
• GAY WRTLERS
• WRTLG’S GAY HISTORY AND OPTIMISTIC FUTURE
• FROM THE INSI OUT FILM FT: THE TWISTY GAY HISTORY OF PROFSNAL WRTLG AND MORE
• 10 PROFSNAL WRTLERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

MR. WONRFULS: ON WRTLG’S GAY CHARACTERS

And are set to wrtle at No Peace Unrground’s Fear The Gay Agenda event on June 11.

There have been tim I’ve intified as gay, bi, pan, ace, and others, ” he said. Wrtlg fans often like to remisce about how awome everythg was back the Attu Era, but one thg that was cidly unol was how pro wrtlg ma LGBTQ wrtlers stay the closet while g kayfabe gay romance storyl for shock value or havg a wrtler "play gay" to draw heat.

In fact, when Goldt turned face, WWE ma a big al out of announcg his heterosexualy, while Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo pretend to marry 2002, then stopped the ceremony to say "jt kiddg, ha ha, we're not gay, eher. Not only do Katch wrtle solo GCW, but she has partnered up wh Effy a tag team lled Bsy or, as Katch has lled the duo, Too Gay Power Trip. Anthony Bowens may be one of the bt-known, most outspoken gay wrtlers, but wasn't too many years ago that he was nervo about g out and how might affect his reer.

GAY WRTLG UNIVERSE

That vio has over a quarter of a ln views and nearly 7, 000 lik, and Bowens may well now be the most over gay athlete the sport. ) He is also AEW's first openly gay belt holr, ever sce September 2022 when he and Max Caster won the AEW World Tag Team Champnship at "AEW Dyname: Grand Slam. Last Word on Sports tells that Asa has been wrtlg sce high school and me out as gay at that time as well.

Although Exotis' mps was origally seen as strictly kayfabe, Cassandro was the first such performer to e out as gay.

In dog so, he broke ground for numero other gay Exotis who have reclaimed the trope and ma an empowerg one rather than somethg meant to margalize or make fun of the LGBTQ muny.

GAY WRTLERS

(Note on the pronouns: Effy referred to Cassandro lguistilly fluid fashn as he, she, and they durg his terview wh Wrtlg Inc., but sourc cludg Outsports and Gayly refer to him wh mascule pronouns so we've followed this nventn, as well. The reason why we've listed him unr his old WWE rg name is bee this is what he was gog by when he ma history as the first-ever WWE wrtler to e out as gay, dog so a 2013 TMZ terview. Shortly after Young ma his announcement about beg gay, he was ntacted by Cher.

Not only is Effy himself out and proud, but he's created his own promo to showse LGBTQ athlet lled Effy's Big Gay Bnch. Jake Atlas me out while he was still the di, so as per So Cal Uncensored, so when he signed on wh WWE, he did so as a fully out gay man. Prr to jog the pany, Atlas had also lled his shot by appearg on an episo of "Unrver Boss" and announcg his goal was "to bee the first openly gay WWE world champn.

While Darren Young may have been the first openly gay WWE wrtler, Sonya Deville was the first woman on the roster to e out as LGBTQ. (For those unfaiar wh this acronym, 's meant to be a more clive — not to mentn, fun to say — alternative to LGBTQ, wh Btle explag that stands for queer/qutng, uncid, tersex, lbian, trans, bisexual, asexual, gay/genrqueer.

WRTLG’S GAY HISTORY AND OPTIMISTIC FUTURE

ROH as a tourg promotn has existed for 13 years, and Castle is jt their send gay act, so far as I n rell.

They were roundly cshed by a pair of big nasti lled Da H Squad and hered om the buildg as the crowd chanted homophobic slurs. Not jt as a gay profsnal wrtlg character—old hat 2015—but as a gay hero standg oppose a threat that is clearly evil. Lethal beats Castle, of urse—long-tenured champns rarely lose to butg characters—but what’s notable here is the role reversal, the gay character as a good man, all proclivi asi.

FROM THE INSI OUT FILM FT: THE TWISTY GAY HISTORY OF PROFSNAL WRTLG AND MORE

World Wrtlg Entertament, by far the largt, most succsful promotn the history of profsnal wrtlg, employs an out gay wrtler and has another one their hall of fame, but spe all of the pomp and circumstance at their disposal, and though 65 years have passed sce Wrtlg om Marigold first graced the DuMont Network, there has never been a good guy gay character wh a higher profile than Dalton Castle.

Sure, there’s a latent homoeroticism to profsnal wrtlg—always has been, always will be—but to acknowledge this aspect of the dtry any other ntext than one that impli revulsn would be a te revolutn.

The roots of homophobia profsnal wrtlg are ep, knotted and gnarled the origs of the product seen today. This, effect, is the prototypil gay wrtlg gimmick, an effete man of Wilan grac, a poet who preferred the hammerlock to the pen. That’s the objectn to a gay gimmick wrtlg, an objectn that has sound om Geo Gee to Adrian Street to Adrian Adonis to Goldt and, which, prumably, rms the look of disgt on Jay Lethal’s face while Dalton Castle talks about stretchg out his hamstrgs.

10 PROFSNAL WRTLERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

How n a gay menace exist an environment where a part-time hair stylist wh a glor Kentucky waterfall n stt to the rg clad fishs to preen and give his opponent a haircut?

It’s bt, when thkg about how homosexualy is portrayed a wrtlg show, to thk of the face as a character the dience is meant to intify wh, and the heel as a character they’re opposed to.

The gay villa, given a twisted versn of the Geo Gee template, is a “morn” character. He cheats and nniv, but equently what’s most important about a gay character is that he has no ntrol over his outlandish impulse to pat his face and wear women’s clothg, to kiss men public whout shame or repense.