She’s a fantastic wrestler, and could absolutely sustain a solo push instead of just playing supportive sidekick to Mandy. You could certainly make the case (and I have) that Sonya has yet to receive the respect she deserves in WWE. Since then she’s kept working with her best friend Mandy Rose, and when WWE remembers that they have a women’s tag division, the two wrestle as Fire And Desire. Although she didn’t end up going far in that competition, she got signed to NXT all the same, and made her Main Roster debut in late 2017 as part of Paige’s short-lived faction Absolution. In fact, Sonya came out on television in the first episode of the 2015 season of WWE’s Tough Enough reality show. She’s the first openly lesbian WWE Superstar, and also the first Superstar to be out at the time they signed with the company. I don’t need to tell you who Sonya Deville is. If you have a favorite that I didn’t include, be sure and tell us why they’re great in the comments. There are only eight slots, and there are actually quite a few LGBTQ wrestlers these days. In general, no disrespect to anyone who got left off of this list. No disrespect to Kenny, who I love all the same. Kenny Omega was also a contender, as most fans consider him to be bisexual, but he’s been pretty evasive about that outside of wrestling storylines, so I was uncomfortable putting him on a list of wrestlers who are meant to be entirely out of the closet. Unfortunately leaving off retired wrestlers also excludes the much younger Kris Wolf, one of the most delightful wrestlers of the past few years, who only just retired this April due to concussion problems. If you actually pay attention though, wrestling seems to be getting gayer every day, as more and more performers come out, and more young performers who’ve never been closeted to begin with join the business.Ī few caveats and honorable mentions: WWE Legend Pat Patterson is obviously hugely important to history as a gay wrestler from an era where that was basically unthinkable, but I want to keep this short list focused on current wrestlers whose careers you can follow right now. For those of us in the queer community who enjoy wrestling, it can be disheartening sometimes how few people like us seem to be in the business, especially when you’re focused on the mainstream product. This week, I’m celebrating Pride Month by spotlighting eight proud LGBTQ wrestlers. Matches, performers, shows - whatever is helping us enjoy wrestling in a particular week, that’s what this feature is all about.
YOUNG GAY MEN WRESTLING IN A RING PRO
15 15.8 Great is our new, extremely original listicle series where we take a break from snark and negativity to focus on the positive and list eight of our favorite examples of something great from pro wrestling. Keep reading to learn about 15 lesbian moments in pro wrestling that made our jaws drop, in more ways than one. Either way, if you happen to be one of those people who just want to be enticed by the imagery, there will be plenty of that, as well. That said, on very rare occasions, even WWE has somehow managed to get it right and make a compelling storyline out of lesbian issues. Unfortunately, it seems like whenever they try to make a woman’s gimmick that she’s in love with another female, the result is horribly offensive to real lesbians, let alone any viewers who happen to live within the bounds of good taste. Were McMahon or any other promoter able to handle LGBT characters with the proper respect and care, maybe a storyline like this could actually entertain an audience in a non-sexual way.
YOUNG GAY MEN WRESTLING IN A RING PROFESSIONAL
Thanks to a certain sports entertainment impresario being one of the men who buys into this fantasy even more so than most, World Wrestling Entertainment and other professional wrestling companies have been especially guilty of turning their employees into lesbians simply to titillate a crowd.
Given that the entire point of being a lesbian is that a woman has no romantic interest in men, this seems a little counterintuitive, and yet in the world of popular culture, semantics like these are a little bit less important. For whatever reason, one of the most prevalent male fantasies in modern culture is seeing two women engage in a sexual experience together.