The match is really interesting, a 100% physical confrontation all based on muscles and power. You have rarely seen Venere forced to make such a great effort to give serious trouble to her opponent. I was over the moon about how many [people] reached out and could relate, even I didn’t realise at that point how many people were like me [struggling],” Morgan said. I’d like to think that if Darren Young had debuted in WWE a few years later, things would have gone better for him. On the other hand, considering everything that still goes on there, it’s hard to be confident even in that. Young debuted in 2010 as part of Nexus, and publicly came out as gay in 2013. That made him the first WWE Superstar to come out while still actively wrestling. At the time, he was in the Prime Time Players tag team alongside Titus O’Neil. They briefly held the Tag Team Championship during a 2015 feud with the New Day, which was the only Title Darren held during his years in WWE. Johns has become a regular with Perth-based promotions Explosive Pro Wrestling and Southern Hemisphere Wrestling Alliance in recent years as both a singles wrestler and with his tag team partner James Hartness, collectively known as Cut-Throat and Then Some.

I don’t need to tell you who Sonya Deville is. She’s the first openly lesbian WWE Superstar, and also the first Superstar to be out at the time they signed with the company. In fact, Sonya came out on television in the first episode of the 2015 season of WWE’s Tough Enough reality show. 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. 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. He and Bussy teammate Allie Katch represent one of the more intense tag teams in pro wrestling. His continued rivalries with close friends Billy Dixon, MV Young and Parrow delivered match of the year contenders throughout 2021, and he held his share of gold, claiming Cardona’s Internet title alongside his Fest title and Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment Tag Team title with Ashton Starr. EFFY continues to spread the power of independent wrestling through his words and Twitch channel, even counterprogramming Monday Night Raw with his own Monday Not Raw indie wrestling showcase. Simply put, EFFY is EFFY, and he is far more than fine. She told PinkNews some people in the wrestling industry “felt my promo was unnecessary” and that “real life didn’t need to be spoken of” in the ring. The country has made great strides with increasing awareness on the subject of homosexuality and transgender issues through PSAs and through advocacy groups educating the public. The movement by the LGBTQ community was centered on the desire not to be shunned for their differences but to be accepted as part of the fabric of society.

Similarly, Morgan shared that she “can’t wait” to share the ring and tag up with her best friend and fiancée. She added that becoming a tag team has been something she had as a goal “since we returned to wrestling”. It’s something that’s super important because I went through that same journey that a lot of people are going through in the LGBTQ community, which is struggling with my sexuality and being open about it,” Deville said on Outsports’ LGBT In The Ring podcast. “That’s the position I was in seven-plus years ago.”

The significance of that role isn’t lost on Deville, as her push for authentic LGBTQ representation and visibility within WWE remains a goal seven years after her first appearance on WWE programming. Whether she’s stepping into the ring to dish out punishment or using her power as a well-suited official to do the same, Sonya Deville’s presence within WWE speaks to more than your average pro wrestling fan. Deville is a history maker, becoming the first out lesbian competitor in WWE history and one of the most forward-facing figures for the LGBTQ community to millions of WWE fans. Sonny Kiss is going places! He was an underused highlight of the last season of Lucha Underground, where he was known as XO Licious. Then he signed with All Elite Wrestling. He didn’t get nearly enough to do at Double Or Nothing, where he participated in the Casino Battle Royale, but he did have a memorably funny spot with Tommy Dreamer, and he at least made enough of an impression to make Jim Cornette uncomfortable, which is never a bad sign if you ask me. It’ll be really exciting to see where his AEW career goes from here, especially when the TV show starts this fall. I’ve found who I am as a person, a woman, but years I’ve been struggling with my sexuality,” Amber Jo wrote. “Now I can come out and say I’m happy to be Pansexual.” The image of Deville running through a Pride celebration on Total Divas exclaiming “I’m gay” is a GIF that plays on repeat in the minds of many (including me). The excitement in her voice perfectly matched with the joy on her face is both a landmark and an image that no one with knowledge of any mainstream pro wrestling programming from 1995 onward ever thought they would see.WWE Raw Women’s champion Rhea Ripley showed Johns support, saying, “So proud! Love you,” in a reply to Johns’ coming out post. Prior to Ripley’s time with WWE, she and Johns regularly worked together, clashing over the Adelaide-based Riot City Wrestling Women’s championship, a title both held at one time. Johns described the months-long process it took them to understand their identity as “some of the hardest of my life” but found “peace with myself” in putting his identity out in the open. “Telling people has been terrifying, but each time I was met with absolute love and support, which made me wonder why I was ever scared at all,” Johns said. Since his release, Fred Rosser has been wrestling on the indies under his own name. In 2018 he appeared in Big Time Wrestling and Chikara, as well as Nuclear Heat Wrestling, where he had a great match against another openly gay wrestler, Jake Atlas (more him in a bit). So far this year he hasn’t been in the ring, focusing on podcasting and working with LGBTQ charities. He hasn’t announced a retirement, however, so there’s a good chance we haven’t seen the last of Fred Rosser. In a revealing and heartfelt Facebook post titled “ Here Goes Nothing,” Cage detailed how he kept the information from going public for so long because he feared rejection. Paige was raised in a wrestling family and even had her first match at 13 tagging with her mother no less, so you could literally say that wrestling is in her blood.

British wrestling’s top LGBT+ couple Jetta and Charlie Morgan are bringing queer representation to the squared circle with their upcoming tag team debut for PROGRESS Wrestling.Matt Cage is an independent wrestler known for his work in various independent promotions in the USA such as IWA Mid-South, Dragon Gate USA, Chikara and many others. Possibly motivated by the coming out of Darren Young, Matt Cage revealed in 2015 that he was gay after years of hiding his sexual orientation and battling depression.