you’re the one who paid to see sweaty men in underwear grope each other

January 23, 2018 9:54 AM

Heels and Faces: The Struggles And Joys Of Being LGBTQ In The Pro-Wrestling World

Despite its conservative origins, pro-wrestling fandom is largely liberal leaning. Is the industry finally ready to support athletes that reflect this?

Also worth noting that the author of this piece is best known as the curmudgeonly smarky air-horn happy DJ Accident Report from the NYC based drag queen nightlife group The Nobodies. The Nobodies are most known on the internet for their Nobodies Watching Wrestling series on youtube. On the most recent episode The Nobodies tackled some of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12

(but not all of it because it runs about five hours long)

posted by teamKRL (4 comments total)

Calling Dalton Castle’s boys “literal man servants” is a deep mischaracterization of their relationship. They aren’t his servants; they’re his boys. As Dalton explains in this series of gifs, “Their name is boy. Their role is boy. Their job is to be a good boy.”

It’s not that complicated.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:39 AM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

On the one hand, cigar-smoking, scotch-drinking abuser Pat Patterson claiming there's no discrimination against queer wrestlers is a bit disingenuous. On the other hand, pro wrestling is theater, and it's camp as hell. Queer Hollywood has barely started coming out; it may be a bit longer before pro wrestling, writ large, comes around.

Also, pro wrestling is a pantomime with well-established tropes that (on the big-market level) can take a long time to change. The "queer gimmick" is a trope that (in the US, as noted) might be hard to kill.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:12 PM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Pro-wrestling fandom may be "largely liberal leaning", but the management of the dominant WWE definitely is NOT.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:31 PM on January 23, 2018

"Pro-wrestling fandom may be "largely liberal leaning", but the management of the dominant WWE definitely is NOT."

This is true, but part of the fun of being a pro-wrestling fan is carrying a burning hatred for the entire despicable McMahon clan. Also, the pro-wrestling world is much wider and even weirder than WWE. For more details check out Colt Cobana's Art of Wrestling podcast.
posted by charlesminus at 1:02 PM on January 23, 2018 [4 favorites]