This week’s “Wrestling Forward” is packed with positive nuggets on Kofi Kingston’s trip to Ghana and Mick Foley’s fundraising efforts for Ashley Massaro’s daughter, but it also takes a look at some serious issues within the wrestling community during “Pride” month.
While LGBTQ people should be celebrated (yes, celebrated, not just “accepted”) during all months of the year, June is the specific month when the national conversation should center around LGBTQ individuals and the history of the LGBTQ Community. From reflecting on the Stonewall Riots to researching ball culture, there are so many opportunities we have to learn more about the history of an important social group whose voices have been suppressed for far too long.
Ideally, Pride Month is a time when we pay especially close attention to the concerns of the LGBTQ community and send them tangible support. When it comes to wrestling, this would mean running shows built around booking LGBTQ talent, profiling LGBTQ wrestlers and buying merchandise created by wrestlers who wear their colors with pride.
Unfortunately, the ideal isn’t even close to being met. Instead, Pride Month has become a time when corporations can pretend to care about the serious issues that affect this community, change their profile pictures to a branded Pride flag and sell their own branded merchandise.
Much of this money doesn’t even go back to the LGBTQ community and even if it all does, this “donation” isn’t done selflessly. Note that none of the money was actually donated, but rather delivered from the public to the charity with the corporation or celebrity operating as the middle man.
It’s an insidious way of pretending to support the LGBTQ community in exchange for receiving social capital. The shirt acts as an advertisement and a false signal of support for the LGBTQ community, and the combination of advertising, positive PR and additions to a mailing list obtained from these purchases yields social capital for the corporation or straight individual engaging in this practice.
This becomes even more worrisome if the individual is, say, Ronda Rousey, who has never apologized for her transphobic comments on fellow fighter, Fallon Fox. If you want to receive the social capital from converting your fan base’s money into donations instead of just encouraging them to donate by signal-boosting (or donating yourself as a celebrity with money … what a concept!), you have to stand up for LGBTQ rights as a bare minimum.
Yes, not being homophobic or transphobic is the lowest bar to set and it is honestly disheartening to see how many people get pats on the back for being an “ally”. Or, worse yet, self-identify as an ally as if it is something that should be rewarded effusively or something that gives them the right to exploit the community they are supposedly supporting.
An ally is simply someone who, as the University of Illinois-Springfield puts it “a person who is a member of the dominant group who works to end oppression in his or her own personal and professional life by supporting and advocating with the oppressed population”.
The opposite condition is not being an “ally”. If a person is not an ally, then they are not in support of equal rights based on sexual orientation or identity. They are not interested in celebrating the LGBTQ community. They may be blatantly homophobic and/or transphobic. They are almost certainly prejudice. Not being these things is the bare minimum.
It, therefore, does not give you the right to profit off of the LGBTQ community or speak over their voices under the guise of being an “ally”. It also means you aren’t an actual “ally”, under the guidelines set by the Human Rights Campaign.
Actor Billy Porter pointed out that straight actors receive universal admiration for playing gay characters, whereas gay actors struggle to receive any roles – let alone roles that portray them beyond the stereotypes that straight people in Hollywood have of gay people.
The same issues plague professional wrestling when it comes to booking straight wrestlers with gimmicks that fit a gay stereotype to the promoter in question. Gay wrestlers aren’t booked prominently, whereas “allies” are busy profiting on shows with pride flags or merchandise bearing the colors of the flag.
You can count on one hand the number of openly LGBTQ wrestlers booked for major promotions, and while AEW have helped change things, it’s not like their roster reflects proportional representation yet. We also haven’t seen the storylines in place, as encouraging as it is to see the first openly trans wrestler in Nyla Rose and the exceptionally talented Sonny Kiss on the roster.
So far during Pride Month, I’ve seen more tweets about shows and tweets about merchandise from non-LGBTQ people. There’s also been a severe lack of representation for non-white LGBTQ wrestlers, who face more discrimination and barriers due to having multiple identifiers that make them targets for prejudice (and make it more difficult to find people who can relate to or celebrate both of their identities).
It was disheartening to see Darnell Mitchell inform fans that Black LGBTQ wrestlers were asked to pay in order to wrestle. This is never OK; wrestlers should always be paid for their work. But to ask Black LGBTQ wrestlers to pay during a month when they should be front-and-center? Disgraceful.
Pride Month has reminded me of something extremely important about representation. It’s not enough to just talk about and celebrate LGBTQ wrestlers for 30 days and then forget about it, just as companies make their money or get their PR buzz for 30 before quitting until next June. No, we have to make a point to show independent wrestling promotions and major wrestling promotions that we value the talent, brains, and storylines that LGBTQ wrestlers have.
Their identities are but merely one part of them, but being LGBTQ gives wrestlers a different perspective that allows their stories to be different. We need to hear from them and their stories, and we need to talk about them during all other months of the year in more general pieces, rather than just pieces that focus on the LGBTQ community as a whole.
We need our coverage to elevate their brands as individuals, because that is how they will stand out; they are unique, not just part of one lump sum of LGBTQ wrestlers that are commoditized by fans trying to seem woke.
Notice how I use “we”. Not only am I not absolved from these failures, I am inherently culpable in not amplifying the voices of LGBTQ wrestlers by failing to do this. Therefore, you can consider the “Wrestling Forward” feature to be a place where these wrestlers will be written about more frequently.
The focus will be on their accomplishments and talents, rather than a paragraph blurb in a “Whoa, did you know LGBTQ wrestlers exist?!” piece. It also seems like most of the focus on LGBTQ wrestlers is directed towards the few talents at major promotions, such as Sonya Deville. In order for representation to happen in the biggest promotions, there needs to be a groundswell of support for the LGBTQ wrestlers putting in incredible work on the independent scene.
In the meantime, I’d like to give a brief list of talented LGBTQ wrestlers whose work you should support. This is by no means an expansive list, so please let me know who else I should keep an eye on. I’d also like to shout out @eric_shorey for his “1 LGBTQ wrestler for each day of pride” tweets. (Side note: Eric is a tremendous writer and well-worth a follow.)
Look for more information about each of these wrestlers in future columns. Please follow all of these wrestlers!
Still Life with Apricots and Pears
R-Truth has made the 24/7 Championship a positive addition
Some of the best segments in WWE over the past couple of weeks have involved the new 24/7 Championship, which was a quirky idea that has become an immediate success thanks to the creative genius of R-Truth.
There’s no doubt that Truth is one of the greatest mainstream comedy wrestlers of all-time, and he holds a special place in WWE history. Truth has only added to his legacy by making the 24/7 Title one of the bright spots in WWE during a time where the quality of the programming has been rather mixed (stares a hole through Shane McMahon).
From pinning Jinder Mahal on an airplane to hiding under the ring, Truth has been a boundless source of creativity. Always one for pure, light-hearted fun in wrestling, Truth has become an important part of WWE programming as a veteran due to the 24/7 Title. Of course, he was shining even before that in the United States Championship picture, but the European/Hardcore/24/7 Title is SO him.
More importantly to WWE, Truth’s work as 24/7 champion is also insanely popular. These simple, entertaining videos regularly garner millions of views, and the airplane fiasco with Mahal is already up to seven million views on YouTube (embed above).
Mick Foley raising money for Ashley Massaro’s daughter
Ashley Massaro’s death shocked the wrestling world and made us have an honest conversation about mental health, specifically the way mental health isn’t taken seriously enough by wrestling promotions. WWE have rightfully come under fire for potentially covering up an incident that occurred during an overseas tour in Kuwait in which Massaro was raped.
But as always, even when WWE doesn’t step up to the plate – and instead focuses on discrediting Massaro’s legal representation – the rest of the wrestling world does. Massaro’s former colleagues in WWE, which include Mickie James and Gail Kim, created a GoFundMe to help raise money for Massaro’s 18-year-old daughter.
Mick Foley is playing a key role in this fundraising effort, which will go to Massaro’s daughter’s education. Not only has he donated $5,000 of his own, but he’s willing to spend three hours of his time (most likely to watch wrestling) with anyone willing to match that donation. Some things about wrestling are still uplifting.
More Tournaments
I love the NBA Playoffs and I love the back-and-forth nature of best-of-seven series. We don’t see that type of format for story-telling in wrestling often, but the best-of-seven series between Cesaro and Sheamus on Raw that led to the formation of the awesome tag team, “The Bar”, was a perfect example of this being executed.
WWE’s Network-exclusive brands, especially 205 Live, have run some fantastic tournaments. It’d be great to see more of them on the WWE main roster, and since WWE likes to match wrestlers up against each other multiple times (Cesaro vs. Ricochet comes to mind), why not have best-of-three or best-of-five series? It’ll allow the tournaments to have fewer wrestlers but still take up a significant amount of time. Trading wins can make the losing wrestler look stronger, whereas a “sweep” can assert a pushed wrestler’s dominance. Or a wrestler can be the victim of a surprise sweep in the second round after winning in the first.
It’s just something to consider…
Ali on why he became a police officer
Ali is one of wrestling’s most inspirational people, and his journey to WWE encapsulates this. He wrestled on the independent scene in Chicago while working as a police officer in one of the country’s most corrupt cities where rampant police brutality breeds mistrust from a population that is targeted by a bigoted system.
Wrestling fans knew that Ali became a police officer to help be the change in the system, and he recently spoke at length about an incident that help inspired him to be a police officer, in addition to providing valuable insight on his experience.
This quote jumped out the most:
"“That in no way compares to the discrimination and horror stories of others, specifically African American brothers and sisters. I believed the job could be done right. I believe you can actually provide justice, be empathetic and serve the people. “So, I did what I could. This included calling out others cops on BS tactics and making sure to communicate and be as transparent as possible when dealing with the people we serve. I only rocked the badge for a few years but I will say this about my personal experience: There are some horrible cops. There are some amazing cops. There are some horrible people. There are some amazing people. Enough distrust and damage has been done, that in my personal opinion, it’s going to take law enforcement ‘taking the extra step’ to diffuse situations."
Ali is truly one of the brightest lights in this dark world. His measured response to an ignorant fan yesterday and his decision to donate his earnings from Super ShowDown to Charity:Water are further reminders of his light.
Kofi Kingston in Ghana
Kofi Kingston is another one of those intense beams of light in our world, and his trip to Ghana – the country he was born in – has also been nothing short of inspirational. The scenes captured on his trip to Ghana have been beautiful. He spoke to TMZ about his trip, and WWE cameras have been chronicling the company’s first African-born champion’s trip overseas.
Back in WWE, Kofi has continued his exceptional reign as WWE Champion as the clear MVP of the company right now. He is in the running as one of the best WWE Champions of the past 10 years even less than two months into his first reign as world champion.
Super SHE Down
Pro Wrestling EVE‘s Super SHE Down was the big wrestling show that took place on Friday, and the show, which featured Jordynne Grace vs. Toni Storm and first-time UK traveler Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter, was a huge success.
You can check out the show on their Facebook page here.
Women’s match cancelled in Saudi Arabia
WWE tried to get a match on the Super ShowDown card between Alexa Bliss and Natalya, which would have been a ground-breaking first women’s match in Saudi Arabia. But the Saudi Arabian government, unsurprisingly, did not approve the match, as first reported by the Wrestling Observer News’s Dave Meltzer.
My colleague, Ashley Nagrant, wrote that a women’s match wouldn’t have really solved the biggest issues with the show in Saudi Arabia, and neither she nor anyone else was surprised that the Crown Prince’s regime vetoed WWE’s idea.
Pro Wrestling EVE’s Dann Read suggests WWE knew all along that they’d never get Alexa vs. Natalya approved by Saudi Arabia and only flew them to the country to make it seem like they were trying to create progress. Though cynical, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if Read were correct in this assertion, given everything we know about Vince McMahon’s leadership and PR tactics as WWE’s leader.
WWE want to portray themselves as agents of change in the region, but Saudi Arabia’s government clearly has no intention of bringing about meaningful social change in the country, which would involve equal rights for women. For a comprehensive piece about the problems with WWE’s involvement in Saudi Arabia and an insightful breakdown of the regime, check out this piece on Deadspin by Karim Zidan and David Bixenspan. They are two of the best writers in combat sports, and Zidan’s analysis of the region’s sociopolitical climate is particularly important.
Of course, no matter how much we scream about WWE’s involvement in Saudi Arabia, there’s nothing stopping it. While I think some people who defend WWE and Saudi Arabia by pointing to the injustices in the United States are arguing in bad faith and don’t quite understand the issue with working side-by-side with the Saudi Arabian regime – who are supported by the same people who carry out injustices in America – in their propaganda efforts, they do bring some salient points.
What’s the real difference between opting out of watching WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows while still supporting the company financially? I’ll leave out their arguments about the United States record on women’s rights, because while sexism is still rampant in America, Saudi Arabia’s women’s rights record is far more appalling…this article sums up the extend of the issues.
That said, I do not personally criticize any wrestling fan who chooses to enjoy the shows in Saudi Arabia. If you love wrestling and WWE, I’m not going to sit on my high horse and tell you that you have to engage in the – let’s admit it – faux activism of not watching the show. If you’re sickened by the show and prefer to watch objectively better events like the Women’s World Cup, more power to you. Join the club!
But remember, our impact is minimal, and it’s not worth losing friends or engaging bad-faith arguments over people’s personal choices. Everyone has their own limits and their own judgment of moral trade-offs. The clothes we wear and the electronic devices we use are all the result of exploitation, yet we still use them while rarely thinking about the steps taken to bring these coveted (necessary?) products to us.
I know I got kind of broad here, but what matters is this: Love each other, and if you want to do something small, consider engaging in more helpful forms of activism like Sami Zayn’s “Sami for Syria” campaign or volunteering in your own community.
It’s easier than getting the dopamine rush that comes with condemning the obvious on Twitter, targeting a foreign country that many of us don’t know much about beyond the undeniably awful things we’re told in media instead of spending the same amount of time looking inward. I’m not saying everyone does this, but I am saying to be mindful.
Ring of Honor comments on Bully Ray incident
Ring of Honor had a situation at a recent show in Portland, Oregon in which a fan was confronted by wrestler Bully Ray backstage after drawing the ire of Velvet Sky and Mandy Leon, whom the fan claims spit at him. The fan said that his insults didn’t cross the line and were the standard comments a fan delivers to heels like “The Allure”, but calling them the “tramp stamp trio” seems to cross the line in my eyes. It’s one of those things that’s hard to get a read on since we don’t know exactly what was said by the fan, especially since women in wrestling are frequently subject to abuse. The women involved tweeted their own thoughts on the situation.
For ROH, the real issue was the fact that Bully Ray met the fan face-to-face backstage and intimidated the fan. This was clearly an unsafe situation and not the right way to address any possible verbal abuse from the fan. ROH conducted their own independent investigation of the incident and released a statement as an apology to their fanbase as a whole, though they do note that the investigation is ongoing.
It’s a complicated situation, and it’s important for fans to understand that they need to be careful what they say to women in wrestling. Some phrases that seem to be harmless to some male fans aren’t. But wrestling promotions need to make sure they are dealing with these situations correctly instead of taking justice into their own hands the “old school” way by having wrestlers intimidating fans backstage as a third party. That can be messy and distract from any misdoings by the fan, if this is what did take place.
I’m glad the fan and the wrestlers are safe, and hopefully ROH come up with a “Code of Conduct” or a set protocol for situations like this in the future. Fans, be careful out there, and, above all else, remember that even if the wrestlers are heels, they are still human beings and not actually evil characters. Please exercise caution when uncertain.
ROH made the headlines for this particular incident going public, but the events that unfolded at this live event in Portland take place all over the world at wrestling shows. This is far from the only well-known promotion where something like this could happen, and one benefit of pro wrestling promotions actually working together would be the implementation of clear expectations across promotions in terms of conduct from both fans and the professionals in the ring and backstage.
Montez Ford talks to Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts’s burial of Bianca Belair, one of WWE’s most talented superstars, on the NXT TakeOver pre-show panels raised eyebrows across the wrestling world. Here was Roberts, whose stated job is to generate interest in matches, crossing the line even in terms of announcer heel heat by attacking Belair’s credentials as a title-contending superstar. Her surprising back-to-back losses to NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler only raised more eyebrows.
Montez Ford is married to Belair and is now one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions. He addressed Roberts’s comments on Belair person-to-person on Roberts’s podcast, and I am incredibly impressed by Ford’s poise, restraint and supportiveness.
Longer contracts from WWE
Per a report from the Wrestling Observer News‘s Dave Meltzer, via Fightful.com’s Jeremy Lambert, WWE is now offering five-year deals to NXT talent instead of just three-year deals. This, of course, is designed to ensure talent stay in WWE for longer before potentially leaving to a rival promotion, and the timing of this move less than a month after AEW’s highly successful first show is uncanny.
It’s an understandable move from WWE, and most talent will take the longer deals. Not only does it give them more security, but, as Meltzer reports, WWE can offer the guaranteed money to ensure that their deals are too good to pass up on. Even with AEW emerging, there are more limited paying spots outside WWE, and WWE has the kind of money to sign essentially as many talented wrestlers as they’d like.
This move increases WWE’s power, but wrestlers who are already established outside WWE may be less interested in locking themselves in to a long deal if they feel like they can cash in on their talent elsewhere. Five years is a long time to commitment, especially to a promotion that has come under fire from wrestlers for being a restrictive, stressful environment.
Wrestlers that get to the main roster quickly may have a tougher time under a five-year set-up, since there are no guarantees on the main roster. For younger, less proven wrestlers, this could be an opportunity to have a stable income in WWE’s system before raising their star status and either signing a more lucrative second deal with WWE or signing a contract as a new top star for a different promotion.
Not every up-and-coming wrestler is interested in signing with WWE, of course. Dave Meltzer also reported, as per Fightful.com’s Andrew Thompson, that Millie McKenzie turned down a deal from the sports entertainment giants earlier this year. The deal was for McKenzie to formally join the NXT UK roster after making some impressive television appearances for Triple H’s newest brand.
McKenzie has a world of potential at just 18 and is one of the toughest wrestlers on the planet, and it makes plenty of sense for her to continue to raise her star outside WWE. She’s one of the absolute best wrestlers and biggest rising stars on the independent scene, having set the United Kingdom ablaze in a breakout 2018.
Regardless, this is an interesting situation to monitor and, as Lambert wrote in his Fightful piece, AEW’s presence has made contracts an even more interesting talking point for wrestling fans.