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. 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. It was a brave move to make from a man who was holding in this information, unsure of how his colleagues and fans would view it. What followed was an overwhelming outpouring of support from fans and his fellow wrestlers and personalities in the company from top to bottom. And the movement will surely welcome names we have yet to learn, those whose dreams of stepping between the ropes are just starting to form, thanks to the continued momentum and growing volume of queer voices in pro wrestling around the globe. 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. Matches, performers, shows — whatever is helping us enjoy wrestling in a particular week, that’s what this feature is all about.

Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), or visit OPGR.org (OR) or www.1800gambler.net (WV). Respect Pro Wrestling is delighted to announce officially that Jayla Dark has joined our training team! With the blood of her latest meal seeping from her lips, Heart Eater Moxie brought a new form of darkness to the Las Vegas wrestling scene in her rookie year. Moxie made multiple appearances with VERSUS Pro Wrestling, including a battle with emerging stars Jody and Sandra Moone. They even battled their partner, Da Shade. Outside of the ring, Moxie is also recognized as a talented comics artist. This isn’t about one generation. It’s about every single voice - past, present and future - stating that we belong and we are here, from the ring to the very last eyeball taking it all in. The Fabulous Moolah is a pioneer in the world of wrestling and a woman that holds quite a few impressive records. She was the longest reigning Women’s Champion ever, holding the World Women’s Championship—which would eventually become the WWE’s Women’s Championship—for an astronomical 28 years before losing it to Wendi Richter at the precursor to WrestleMania, The Brawl to End It All in 1984. She also holds the record for being the oldest woman ever to capture the Women’s Championship after she defeated Ivory in 1999 at the age of 76.

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. I think it would come down to just more TV time for the women across the board. Let us be part of the production itself. You want to push the women’s division because it’s just gonna help your base, it’s gonna make you different from other companies out there because you want to be the change. And I believe AEW can be the change if they put the focus on the women just a little bit more. Give us the TV time, treat us like equals with the men. That’s all we ever want. So that’s what I hope to see, to see the change so we don’t have to have this conversation in a year or so. Women’s wrestling is something that’s always going to be evolving. I originally intended to watch The Lion King but someone swapped the tape out for Royal Rumble 2000,” Kinney revealed on the Outsports podcast LGBT In The Ring. “Instead of watching the story of Simba, I watched Taz beat up Kurt Angle.” She suspects it was her brother that caused this bit of serendipity, but Kinney was hooked regardless.

The Las Vegas wrestling scene experienced a breakout this year with multiple young grapplers building the foundation. Summers is one of the newer names in that collection, working with both VERSUS Pro and Dark Arts Entertainment. Summers challenged Sandra Moone for the Party Hard Wrestling Party Monster title at VERSUS’ Pride show.

Scandanavia burst out as an intriguing region for pro wrestling in 2021, but Jessica Love is a testament to that community’s vibrance long before American audiences caught on. The trans wrestler has been active for 13 years in Fight Club Finland Wrestling, regularly flirting with the company’s Finnish Heavyweight championship picture. In 2021, she challenged for the GLAM! title. This week, I’m celebrating Pride Month by spotlighting eight proud LGBTQ wrestlers. 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. 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.

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. One half of the Vainglorious Authority, “The Devious One” Curtis Elliot is an up-and-comer in the British wrestling community. Elliot showcased his speedy, high-flying style with Quality Wrestling alongside tag team partner Amber Jo and won his debut match for Immortal Wrestling.

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. The reigning New York Championship Wrestling Women’s champion continued brought her whip and whit to the New York wrestling scene in 2021. With her 2+ year reign as champion ongoing, Gonzalez also appeared for Immortal Championship Wrestling and used her place in pro wrestling to advocate for trans voices. 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.