Lesbian Wrestling League (Series Book 1)

Product Information

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.

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. If you blinked in 2006, you may have missed this buxom beauty’s run in the WWE under the ECW banner. Shelly Martinez was signed by WWE in mid-2006 to be a valet for wrestler Kevin Thorn, a failed short-lived character who was previously another failed and short-lived character, Mordecai. Thorn was an odd vampire character and Shelly was his gothic, witch-like manager named Ariel. But she also impacts people on a grounded, personal level as well, even in the form of a goofy, lovely slice of the internet. 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.

STONE RAGE COMICS

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. 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. Miss Lynn Sexpot played by Britney Spears vs. Miss Kenedy Tightass played by Cori Nadine Story by ??????? Now, decades later, the defiant spirits embodying that openness and desire for visibility among wrestling’s lesbian community refuse to keep their identities in the shadows. People like Ashley Vox and Rebel Kinney wear their identities openly in the ring without apology. Charlie Morgan’s promo in which she came out publicly in the ring at a Pro Wrestling EVE event is forever immortalized for its raw reality and ability to usher new LGBTQ fans into a welcoming wrestling space. As a Mexican American kid growing up in Los Angeles, Jake Atlas was raised on lucha libre. He’s recounted in interviews that when he came out to his family as a teenager it didn’t go well. Nevertheless, Jake knew who he was, and he also knew he wanted to be a pro wrestler. In time his family came to accept and support him, and his dream of pro wrestling has also come true. He came out publicly after winning the 2017 Southern California Rookie of the Year Award, and he’s been on an upswing ever since.

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. 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.And when those ears didn’t understand or ignored what they were being told, LGBTQ people yet again proved that they don’t need them to build their own spaces within the field. It felt like nearly every day brought new additions to the family, more events celebrating LGBTQ identities and sections of the LGBTQ community raising their voices to speak directly to the faces of pro wrestling power structures.