WWE Superstar Comes Out…

All righty then. So you’ve all heard the “big news” by now, right? WWE Superstar Darren Young, one half of the “Prime Time Players” spoke to a reporter from TMZ and outed himself as a happy, gay male. And everyone is coming out in support of Darren for being so brave and honest and true to himself, etc.

I wasn’t even going to bother commenting on it because it’s not really a big deal to me. WWE has had openly gay superstars before. What about Pat Patterson? Okay, bad example because he was long retired from active competition before he was publicly revealed to be gay. Well, there was Orlando Jordon. Okay, another bad example since he was openly bisexual, but it wasn’t public knowledge until after he left the WWE. Well, what about Kanyon? Who betta? Okay, that’s another bad example because he only came out long after leaving the WWE and when he was officially retiring. But there is always… ummm… I don’t know. Maybe this is a bigger deal than I thought. How about X-Pac? He’s not openly gay and never came out, but look at the “One Night In Chyna” video. I still swear that she has a bigger dick than he does.

But enough jokes or trying to be funny. This is a big deal for the WWE and pro wrestling in general because even though there are many, many gay and bisexual men and women who compete in that squared circle on a regular basis, Darren Young is the first man to come out while on the roster of the leading professional wrestling company in the world, the WWE. And for that, I say congratulations to Mr. Young. You’ve done the hard part by coming out. Now the rest is just going with the flow and taking each day as it comes.

I don’t really think that this will impact Mr. Young’s career, as it is. He and partner Titus O’Neal are a popular tag team and mid-card act as the “Prime Time Players” and I expect that will continue. And this may even help Young as he can be even more of a prominent part of the WWE’s anti-bullying campaign and the whole “Be A Star” campaign as well. A gay black man on the roster is a public relations dream come true in today’s politically sensitive world.

And will this affect his status in the locker room? Maybe, if this was ten or fifteen years ago, but apart from a few old-timers who still live in 1978, the majority of the WWE locker room and staff are younger, open-minded and professional. Young is an athlete and professional wrestler first and their friend and peer and has been for a few years now. If I’m judging correctly, the feeling I get is that the majority of the WWE locker-room will just shrug and say, “whatever”. Friends and people don’t change and if Darren is a cool guy before to someone, this won’t change anything. And if it does, it’s their problem and not Young’s. ‘Nuff said!

And I guess I’ll stop here. I was going to talk about gays in pro wrestling in general and how many “names” I know of personally who are either closeted gay or bi (or open to suggestions as I’ve found out quite a few times), but why bother. Wrestlers are people too and there are good, bad, ugly, pretty, gay, straight, faithful, ho’s, etc of all types in the business, just as there are in every wake of life. It’s not an issue worth talking about now and I’m getting tired.

So good luck to Darren Young, one half of the “Prime Time Players” and a WWE superstar with a big future ahead of him. You’re here, you’re queer and that’s not a big deal. Just do your thing, live your life and be the best you can. And that’s really all the people need to know.

‘Nuff said!