This overlooked gem documents how pro wrestling’s complicated relationship with the LGBTQ+ community has changed with time.
When I watched the trailer of this documentary one or two years ago, I wanted to see it. I’m a huge wrestling fan and attend an LGBTQ+-friendly show regularly. Though considered a straight person, I support my friends and the community. Vinegar Syndrome had the Blu-ray on sale, so I just had to buy it. This was definitely filmed in a hopeful time. Most talking heads were happy about the progress in the wrestling business and the mainstream exposure Sonny Kiss and Nyla Rose were getting in AEW.
Out in the Ring documents the LGBTQ+ representation in the pro wrestling industry from the start of Mexican exóticos in the 40s to some of the wrestlers with punk rock DIY ethics working their own shows and promotions themselves today in the 2020s. From the start, it doesn’t shy away from going straight to the point of something we’ve all heard before. Pro wrestling is homoerotic. Set by examples, it has a lot in common with other performances. Especially drag shows, and even influenced them. However, watching it in January 2025 is depressing.
It seems like a long time since we were naive enough to think the LGBTQ+ community was getting accepted in wrestling and pop culture as a whole. In just a few years, Sonny Kiss has been released from AEW, and Nyla Rose barely appears on TV. And not even getting started with what’s happening to all marginalized groups outside wrestling with what seems to be the rise of a fascist regime from a vindictive government just getting started on rolling back any civil rights progress from the last 5 or 6 decades. Notably targeting transgender rights and DEI programs.
Wrestling is Gay
One thing that gives me some optimism is how people like EFFY and Dark Sheik are doing their own shows. The LGBTQ+ wrestling scene is still going strong. The shows are fun, unapologetically queer, and safe for everyone different. Perhaps we don’t need AEW and WWE to watch good, diverse pro wrestling as a performative art form that doesn’t conform to prejudices and suppressions of corporate show business.
Apart from how our sociopolitical present might make us feel when watching this film, it is still a well-done and informative documentary. Both pro wrestling and LGBTQ+ historians might get a first look at the topic. A few days before watching this film, EFFY won the GCW world title. It’s been and overwhelming week with all the bad news and didn’t remember watching one of my favorite wrestlers won the country’s leading indie wrestling company’s title. Maybe there’s some hope left.
You can buy the Blu-ray at the Vinegar Syndrome web store. Or stream it on the Roku Channel or Prime Video.
