Lesbian Wrestling League (Series Book 1)

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And in all that, you can still enjoy some spectacular and acrobatic moves that do justice to the skills and agility of the IFW girls! 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. 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. 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’s something that’s super important because I went through that same journey that a lot of people are going through in the LGBTQ community, which is struggling with my sexuality and being open about it,” Deville said on Outsports’ LGBT In The Ring podcast. “That’s the position I was in seven-plus years ago.”

While not a WWE Superstar, Ernie Roth was a manager during the early days of the WWE (then the WWWF or World Wide Wrestling Federation) known as The Grand Wizard of Wrestling. You could say he was Paul Heyman before Paul Heyman was Paul Heyman (Um…yeah I think I got that right). He was also one of the pioneers of the dirt bag manager role who would try to interfere in matches to alter the outcomes for their protégé. 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. Carrying the legacy of the Moondog name with a delightfully queer twist, Moondog Murray brought his bone and brawn to promotions across the Midwest in his first year. Murray logged appearances with Chicago Style Wrestling, Crash Tested Wrestling, Premier Pro Wrestling and Northland Pro Wrestling while growing his Twitch following. Obviously, still existing in the midst of a global pandemic complicated things when different regions of the globe afforded different amounts of in-ring time to its performers. I sincerely hope this is the last year where the virus becomes a weighing factor in how the QWI is constructed (get your vax and booster!). 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.

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. Perhaps the longest-active out pro wrestler in the Southeast U.S., Sermon showed no quit two decades into his in-ring career. In multiple appearances with Georgia-based indies WrestleMerica and Lariato Pro, Sermon battled Eddie Honcho and Impact Wrestling Tag Team champion Luke Gallows in all-out brawls. Sermon also challenged for the Lariato Pro Lionheart title. So, yeah, I take kind of like a personal responsibility to be that openness for kids or young people that are in the shoes that I was in a decade ago.” Just like the PWI 500 and BW 500 lists that inspired this one, the LGBTQ community deserves exactly what others in pro wrestling have been afforded for years.

That being said, composing this list was still really hard. Once again, the best problem to have in the world is whittling down the list from a pool of far more than 200 who all deserve highlighting. 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. The former half of The Prime Time Players is the first wrestler in the WWE to come out as gay while being an active wrestler, when he first announced that he was gay to TMZ.Effy also wrestles for Fest Wrestling, Freelance Wrestling, Livewire Wrestling, and many more. I’d love to see him get national exposure, as long as it’s with a company that will let him continue to be his big weird queer self. It’s clear that he wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less, and neither would his fans. From deathmatch to lucha libre, comedy to catch, tekkers to all-out hoss brawls, every single aspect or style of pro wrestling built its rainbow family. Established stars reached new peaks, and rookies who drew inspiration from those spreading the message of pride started their own journeys. 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. 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. 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.

It felt like “The Global Phenomenon” was all over the West coast this year, notching appearances in Pro Championship Wrestling, East Bay Pro Wrestling and Legacy Pro Wrestling, where he reigns as the first Silver State champion. J.M.M. also competed in the Princex of Pride championship tournament at Full Queer, falling to eventual winner Da Shade. It's been five days, and the Internet (ourselves very much included) can't get over Hannah Ferguson's LOVE Advent video. 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. Over 20 years in the wrestling business, Mercedes Martinez has made a name for herself as one of the hardest-hitting women in the ring. What was it like for you coming up and cutting your teeth in an era when women’s wrestling was so sexualized?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. Most people didn’t know Nyla Rose before she signed with All Elite Wrestling. She’d worked with promotions like Covey Pro, Warriors of Wrestling, and Sendai Girls, but she didn’t really have any national exposure in the US. That changed all at once with AEW signing and her debut at Double Or Nothing, where she faced Kylie Rae, Britt Baker, and Awesome Kong in a Fatal Fourway. As a member of the AEW roster, Nyla is the first transgender wrestler to sign with a major promotion, and this fall she’ll presumably be the first trans wrestler to appear regularly on TV. 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. Rosa Mendes has had quite a lengthy career with the WWE despite not having accomplished much of anything during her eight year (and counting) stint with the company. Starting out as a Diva Search contestant, WWE signed her to a development deal and after two years in developmental, she made her way to the main roster as a super fan of Beth Phoenix. She had a few forgettable runs as a valet for Primo and Epico as well as Fandango before gaining notoriety for her role on Total Divas. 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.