Talent comes in all forms, genders and sexuality. While owning up one’s sexual orientation to be anything different from the conventions has been a taboo for a long time, times have changed now. Successful personalities from every field, including our WWE wrestlers and characters have openly come forward to embrace their sexuality. As the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Sonya Deville had once stated, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t ever apologize for your sexuality, just be you.” Here is a list of few others who have come out over the years.
This American Professional wrestler, Fred Rosser, more popularly known by his ring name Darren Young, is the first name in the history of WWE to have openly admitted to be from the LGBTQ. A former Strong Openweight Champion, Darren first performed in WWE in the very first season of NXT in 2010. He is also a WWE Tag Team Champion. After Darren came out about his sexuality and openly admitted to be being gay in an interview on August 15, 2013, WWE and other fellow professional wrestlers also came forward in support of him.
Signed with WWE since 2008, Gabbi had a brief but impactful career at WWE. Currently a Tiktoker, Gabbi has shifted her career to being a nutritional coach, after she was released from WWE in 2012. Gabbi openly admitted to be transgender to her wife in 2020. But it wasn’t public news until February 4,2021 after she came out as transgender in a heartfelt and inspiring post on social media. Subsequently, she got divorced from her wife in October 2021, with whom she still remains good friends till date.
Signed with WWE under the Raw Brand, Sonya Deville aka Daria Berenato previously won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Apart from being the WWE NXT Champion, she is also the first gay female wrestler in the history of WWE. Her personal life has been under much spotlight and speculation after she came out, owning to her sexuality in an episode of Tough Enough. She is currently married to model and fitness guru Toni Cassano.
Earlier misdiagnosed with autism when he was a child, Orlando Jordan has always been different from the lot. His childhood struggle and eventual success career at the WWE has been an inspiration story in itself. Orlando came out as bisexual making him the first openly bisexual wrestler in the history of WWE. He has also successfully been a part of TNA. He was earlier married to an Australian citizen with whom he has a daughter. But not much is known about his relationships or personal life.
Currently signed with WWE under the Raw brand as a professional wrestling referee, Shawn Bennett publicly admitted to be gay on National Coming Out Day. In a heart warming confession on Instagram, Bennett wrote, “I did my best to suppress any and all homosexual thoughts before and after that for a long time. I once long term dated a woman and for a while, tried to live my life that way. I didn’t come to my own full realization about myself until early 20s. That’s when I knew it was the way of life that would make me happy. As cliche as it sounds, I feel I was born this way.”
Mercedes Martinez admitted to being a lesbian during a candid interview with Now This magazine. This high achieving, well accomplished WWE wrestler, who made her appearances in AEW, ROH, NXT, Shine, Shimmer among others has always made it a point to keep her personal life away from the spotlight. A veteran in the field of wrestling, Martinez finally shed light about her personal life when she admitted to being married to her girlfriend and she has a child too.
Courtesy: India Times
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