The WWE’s developmental brand, NXT, employs an entirely different writing team than the main roster, meaning they are more willing to experiment with stories and characters. While many were pleasantly surprised by the young upstart, others were quick to condescendingly dismiss this whole gay thing as a “trend” and compare him to another wrestler: NXT’s Velveteen Dream.
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Meanwhile, The Believers (the show’s nickname for its fan base) immediately began chanting for XO as he trounced over-cocky heel Jack Evans with a series of graceful and feminine attacks which included a high leg lift axe kick, sit-out splits that the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race would envy, as well as back handsprings, and a handful of confident, taunting twerks.Īlthough the heavily edited show presented XO as an immediate fan favorite, reaction to the match was mixed on social media. In fact, the two praised his movement, ring awareness, and unique offense. Using only the (obviously coded) word “flamboyant” to denote XO’s personal style, announcers Vampiro and Matt Stryker (both of whom curiously have a past checkered with misogyny) were careful about not dismissing the debuting bruiser as a joke.
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If the WWE is attempting to figure out how to write openly gay characters, XO makes for a fascinating case study on empowering queer representation in 2018: How should announcers discuss such a performer? Will the art form’s traditionally hyper-masculine audience rally behind a gay hero? Taking place in a comic book-inspired universe populated with actual legendary pro-wrestling personalities alongside original characters invented for the show, XO Lishus is not the first openly gay performer to do battle in The Temple, but while exóticos like Pimpenela were often used for innocuous comedic effect, XO has already been established as a plucky underdog and serious contender. Lucha Underground, a lucha libre-inspired fantasy wrestling series currently running its fourth season on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network, introduced a new character named XO Lishus (played by Capitol Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Sonny Kiss) on a recent episode. “Maybe I'm living in a bubble here in Austin, but the crowds seem generally supportive of gay babyfaces and uncomfortable or ambivalent when asked to boo a gay heel they don't want to seem bigoted and would much rather cheer than boo,”’ pro-wrestler Dan “The Man” Ziglar of Party World Rasslin told me. We’re only just beginning to see the results of that meeting- openly queer performer Sonya Deville proudly displayed rainbow gear at Wrestlemania, alongside supportive ally Finn Balor, who has begun selling rainbow versions of his merch for queer fans-but while the WWE struggles, less massive federations are way ahead of the game. It was only two years ago that WWE publicly discussed their meetings with GLAAD in the hopes of introducing sensitive LGBTQ story lines to its product. Playing both heels and faces, these performers are complicating the traditional depictions of queer pugilists by refusing to adhere to past traditions-and audience reactions to these superstars have been mixed. In 2018, plenty of actually queer and/or queer coded characters are making names for themselves on the indie circuits. “In the States, nothing like the exóticos really existed so everything taboo usually would fall under a heel character.” “There have been sexually ambiguous characters in pro-wrestling for a long time but in Mexico, even though it is a mostly Christian country, the exóticos are a tradition,” explains current No Limits Wrestling Death Match Champion Casanova Valentine.