Should “The Gay Wrestler” Gimmick Return?
In a strange turn of events, it has been reported on Reddit by username MetsFan4Ever, a usually reliable source for WWE related news leaks, that NXT Superstar Kalisto has been considered for a gimmick change; namely, from the high-flying luchador to the “gay hair stylist”.
Sin Cara’s been wrestling in singles as of late on Raw & Smackdown. And he and Kalisto recently dropped the NXT Tag Team Titles.
It’s because creative has been toying with a different gimmick for Kalisto. With the impending loss of Rey Mysterio, and the bust of Sin Cara, WWE is looking for a new masked star to take over, which would have been Kalisto, obviously.
But recently NXT officials tried Kalisto out with a new, unmasked gimmick: a gay hair stylist.
He blew away officials, no pun intended, with his portrayal, to the point that he is seriously being considered doing that gimmick instead of continuing with the Kalisto gimmick.
Of course, this could be entirely incorrect, as the same user has reported on various WWE related rumours before, with only some coming to fruition; the “Mighty Mouse” gimmick rumoured for fellow NXT alumnus Adrian Neville was also reported by MetsFan4Ever. For the purpose of this article, however, let’s assume that the WWE do decide to go ahead with this new gimmick for the formerly named Samuray Del Sol. Is the concept of the “Gay Gimmick” welcome in today’s product?
The concept of the homosexual gimmick is one that has been explored for decades within the wrestling industry. The earliest known, and perhaps most famous, example would be Goldust, circa 1995, the time of his second run with the WWE. In his matches, Goldust would grope and express affection towards opponents, playing mind games to get the victory. This led to the infamous “mouth to mouth” segment between Goldust and the eternally-angry Ahmed Johnson on Monday Night Raw, which would be remembered long after it occurred.
Other famous examples of homosexual gimmicks include the tag team of Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo, Billy and Chuck. The two wrestlers teamed together after the inVasion storyline, eventually culminating in a wedding on SmackDown!, wherein they revealed their affections were all a part of a publicity stunt. The WWE attracted negative media attention from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) because of this, based on an earlier promise to the group that Billy and Chuck would be a legitimate homosexual tag team. Despite this, the team won the World Tag Team Championship twice, engaging in a feud with the APA.
As a part of this team, Rico Constantino was placed with them as, ironically, a “gay hair stylist”. Rico himself had limited success within the company, winning the Tag Titles once with Charlie Haas, and pinning Ric Flair once on SmackDown! – already, the notion of a “gay hair stylist” within the company has a bad track record in terms of success.
The notion of homosexuality gimmicks isn’t limited to male talent, surprisingly. Seeing how many adult males take delight in the sight of attractive lesbians on the television, it didn’t take long for the WWE to cave and give the audience a taste of a “lesbian angle” between Divas. The stalker angle between Trish Stratus and Mickie James eventually featured a kiss between the two. There have also been rumours that a lesbian gimmick was planned for former WWE Diva Maryse, but this never came to fruition. And, in a different area of the LGBT spectrum, there was the infamous TNA Orlando Jordan “Bisexual Gimmick”. The less said about that horrid misrepresentation, the better.
So, there’s a history with wrestlers taking up a homosexual gimmick. One of two things usually happens: the homosexual aspect of their gimmick is dropped and they continue to perform for the company, or the wrestler falls off of the face of the Earth into obscurity. Which begs the question; is there any point to having this gimmick in the first place? Especially in the modern society we find ourselves in today, where LGBT personalities are very slowly becoming an accepted part of the media, as opposed to a stereotype, would the “kid-friendly” PG product that is WWE benefit from resorting to a stereotype such as this?
Personally, I see no benefits to having this kind of stereotype within WWE. Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to find out that Vince McMahon only sees the world through stereotypes. Which might explain why Cryme Tyme and Los Matadores became tag teams. And when we see news reports of LGBT personalities drawing scrutiny, or being murdered in the streets, it doesn’t make sense for WWE to incorporate this gimmick into the product for any reason. The sexuality of a wrestler should not be the sole identity of said wrestler; case and point being Darren Young. Even having him employed right now should be a factor in disallowing this gimmick to exist.
As previously mentioned, this could be nothing more than a rumour to never see the light of day, let alone Full Sail University. Not to mention the fact that WWE is in need of a charismatic Mexican wrestler, which they’ve been lacking for years now, it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of sense to pass up the opportunity to debut an exciting, high-flying Latino wrestler, in exchange for a homosexual hair stylist, which is a gimmick that should be laid to rest in the vault of “pointless gimmicks” past.
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