Brock Lesnar Was Originally Pitched To Be Booked As A Gay Hero?

[Prince Bálor]

According to last week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the WWE was set to introduce a "tough guy character that would out himself as being gay."

The character, that wouldn't portray any of the stereotypes, would instead be a dominant, main event character. In this week's Observer, it was said that Brock Lesnar was originally considered for this idea. The plan was thought up by magazine writer Brian Solomon, who brought the idea to Stephanie McMahon personally.

The plan for the character was to never do things in or outside of the ring that made fans uncomfortable, and the heels would use him being gay in their promos to get heat. Obviously Lesnar isn't gay, so it'd be simply for the character.

The idea was pitched, and the magazine writers responsible never heard anything else about it. The WWE creative team instead heard about the idea and went with the Billy & Chuck angle.

Speaking of McMahon, she noted recently that although current WWE Tag Team Champion Darren Young is gay in real life, she doesn't consider his character to be necessarily. It's worth noting that references to his sexuality have been made on Raw and Smackdown Fallout videos on the company's Youtube.

Source

 

[The GOAT]

"Here Comes The Pain... In Your Bum!"

I'm stealing that line from someone else, but it was too funny (to me, anyway) not to post.

Anyway, the idea is a noble one, but it wouldn't have worked in 2002. Even with the ever-growing rise against homophobia and the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage all across the board, I doubt it would even work today considering the large number of homophobes that still exist, especially in America (i.e. WWE's main base of operations.) This however would be the most effective way of debuting a gay character if you wanted to portray them in the best light - introduce them as a character and superstar who just happens to be gay, but whose personality itself doesn't require or necessitate that they have to be gay, it just so happens that they're attracted to members of the same sex. Imagine if someone like Ryback for example came out and said he was gay on the show without making any changes or modifications to his character.

 

[Hawk Talon]

I disagree with the idea, watching wrestling is one thing; watching it and knowing one of the characters is gay.... Not Cool!