Darren Young conclusively proved today that the ringside bravado we see on the WWE is not contained to the ring. When questioned about the possibility of a gay wrestler making it, he responded with, "Look at me. I'm a WWE superstar and to be honest with you, I'll tell you right now, I'm gay. And I'm happy. I'm very happy." So not only does Darren Young officially have the biggest balls in the WWE right now for coming out so casually, he also forced the hand of the WWE, and the results have been surprising.
The WWE itself has said it's, "proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality" and John Cena publicly congratulated him for, "actually finally doing it, " giving us the impression that the only people who knew the WWE weren't a bunch of homophobic, backwards bros were ... the WWE.
Considering that the WWE makes its money pitting muscly, oiled up men against each other in theatrical routines, we perhaps should've known they'd be more open to homosexual participants than we thought, but still. Even better than the actual news was how Darren Young delivered it.
You can tell, watching the TMZ video in which he announces his sexuality, that he definitely hadn't considered saying it beforehand, and that he clearly didn't care once he had. In fact, the footage of this moment is pure gold. The Irish paparazzo pretty much shits himself when Darren Young gives him the scoop, so he compliments his bravery while Darren Young stands there with his airport cart, clearly nonplussed and probably ready to exit the airport. Amazing.
This is undoubtedly a great sign for the future of gay equality in sports. Given that this is the second major coming-out-moment we've had this year in big league sports, one can easily imagine a nearby future in which sexuality is so unimportant as to go unremarked upon.
Additionally, we can now picture Darren Young making sweet, sweet love with some similarly jacked man, which is the most satisfying bit of all.
Image: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
