Out in the Ring takes deep dive into wrestling's queer history, streaming via Whistler Film Festival to January 2
Fascinating characters, and some dark times, as documentary travels from 1950s through WWE to today
Out in the Ring travels through history to today’s vibrantly inlusive indie pro-wrestling scene.
Whistler Film Festival streams Out in the Ring to January 2
OUT IN THE RING, streaming now via Whistler Film Festival, is full of enough surprising queer history—not to mention beyond-colourful characters—to fill several documentaries.
Not a wrestling fan? That won’t matter. Fans and nonfans alike will be fully engaged as director Ry Levey follows the “sport” (some here call it an “art form”) through the 1940s and 1950s to the WWF and WWE heydays, and into today’s thriving independent LGBTQ2SIA+-run, drag-hosted wrestling circuits.
Stories of empowerment mix with sadness, pain, closeting, and hate. Through meticulous research and copious interviews, Levey will introduce you to everyone from the campy, gender-bending exóticos of Mexico’s Lucha Libre to Adrian Street, a flamboyant early wrestling star who would piss off his opponents by skipping around them and painting the heavyweight belt pink. And wait till you meet 1950s Pro Wrestling Hall of Famer Gorgeous George, who entered the ring on a red carpet in a luxurious robe, bobby-pinned his hair like he was a Baroque prince, and had his valet spritz perfume on his feet before matches.
For every story of trailblazing—including the coming-out stories of WWE icon Pat Patterson and Persian trans woman Dark Sheik—the film serves up cringe-inducing episodes of homophobia in the ultra-masculine wrestling arena. It digs into the way effeminate men were used as “heels” in fights, the hypermasculine fans chanting homophobic slurs. (For one man’s coming-out fight, the corporate brass forced him to emerge from an in-ring closet, dressed like Boy George, and get the living crap beat out of him. Sadly, that was just a few decades ago.)
Happily, wrestling has reasserted its transgressive energy these days, its indie scene celebrating every colour of the pride rainbow, capturing the diversity of everyone from pansexual to asexual performers. (EFFY's Big Gay Brunch pro wrestling events are just some of the showcases.) You can argue about whether wrestling is "real" or not all you want; the highlight of Out in the Ring is the human beings you meet, and the honest stories they tell. And most of them can pull off a mean springboard dropkick as well.
Related Articles
