Two men are holding each other. One is lying down. The other is on top of him, holding his head inside his arms. They are both shirtless. Then, the audience cheers for the “babyface” (hero) as the “heel” (villain) taps out. The lights go up, and the audience claps because their favourite wrestler just won a match.
At its core, wrestling is about people–usually of the same sex–wearing minimal clothing, holding each other, picking each other up, and carefully dropping each other onto a mat. These physical actions are quite intimate, providing a rather homosexual undertone to the sport. If someone were to watch wrestling today without prior knowledge of its history, they may question the sexuality of the wrestlers, while being able to gaze upon these wrestlers and question their own feelings of attraction to them. Televised professional wrestling is well aware of how gaze functions in wrestling because producers carefully construct the visual appearance and attitude of each wrestler for their audience. When a spectator watches a wrestler of their same gender and recognizes or finds them attractive, this is what I consider the “homosexual gaze.” Overall, real and fake wrestling invites a homosexual gaze from wrestling fans, wherein both wrestlers and fans can question and explore their sexuality because of the sport’s inherent intimacy. However, professional wrestling has a deep history with homophobia, meaning the relationship between exploring one’s sexuality and watching/participating in wrestling has become self-contradictory in WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and wrestling as a whole.
Men Perform for Men, Women Perform for Women
Since the beginning of professional wrestling, male wrestlers have used their appearance and performance to get the attention of other men, not women. When a male wrestler exercises and takes steroids to make his body look “appealing,” he tries to appeal to other male wrestlers and the businessmen/talent scouts who work for professional wrestling companies. These male wrestlers also appealed to a predominantly male audience, as a 2013 report on WWE’s main demographic showed that 63 percent of the audience is male. While these wrestlers’ appearances set the standard for what a man’s body “should” look like, it can make spectators crave this body type. Whether they want this body type as a goal or as an impossible male beauty standard, this kind of gaze is naturally homosexual, as men look at these male wrestlers and identify them as attractive. While the male gaze, according to Laura Mulvey, objectifies women, men objectify other men by viewing them as attractive, sexual objects when they watch wrestling, especially because producers intend for wrestlers to be portrayed as such. Producers also want these men to be viewed as objects of entertainment, not necessarily as people, contributing to the homosexual male gaze.
Here, we see two wrestlers, one wearing short shorts. As such, his body is being perceived before and during his match. (Image Source: Jason Pofahl)
Clothing and small details about a wrestler’s appearance contribute to this male beauty standard and, therefore, invite the homosexual gaze. Former professional wrestler, Maven Huffman, often shares “secrets” from his time at WWE in the early 2000s. In one video, he shared that male wrestlers wet their hair and shave body hair for appearances. Further, the minimal, thin clothing wrestlers wear is inherently meant to make a wrestler’s body a spectacle. Andrew Delfino and Jay Mechling studied high school wrestlers and masculinity to test what previous sociologists have said about the intimacy of wrestling. In their article, they write, “The thin arm straps on most singlets make visible the muscles of the arms and chest, while the short legs of the singlet expose the muscles of the leg. There can be no doubt that the male body is on display in wrestling, even before the match begins.” As such, the emphasis placed on the physical representation of the male body in male wrestling is inherently homosexual because it is to intimidate and impress other men–opponents, coaches or spectators. The wrestlers, then, become objects of entertainment and attraction, and they are gazed upon by other men.
Female wrestlers similarly use their bodily presentation to appeal to other women. As I am writing this article, Wrestlemania 42 has just passed, where Rhea Ripley faced Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship. In one of their verbal face-offs before the match on SmackDown of March 9, 2026, they compared the size of each other’s shoulders, arms and legs. Ripley even tells Cargill that she is “impressed” with Cargill’s arms and legs, but then says Cargill only exercises to be “aesthetically pleasing” while she herself works out to “survive and thrive in this business.” This highlights, firstly, that perhaps appearance and muscles can reward people with championship titles, as Ripley implies that Cargill was rewarded with the title for her appearance. Further, it asks the audience to gaze upon and compare these women’s bodies. Lastly, this promo shows that women pay attention to who has bigger muscles. Gaze in wrestling reaches women differently: Ripley and Cargill are not performing for the male gaze (because they are not adhering to what they think men desire), but they recognize each other’s bodies and attractiveness; they instead want to appeal to each other. This makes the way they watch one another inherently homosexual, and it invites other women and the audience to view these wrestlers with the same gaze.
This is a screenshot of Rhea Ripley (left) and Jade Cargill (right) comparing each other’s bodies on WWE SmackDown. (Image Source: WWE Women’s Division)
Building Physical and Emotional Intimacy in the Ring
When looking past the gaze asked of wrestling fans, the actual sport of wrestling–both professional, fake wrestling and real wrestling–uses physical contact to demonstrate intimacy. Delfino and Mechling specify that the intimacy in wrestling is different from that of almost any other sport. Firstly, they note that sports are truly the only acceptable place where boys and men can express care for one another, writing, “the game frame permitted them to touch friends intimately in ways they could not outside of that play frame.” In this way, the social ideas of masculinity and the notion that men are weak if they express care for each other almost dissipate in wrestling. This can be observed in professional matches. For example, one “secret move” in professional wrestling is a hand squeeze, wherein the wrestler giving a hit or a submission move will put their hand in their opponent’s hand, and if they feel a squeeze, their opponent is telling them they are not hurt. Though this article states that this squeeze is no longer used because fans notice it, clips from WWE show other kinds of physical touch between wrestlers to ensure their opponent is unharmed, such as the way Brock Lesnar squeezed Roman Reigns’s neck.
In this screenshot, the YouTube channel Wrestlelamia shows Brock Lesnar (left) squeezing Roman Reigns’s neck (right) to ensure he is not injured. (Image Source: Wrestlelamia)
In addition to displaying care for other wrestlers, Maven Huffman outlines that “trust” is one of the main ways WWE wrestlers avoid getting hurt. Hence, wrestlers are literally putting their safety and well-being into the hands of another wrestler. There is a sense of intimacy that comes with men trusting another man to physically care for them. To echo what Delfino and Mechling say, “In wrestling, there are no distancing, mediating symbols; the male contact is as direct and as intimate as a sport can get.” They add, “Wrestling both is and is not combat. Wrestling both is and is not sex. It looks and feels like combat, and it looks and feels like sex, but the peculiar, paradoxical genius of the wrestling play frame is that it both is and is not either of these.” The physical contact and care taken into account by the men in a wrestling ring–in addition to the minimal clothing they wear–mean that wrestling can be considered a kind of sex. Yet, the fact that it is socially understood as a sport or “game” separates it from explicit sex. Nonetheless, the implications still exist.
Another sociologist, Brian Fair, also studied social ideas of masculinity in high school wrestling. He agrees with Delfino and Mechling that the “entanglement” of the wrestlers’ bodies is “sexually suggestive,” especially in the physical domination of pinning the opponent to win. Fair suggests that the sexual nature of the sport brings the idea of dominance into play. Specifically, he explores the idea that if a man were to lose a match and be pinned to the mat, he would be physically dominated. This likely sparked the beginning of homophobia in wrestling: in the inherently sexual performance of wrestling, to be dominated means to be “penetrated.” Fair writes, “their embodied performances framed penetrated men as a dominated, feminized ‘other.’” Therefore, while wrestling invites a homosexual gaze and has blatant (homo)sexual implications, the idea that men must win by being dominant in a sexual manner leads to misogyny and homophobia for the men who lose matches.
The Rise of Gay Panic in the Ring
The conflicting homosexual and homophobic narratives present in real and televised wrestling are discomforting for audience members and wrestlers who are questioning their sexualities. Firstly, Fair notes that most male wrestlers in high school are quite accepting of gay wrestlers; it is, sadly, their coaches who say slurs. Additionally, journalist Graham Isador wrote about his internal struggles when watching wrestling because he enjoyed the extreme storylines in WWE, but could not look past the homophobia in the industry, especially because he was questioning his own sexuality. He interviewed several queer wrestlers, one named Mike Parrow, who says that every other joke in WWE during the “Attitude Era” (late 1990s to early 2000s) used to be homophobic by presenting homosexuality as weak. The impacts of this homophobia heavily harm the representation of queer wrestlers. Another openly gay wrestler that Isador interviewed, Effy, outlines that southern fans used to “despise” him. Additionally, in the early 2000s, WWE wrestler Chris Kanyon was fired, likely because he came out as gay. Homophobia may have originated to reassert a narrow view of masculinity as dominant, but in doing so, it incorrectly perpetuates the idea that queer people cannot be masculine or good wrestlers.
This image features two high school boys wrestling. Though this is not fake wrestling, their clothing is tight and short, relating to Andrew Delfino and Jay Mechling’s points that the body is on display and physical intimacy is present, even in high school wrestling. (Image Source: Chris Chow)
How can wrestling create a space where people are encouraged to sexually gaze upon those of their same gender, but enact homophobia at the same time? The homophobia is, likely, a way to over-correct the homosexuality displayed in wrestling. This kind of over-correction is evident in some of WWE’s storylines and in its portrayal of women. To be more specific, WWE featured many storylines about fake–and some real–heterosexual couples to create drama heading into matches. Consequently, this promotes heteronormativity in wrestling. Further, in the early 2000s, many female wrestlers were sexualized, as they participated in televised bikini and lingerie contests. Since WWE tried to appeal to a predominantly male audience, these segments strived to appeal to the male gaze that sexualizes women, seemingly as a way to over-correct the queer implications of enjoying wrestling as a spectator. As a result, wrestling promotes the idea that masculinity can only exist when people who do not present themselves as tough, dominating males are sexualized as dominated, like women were, or they are made fun of, as gay people are framed as “others” in Fair’s terms.
Now, it is Okay to be Gay
While wrestling has a history of homophobia and misogyny to try to emphasize masculinity, many queer wrestlers, and the way wrestlers are represented today, combat this narrative. This allows people to homosexually gaze upon wrestlers without feeling guilty. Although Isador’s interviewee Effy stated that people from the south used to “despise” him for being gay, the same audience now buys his merchandise and cheers for him. An openly transgender wrestler, Candy Lee, shares that representation in sports and the media is important; thus, by expressing their “authentic self,” as a wrestler, they are happily inspiring others. Nyla Rose, a transgender, bisexual female wrestler, shares, “It was imperative to me that I bring a normality to what people understand as transgender,” and, “it’s ok[ay] to be attracted to a trans person, or find them attractive. That said attraction doesn’t change anything about you that you don’t want it to.” Nyla Rose indicates that her representation in wrestling allows people to explore what attraction means to them, knowing that wrestling brings about a sexual gaze. She reiterates that people can safely gaze upon her. Nyla Rose also works with AEW (All Elite Wrestling), which is a very popular, televised professional wrestling show. As such, Nyla Rose’s exposure and positive representation of the LGBTQIA+ community means people can recognize the sexual gaze wrestling asks from its audience, and a queer, sexual gaze is invited and welcomed.
When thinking about the homosexual gaze in wrestling, the famous female wrestler Rhea Ripley must be mentioned. Though she is in a heterosexual relationship, both men and women online find her attractive and frame her as an object of attraction for all genders. For example, Ripley gifted her tag team partner, Iyo Sky, flowers for Valentine’s Day. Many popular comments on this clip say, “Now kiss!” or “Lesbians.” The internet and the way Ripley is viewed online allow people to openly discuss the queer implications of her tag team partnership. Men gaze upon Ripley, as many people make videos saying, “I watch WWE for the plot,” then cut to a clip of Ripley. Though this sexualizes her, women make content like this, too. In fact, in this particular video, where a woman makes the same video fantasizing over Ripley, one of the top comments with over 1,000 likes reads, “She makes me question my sexuality.” The sexualization of Ripley indicates that there is still work to be done in wrestling to eliminate misogyny, but the safety women feel about posting that they fantasize over Rhea Ripley suggests that professional wrestling is becoming more accepting of queerness. Spectators can now feel less guilty about exploring their sexuality by watching wrestling.
This is a screenshot of wrestlingjustine’s post where she gazes upon Rhea Ripley. The comment from mikbuffy_1129 demonstrates that women are openly discussing their attraction to Rhea Ripley. (Image Source: wrestlingjustine)
Wrestling is Gay, and That is Okay
In all kinds of sports, as long as there is an audience, the idea of a gaze is ever-present. Further, all athletes want to appear impressive to people of their same gender, as they usually face off against players of their gender, and they want to impress coaches or talent scouts. It just so happens that in professional wrestling, physical appearance plays a main role in the way spectators gaze upon athletes, and how wrestlers gaze upon each other. People who are questioning their sexuality, identify as LGBTQIA+, or even people who identify as heterosexual, are asked to gaze upon wrestlers with a recognition that wrestlers are attractive. Now that wrestling is progressing into a world that is much more accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community, wrestlers and fans are more encouraged to express these feelings of attraction in a normalized manner, just as women express their attraction to Rhea Ripley. Is wrestling inherently gay? Yes. Does this mean all people who like wrestling are gay? No, but this means everyone who likes wrestling understands that the way they gaze upon wrestlers is sexual. Therefore, people who are questioning their sexuality both inside the ring and as fans can explore who they are attracted to and to what extent this shapes their sexual orientation.
