Gay Pro Wrestler Anthony Bowens Recalls Coming Out Fears

Anthony Bowens is the gay half of World Champion tag-team wrestling duo The Acclaimed. Being out hasn't slowed the champ down – but, he said in a recent interview, he was fearful it would, prior to coming out.

Wrestling Inc. reported that Bowens talked about the anxieties he grappled with prior to coming out during a Dec. 4 appearance on the podcast "Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend."

Bowens recalled that "there was a time" when he "would sit in my room, in my car, and just cry thinking if I came out, you know, my career is over, fans would hate me, wrestlers would hate me, a national TV company wouldn't take a chance on me."

But, much as he does in the ring, the champion prevailed.

"After coming out as bisexual in 2017, Bowens shared a video in 2019 with his partner, stating he now solely identifies as homosexual," SE Scoops recalled. Far from seeing his career end, though, Bowens saw it go stratospheric.

"In November 2020, Bowens, alongside Acclaimed teammate, Max Caster, signed a five-year deal with AEW and are in their first reign as World Tag Team Champions," SE Scoops added.

Not to mention Bowens' "signature 'Scissor me, Daddy Ass' catchphrase was responsible for making The Acclaimed's shirt sporting the phrase the hottest-selling piece of merch in AEW recently," Wrestling Inc. pointed out.

And though it may be lonely at the top, Bowens has plenty of company in the AEW's LGBTQ+ ring.

"AEW is also home to Nyla Rose, a transwoman, and both Toni Storm and referee Aubrey Edwards identify as bisexual," SE Scoops noted. Meanwhile, there's also representation in the WWE, where Sonya Deville is an "openly lesbian Superstar, while Doudrop, Kayla Braxton, and the recently returned Tegan Nox have also come out as bisexual."

Bowens spoke to a new, post-closet perspective – not one of rejection and career ruin, but rather being a symbol of the success that awaits LGBTQ+ fans who put aside homophobic indoctrination and embrace not only authenticity, but their own potential: "To be able to be somebody that people can watch on television, hopefully connect to and relate to, to give them that sense of hope that, I made it through, they can make it through."