Up and Comers

James Ryan vs Patrick Scott, 9 July 2016 (CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling)

My vision of the mainstreaming of gay (or, at any rate, gay-affected) pro wrestling appears to be taking seed even here in the Helms-haunted, bible-believing, toilet-segregated South. Witness this not quite three-minute match from last summer.

I refer specifically to the clubby hair styling, titivated pink gear, and Ryan's smoochy farewell Mwah! to the fans at ringside. You used to find slender lads like this only at BG East ... or UK wrestling.

None of it openly declares whom these guys sleep with, but all of it speaks to the gayification of wrestling spectacle for the general public. It doesn't go as far as I would take it*, perhaps, but it's a giant leap from AJ Styles and the Hardy Boyz, whose roots are also in the Tar Heel State.

Six-foot-five, 185-pound James ("The Original") hails from nearby Greensboro and made his pro debut last year. Both James and Patrick usually appear as tag team partners, James with his trainer LaBron Kazone (as LaBron James), "Pretty" Patrick Scott with Patrick Shelley (as the Patrick Pain Parade).

* Or rather it takes it in a slightly different direction. As I've stated many times, usually I prefer muscle bears to twinks with less high flying and more sustained body contact.