Friday's Rampage hosted a tremendous segment featuring Anthony Bowens rejecting Harley Cameron's advances by informing her that he was gay. A cute gag - the building and literally everybody other than Cameron were mindful of this before he had to make it explicit - the scene ended with a "he's gay" chant from the Chicago crowd that understandably drew an emotional response from many online.
LGBTQIA+ fans shared how tough had it been to grow up with wrestling typically villainising anybody that wasn't straight, and though it's effectively toasting wrestling barely catching up with common decency about three decades late, it was an important milestone all the same.
Wise for AEW to repeat it, and dedicate time to repeating anything that can help deepen its relationship with the fanbase at large. Profiling this rather than leaving it inadvertently hidden away on Rampage does as much for the message as it does the featured performers.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
