Fan Booted from Wrestling Event for Anti-Trans Rhetoric
Based on the events of the Scenic City Invitational in Tennessee, it’s clear that there’s absolutely no place for hate speech in the world of pro-wrestling. An anti-trans fan was removed from the yearly wrestling event for shouting transphobic language at the fighters, two of whom are openly queer men.
This year’s SCI was headlined by a retirement match for the legendary Daniel Makabe and featured several other big names in wrestling, including queer fighters Rico Gonzalez and Mad Dog Connelly. The incident occurred during the match between Pan Afrikan World Diaspora world champion Suge D and TWE Chattanooga champion Darian Bengston.
A male fan made the hateful comment towards Bengston for his ring attire that resembles a kilt or a skirt. The fan said, “You’re wearing a skirt,” which caused Suge D to reply, “What’s wrong with that?”
The fan was approached by ACTION Wrestling founder Matt Griffin, who was helping to run SCI as he has in years past. Griffin asked the man to stop making derogatory comments, as did the man’s family, but he replied by saying, “Men don’t wear skirts,” and continuing to shout “skirt” at Griffin.
The slander escalated from bad to worse as the man started slinging the trans slur at Griffin and Bengston, asking Griffin if he was a liberal and following with the slur. Griffin had the man promptly ejected from the event.
When outside, the man attempted to pick a fight with Griffin, the arena staff, and a few wrestlers who had followed him outside. He slung insults and slurs at pro wrestler Jameson Shook, who helped diffuse a similar transphobic incident at the same arena last year. Shook had to be held back after the man asked him how he could support the LGBTQ+ community as a Christian person.
The anti-trans fan has been banned from all future events at TWE Arena. This matches up with the host’s and the event’s strong stances against hate speech, which they’ve upheld in the past.
It’s been made clear, through this event and other recent events within pro wrestling such as trans wrestler Gabbi Tuft returning to the sport, that there is no place for hate speech or matching sentiments within the sport any longer.
