Pro Wrestler AC Mack has made history as the first openly gay man to win a wrestling world championship.
According to Outsports, the achievement was made on 22 January – during the IWTV Independent Wrestling World title against Alex Shelley.
Towards the end of the match, Mack reversed Shelley’s Border City Stretch submission into a rollup. His sensational move resulted in the 20-year veteran losing the event.
Mack’s win followed his long six-month journey to get to the coveted championship.
During that time, the 29-year-old won the Scenic City Invitational tournament and was named the number one contender at Action Wrestling’s “Bangers Only 2” event.
Mack now joins Sandy Parker, Nyla Rose, Susan Green, and Trish Adora as one of the few LGBTQ+ wrestlers to earn a world championship title.
Shortly after the match, Mack opened up about the importance of his groundbreaking achievement in the ring.
“I started wrestling in 2016. And plenty of people told me, ‘You ain’t gonna never make it out of this state. Not with the way you look, not with the color of your skin, not with who you like to sleep with,'” he explained.
“They dubbed me Georgia’s finest. Don’t clap for that, because I am so much more. For those of you who still don’t understand how big of a deal this is, we did the research.
“We found out that now AC Mack goes down in the history books — not just the indies, not just the major leagues, not Japan, not anything — all of pro wrestling now has its first openly gay male world champion.
“This championship, the IWTV World championship — Iris — is staying here.”
Mack ended his inspiring statement on a sweet note by kissing his partner in the ring.
The World’s first openly gay male World Champion! @AC_Mack #SouthEastFirst pic.twitter.com/OCm10NSxa4
— ACTION Wrestling (@WrestleACTION1) January 22, 2022
LGBTQ+ wrestlers within the popular contact sport have slowly gained more recognition.
From Anthony Bowens and Toni Storm to Kyla Braxton and Mr Grim, the roster of queer talent has undoubtedly gotten bigger.
Even straight veteran wrestlers like Chris Jericho have expressed support for LGBTQ+ athletes in the sport.
In 2020, Jericho defended trans wrestler Nyla Rose after she made an appearance on his podcast Talk is Jericho.
After their inclusive discussion, transphobic trolls took to social media to spew anti-trans comments toward Nyla.
One user wrote: “True female from a biological stand point? That is trolling. Do better, Chris.”
In response, Jericho said: “Go study the transgender process and get back to me, junior.”
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