AEW star Anthony Bowens recently appeared on an episode of The Mark Hoke Show, where he talked about a number of topics including the freedom he felt after coming out.
Bowens said, “When I came out I felt like all of those walls came crashing down and I was able to connect with people more. I was able to connect with my fellow wrestlers, my friendships with them, and my other friends in general got stronger. I was able to connect with all different fans all over the world, other closeted athletes. So it really was such a positive thing and a relief — a complete relief that I got to be myself, I didn’t have to hide anymore, I didn’t have to structure conversations a certain way and I could just … I felt free and that’s basically what it was. And I was able to really focus on being a good performer and figuring out who I was as a character, as opposed to figuring out a character and figuring out who I was as a person in actual life. It was just a ton of stress and I was so glad when it was over.”
On his “I’m gay!” segment with Harley Cameron:
“It’s never been said before [the word gay] in a wrestling ring on national television and I’m not the type of … My form of activism is, I go out and I am myself and I try to represent as authentically and positively as possible, I’m not really much in your face. But I always wanted to present it in a fun way ’cause a lot of times it ends up being presented in a very, very serious, emotional way. I wanted to present it in more of, you know, a happy-go-lucky [way].”
On the reaction to the segment:
“I’ve been waiting to do something like this at the right time for a long time and I’m very, very, very happy with the result. I’m very happy that the crowd enjoyed it. I would have never in a million years expect them to erupt the way that they did.”
You can check out Bowens’ comments in the video below.
