Changing Perceptions: An Interview with Openly Gay Pro Wrestler Simon Sermon

First of all thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview today. Your not just the first openly gay pro wrestler but my first interview in a long while, so lets get down to it.

How did you break in to the business and who trained you?

I was trained in Atlanta, Georgia at the WWA4 School of wrestling under Christopher Rob. I later met Robby Rage, Elix Skipper, and several other wrestlers there and asked a lot of questions of them. I found Ken Timbs to be particularly brilliant in the area of ring psychology. Johnny Slaughter and Buddy Lee Parker were later brought in as head trainers and I trained with those great wrestlers too. I credit all of them with helping me.

Was it always your goal to be the first openly "real" gay wrestler in terms of a gimmick or is it something you decided on after becoming a wrestler?

I was openly gay from the very beginning. From the first day that I trained, I thought it was incredibly important to be truthful about it. I felt that the closeted gay guy thing had been done so many times before and didn't feel like it would be particularly brave to try and do it again. I was honest with the boys and later when I started on the circuit, I performed with the take it or leave it attitude.

Did you experience any prejudice in the early stages of you career, during training and your first matches? Do you experience any prejudice now?

I got the impression that some of the people that trained with me thought it funny that the little gay guy had it in his mind that he could do something in the business. One of those guys was a trainee that had just gotten out of the marines. The trainee who claimed to be a natural born killer and a weapon molded by the government as a fighting machine boasted that no little fag could stand against him in the ring. Then I choked him out twice in a row in less that two minutes after the first time he thought I just got lucky. It was then that everyone knew that I was serious and that none of them were any better than me.

For those who don't know break down your gimmick. You aren't the regular flamboyant character usually played by wrestlers.