First of all, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview today. Not only is yours the first openly gay for a wrestler, but my first in a long interview, so get down to it.
How did you break into business and who trained you?
I trained in Atlanta, Georgia at the WWA4 wrestling school under Christopher Rob. Later he met Robby Rage, Elix the Commander, and several other wrestlers there, and asked a lot of them. I have found Ken Timbs to be extremely knowledgeable in the area of ring psychology. Johnny Slaughter and Buddy Lee Parker were later introduced as head coaches and I trained with great wrestlers as well. I believe everyone is helping me.
Always prove to be the first “real” gay wrestler in terms gimmick or not something you decided after becoming a wrestler?
I was obviously gay from the start. From the first day I trained, I thought it was incredibly important to be honest about it. I felt like a closeted gay guy had done it so many times before and I didn’t feel like I was particularly brave to try and do it again. I was honest with the boys, and later when I went on tour, I had a say-it-or-leave-it attitude.
Have you experienced any prejudice in your early career, in training and in your early years? Are you currently experiencing any prejudice?
I thought some of the people who trained with me thought it was funny that a gay guy thought he could do something in business. One of those guys was a student who had just gotten out of the military. A student who claimed to be a natural killer and a government-manufactured weapon as a war machine boasted that no small fag could stand against him in the ring. Then I choked him twice in a row less than two minutes after the first time he thought I got lucky. Then everyone knew that I was serious and that none of them was better than me.
Those who don’t know destroy your gimmick. You are not a character just maybe played by wrestlers.
Simon Sermonis is the greatest European Champion of all time. Hailing from Manchester, England, and somewhat disenchanted with wrestling in Georgia, Simon is making his rounds in wrestling, proclaiming himself the unified European Champion with belt, accent, flag and all. Simon likes him very much or feels like leaving him, which usually rubs people the wrong way. She also doesn’t shy away from the gay issue at all and she’s not afraid to mix with fans when they try to make her sexuality flow. If Simon is stuck, he’s usually the number one character. All without paint, perfume, pigtails.
In general, how does the audience interact with you?
I have a very positive negative reaction. I’ll go out there and give them a show.
Have you ever found it difficult to get booked because of your homosexuality or because of the way you portray yourself in the ring, for example, someone’s promoters preferred you to play a gimmick?
It is not only Simon who acts or departs like this, but I also. Anyone who doesn’t help me get out there and be something I’m not. My character is me with a British accent. I cannot change myself and not change Simon.
Why is Simon Sermo the first to be openly gay as a wrestler, why don’t you treat the job and behave completely differently? What are you trying to prove or who are you trying to appeal to?
Everyone needs role models, mine may not have been a real thing, but the bottom line is that people base themselves on characters that reflect the kind of person they are or want to be. For me, even though I never wanted to be a drag queen or drag, I thought Adrian was incredibly daring. doing what he did and watching it strengthened me to be myself. I really believed it was Adrian. I am convinced. They are the very thing that results. There are no gay heroes, there are no positive role models. For me the eighties were Adrian Street and Adrian Adonis, in the 90’s and early 00’s it was and still is Gold Dust, Rico, Billy and Chuck, but all those characters were either really straight or negative stereotypes of makeup and gay romantic predators. So they were not real heroes. I went out there and did what everyone told me couldn’t be done. I trained as a gay man, worked as a gay man, and loved myself as a gay man without the stereotype of a gay man. I went out there and went into my own business without the “gay gimmick”.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I wrestled in Rome, Georgia at a show called Spring Stampede in April 2003 with existing headliner Jerry “The King” Lawler. The fans formed a human canopy with arms for me to walk through. I got a bigger pop as a kick than Lawler did as a face. They chanted my name and cheered me on throughout the match. The tape is one of my most cherished modern wrestling memories.
What are your goals and expectations for the future, where do you want to take Simon Sermon?
Hmmm, since nothing shows that the thing I wanted to do can be done, I think I am satisfied with what has happened and where I am going. Right now, I’m working on the Georgia show and other Georgia area Feds.
Want get a deal from NWA TNA wrestling or WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment ) if they wanted to change you to Master Fuji Kong Fu master or Adrian Street clone?
A clone of Adrian will not make any money in the world. At this point I had sold myself and everything I believed there was to be done in business.
What are your thoughts on Hadrian’s Squares and do you have any disdain for men who have previously played stereotypical characters?
Hadrian was the strongest man of his time. At that time in history, no one thought that a person who was perceived as happy or different could be cheered on or ridiculed, they were just killed because they thought gay people were monsters and sick. Not only did Adrian dominate his own gimmicks, but he also outplayed his opponents and entertainers. Let my father laugh and enjoy Adrian’s work and sit in the living room and applaud what he was doing. But to this day, my father will not admit to anyone that I am gay or that I have anything to emphasize to a festive son. So in the end, Adrian was just entertaining and really didn’t change people’s minds about what a gay athlete is.
Did former WCW (WCW Championship Wrestling) star Chris Kanyon ever come out of the closet?
I met Chris Kanyon after he was released from WWE.
Before we get into who said what, are you happy that Chris Kanyon is openly happy now?
I love that there is nothing funny about the character.
So now that Kanyon seems to be the “first” openly gay wrestler, does that make you feel that way?
Hurt, betrayed, angry; I have very mixed feelings about this. On the other hand, you have this very ambiguous statement from Chris and then the acknowledgment that he knows there are other gay people in the business. He then goes on to further define what a wrestler is in his mind and based on that, he doesn’t think of any skills independent of his environment to be a wrestler. He leaps to the head of the line, defying all who come before him. I felt that I and some others, by some chance, had heard us; The statement was “Well, don’t count.” I believed that he had by chance spoken too disparagingly of the independent wrestlers, because he had put himself entirely before the few. Of course, people can do whatever they want to say if they are ignorant of the facts, but in fact, I met Kanyon and I thought of him as a friend last year. He knew about me, he knew what I was doing here, he wanted me to keep our friendship, so that he would not be judged. I don’t want to give anyone the impression that our relationship was anything other than platonic, because that’s all it was. Kanyon wanted to get back into the big leagues and had a great reason to do so. We were talking and the angle between him and Vince where Kanyon was fired up in the hilarity meant. As far as it was concerned, it was a good story, and I felt that it was going to happen that most people didn’t believe could happen to gay people, and I thought that I could help by bringing about social change, an injustice like this. in front of a large audience, who perhaps never had that idea in their thoughts.
Have you spoken or been in contact with Kanyon since?
Immediately after Kanyon left, I called and left a voice mail to check on him, sent him emails, and did what I thought was a friend’s attempt. and to do that with a new life in Florida. He left the Atlanta area a lot in the air so I took care of him as a friend. I never received a single answer. After the release, he sent a personal email to Kanyon on the Mysia account in which he invited people to read his story. I explained to him how I secretly felt that no one but him could read it. I registered an email address with my real name and Simon Sermon from Atlanta. As usual, he didn’t even open or read the email. The producer of Changing Perceptions Documentary also felt the release and by contacting Kanyon through his space my saw his activity and his email< /a> had read but never mine Perhaps he did not put a name. I was encouraged by another employee at the business to do something, to put the story out there, and why I felt so betrayed. After doing this, I made several calls and members to the conference to explain to me the story and why I am so upset. During one of those calls, Kanyon called me and left a very long voice message where he said he wanted to talk to me after this time. He was clearly angry, accusing me of lying and knowing what he was going to do last year. These two are different, because he compares me and the newspaper I gave. Why did I subscribe to him to define me as something other than a wrestler? However, the electronic voice continued where something could be understood, the others did not except to the point that he wanted me to call him privately. When I heard the voice of the letters, I did not see much point when I called him now about his words in his forum to argue with him, because of course he is not going to see it my way and I know that I am not going to. see his way It seemed that at that point, all that time and all the other attempts to contact him, he then remembered how to call me.
Would you like to work things out and be the only 2 openly gay couples for wrestlers, for a common goal rather than both of you openly trying to be wrestlers?< /i>
This is where I get carried away, I know I’m not Kanyon star level, I knew from the beginning I wouldn’t go anywhere in business and in public with my anger about what I thought was a slight. I wondered to myself if I had just not said anything at all, and if only there was a reason. But that’s not the point? There is probably no telling why he had a major league career in the first place. Where is the strength? And how is this man now to be considered a brave man, when he himself has done nothing to advance the cause of the gay? When watching the documentary it was clear before Kanyon even met that one thing that I had such a hard time doing when professional athletes did a very good job of keeping their sexuality in the closet and then capitalizing on the event when they were out of bed. It doesn’t matter then!! You didn’t suffer at that point! You weren’t strong enough, but now that the race is in place, who wants to take a bad bite of poison to generate some kind of publicity! Then to make a statement where you get everyone’s hope only to leave yourself behind to escape is an insult to the people who have carried the forbidden fruit with them all their lives. Chris Kanyon is gay I think it’s a good thing and I’m working with him to get his message out, but I’m not going to let him out of my or anyone else’s work that we put in the business. One of the most important examples of professional competition is remembering all those who have come before you.
It just so happens that I’m half way through your interesting documentary “Changeable Perceptions: A Profile Of A Wrestler”.
Did you approach writing or did you want to do something else?
I email Victor Rook of Rook Communications about making a very small piece for a major documentary called Stronghold. It is a document about sports in general. I thought he was interested in what I did here in Georgia about wrestling. Victor sent me a schedule to fly and do a segment for the big docs. Victor rode with me to the show and looked around all day. He left and returned home, and then a few months ago he called me and said that he and several of my friends were very pleased with my portion and asked me if he would be in a smaller carrier with me to turn his attention to the matter. Of course I said yes. A couple of months later and the finished work arrived in the mail. I started in January 2006 with my own documents. I was amazed at how well he did. he told the story.
Did you meet Adrian Street on DVD?
The Lord did not meet the Street. I’ve been his fan since I was child and I thought he was the first gay role model. he knew Of course, as we all know, One Exotic is not gay and thus has never really had a truly gay role model. But we know that nothing in life is always as it appears. What I needed was character. But I would have been happier if I had never known him to be straight and in some way imitated his perception of what a gay man is. He insulted him as gay and idolatrous. From a child to me a fool. But he was a man of his time and did what was best for him.
Without a title repeating what is the purpose of documentaries?
To tell the story of a gay homosexual guy who went out there and did something that no one else wanted to do, visit small towns and sense they change what gay athletes think is the business of sports.
That pretty much ties it up. Is there anything final you’d like to say, any website or products you’d like to plug?
I don’t have the plugs, the document was offered as proof that I did.
Thank you for your time.
