Former WWE star Darren Young was recently interviewed by Chris Van Vliet in Los Angeles to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Young revealed his reaction to Finn Balor’s LGBTQ WrestleMania entrance last year, and how The McMahons reacted to his coming out back in 2013.
Here are the highlights:
If it was hurtful to be released from WWE after all of those years with the company via a phone call:
I’d be honest with you, the release wasn’t that hurtful. It was more hurtful, last year’s WrestleMania, Finn Balor, opening match, the LGBTQ colors were embraced under his umbrella. Which is perfectly fine, I love Finn, I love Finn to death. But I’m like, ‘Man, they released me a few months ago. Give a dog a bone. Let me embrace it.’ I want to be able to go out there and show people that being gay comes in all different sizes and shapes. And I don’t celebrate being gay, I celebrate living my life free from hate, free from judgment, and all of that other good stuff. I wanted to be a superhero there, but I’m going to continue doing my thing and be a superhero and the leader of the Block The Hate Movement. And that’s what it’s all about.
His immediate reaction after coming out to TMZ in an interview:
I’ve been interviewed by TMZ before when we were doing the Nexus and stuff like that. I could’ve been outed by someone, who knows. But they asked me the question and I said this is who I am and this is what it’s all about. When I was done with the interview, I was a nervous wreck. We have a relationship with TMZ now, but back then we didn’t have a relationship with them, so anything goes. So, when I did the interview, I walked away, went to SummerSlam hotel in California and was like ‘What the f*ck did I just do?’
So I called WWE – I told them what happened, I called up my best friend in Yonkers, New York, Trouble, told him what happened, and the news broke, and it was Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon that really embraced me and let me know that everything would be okay. Vince genuinely talked to me for 20 minutes about his best friend Pat Paterson being gay, and Pat’s a great guy.
