AEW's Anthony Bowens On The Positive Reaction To His 'I'm Gay' Promo

The recent promo where Anthony Bowens stated "I'm gay" to the AEW fans became one of the most positive viral moments in the company's history. The Acclaimed star admitted on the "Chrissy Chaos" podcast that he didn't know how the reaction was going to be from the fans.

"I didn't ever want to shoehorn anything in there and make it too disingenuous," he said. "I wanted it to be the right moment and when I was presented with this ... I was like, 'This will be a fun moment, nobody has ever said it in a wrestling ring before, so this should connect with a lot of people and I hope it does.'" 

Bowens admitted that it was tough for him to come out, which is why he wanted to be a role model in that instance to give people someone to connect with. The segment of him proudly shooting down Harley Cameron's flirting by explaining he was gay certainly was a hit as well. It created a positive personal experience for him due to the comments Bowens received when he first came out.

"Everyone just stood up and gave a standing ovation, they started doing the, 'He's gay,' and I'm like, 'What the f*** is going on? This is insane,'" Bowens admitted. "In comparison to what I saw when I first came out, and Michael and I started our YouTube channel, it was totally different ... To fast forward and just kind of scroll and see how much happiness and positivity it brought people made it even better."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Chrissy Chaos" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.