Drag is pro wrestling, and pro wrestling is drag.
The comparison of both artforms, and the myriad discussions on their commonalities, remain major talking points as the intersection of both grows. The understanding that comes with that growth still spawns “eureka” moments for those seeing the threads for the first time.
While that knowledge spreading on the macro level keeps flipping switches, there exists something intrinsic to both drag and pro wrestling deeper within their worlds that speaks to the individual. Both essentially allow for personal reinvention, building upon the person you are to better capture and represent oneself as the person they may not be fully confident in being without the trappings of performance art.
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This is at the core of HBO’s docuseries “We’re Here.” The formula is pretty straightforward: famous drag performers, typically with “Rupaul’s Drag Race” alumni status, travel to different areas of the country to recruit locals into drag performances to empower them while building bridges between the area’s LGBTQ population and the rest of the community.
But the latest season brought the kindred nature of drag and pro wrestling to a wide audience through the story of out pro wrestler Pha’Nesse.
Pha’Nesse, real name Princey, began wrestling two years ago. He became a fixture at TWE Chattanooga during that time, winning the TWE Tag Team titles with Totally Shook partner Jameson Shook and finding himself as part of the burgeoning collection of young queer wrestlers coming out of the Southeast.
The show depicts the comfort and community he found through pro wrestling as compared to his feelings of existing on the outskirts of queer culture in Tennessee. Through the mentorship of “Canada’s Drag Race” winner Queen Priyanka and his “wrestling parent” Brian Maxwell also agreeing to perform in drag as well, a transformed Pha’Nesse rocked the stage at Murfreesboro Pride.
Pha’Nesse, who had plenty of prior experience with death drops, recognized the similarities immediately. “It was pretty easy to get everything down just because I felt like I had experience,” he said during an appearance on the LGBT In The Ring podcast. “If I can go in the ring with Derek Neal and Suge D, I can put on a good drag show … One thing that really threw me into wrestling was the pageantry, so this was so hand-in-hand.”
What was more important about the experience for Pha’Nesse was the environment that built upon his pre-existing sense of activism. “I’ve usually been pretty timid and quiet until I feel like somebody’s messing with my friends. That’s when I get rowdy,” he said. “I feel like the queer community in wrestling and the queer community in general are my friends and I will go to bat for my friends … we’re here and we’re literally not going anywhere, so just get used to it or go somewhere else.”
On the flip side, the relationship built between him and Priyanka provided an opportunity for someone from drag who grew up a wrestling fan the chance to have a moment in the ring when Pha’Nesse introduced him to his trainers, Maxwell and Kerry Awful.
“It was so much watching someone who was kind of like me when I first started out running the ropes and doing all these things for the first time,” Pha’Nesse said. “It was so cool to watch her kind of live her childhood dreams in the ring, and hopefully we get to see that a lot more, just saying.”
Pha’Nesse is still in contact with Priyanka, Sasha Velour and Jaida Essence Hall to this day, building on a relationship that began with the three queens sitting ringside in the TWE Arena marveling at the presence of a queer wrestler last summer. But Pha’Nesse holds the most appreciative words for his pro wrestling family.
“Kerry and Max are two of the people I’m closest to in this world. It was awesome to have them there throughout the whole experience,” he said. “The main thing I wanted to do is bring awareness to queer wrestling to hopefully the world and show that not just straight white men do this. Anybody can do it. I hopefully inspire somebody to maybe get in the ring one day and try it out. Hopefully I get to have that effect on somebody.”
Check out the full interview with Pha’Nesse and other LGBTQ pro wrestling figures on LGBT In The Ring. New episodes drop every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.
