TNA star Bear Bronson might just be the happiest man in professional wrestling.
The hulking bearded brute is a force of nature in the ring, making his name in deathmatch wrestling in recent months, while away from the ring is unapologetically himself, although he acknowledges it’s not easy.
Bronson, who came out as bisexual in 2024, exclusively told Metro how there are people still in the closet within wrestling, but it’s as much about society as it is the business.
‘Wrestling just happens to be like a part of society. Our locker rooms are filled with many different people,’ he said.
‘I fully acknowledge that I’m lucky to have the support system I have in my life, but I have very close friends that came out as trans, and their own parents said, “I never want to see you ever again.”
‘And you know what? I just acknowledge I’m very lucky I didn’t have that. I had parents that fully embraced that. But that’s not the world we live in universally.’
He explained that his advice to anybody thinking about coming out is to do so ‘whenever you’re ready’.
‘And you cannot lie to somebody and say it’s going to be easy, because it may not be,’ he added.
‘That’s just, unfortunately, the world we live in. It might be tough, but as long as you let people know you are there for them when it happens, if it happens, that’s all you can do. Strength like that takes time to build up.’
Bronson is married to fellow LGBTQ+ wrestler Gabby Forza, and her support has helped him rise up the ranks despite struggles in the business, including being judged for being a ‘thicker’ body shape, and for being so cheery.
‘[My wife] saw that side of me and made me not afraid to let it out, and I’m very lucky for that,’ he smiled.
‘You see the wrestling business coming a long way with stuff like that, even outside of sexuality.’
He recalled: ‘Not anymore, but coming up in wrestling, I was heavily judged because I’m fat, or just happy all the time. I’m just genuinely a happy person by default, and it just used to bother a lot of people.
‘Or even just having a belly, just having a belly and being a thicker, huskier person, just used to bother people on my way up. And it’s hardened me, which built a lot of character.’
He feels wrestling has progressed over the years, but the reality of it is, ‘not everyone out there is a good person’, no matter what line of work you’re in.
‘If you are being yourself, unapologetically, and that influences somebody to do that as well, and then more and more locker rooms across the world are becoming more and more full of people that are unapologetically themselves, you’re gonna see that have a strong influence,’ he said.
‘It’s going in the right direction. I feel so, at least from my perspective. But I’m sure everybody has different perspectives, and I know I just control who I am as a person and what the decisions I make, and whether it’s being bisexual or whether it’s being now a deathmatch wrestler – all different facets of life, if you are unapologetically yourself, you will feel free.’
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Bronson is getting to show that in TNA, and he decided to sign with the company officially in January, after leaving AEW and attracting interest from WWE.
‘My birthday, November 13, is when I got contacted by WWE,’ he revealed. ‘Gabe Sapolsky was the person I was talking to with this. And he just was extremely helpful in even helping me, like, kind of figure this out for myself. Because, you know, that’s cool to have options on the table, but with TNA, it just felt too right.’
He had held talks with Tommy Dreamer, and ultimately decided TNA was the right place for him, while he’s still getting to explore deathmatch wrestling, which has its own share of critics.
‘I have an older brother that’s very heavily involved in the film industry, and there are people that look at a movie like Terrifier 3 and say, “That’s not cinema, that’s garbage, that’s trash.” And it’s like, okay, well, I love it, so, sure, fine, it’s not cinema. It may not ever win an Oscar, but I love it,’ he said.
‘I would never look at somebody – if you were to tell me right now that you can’t watch death match wrestling because it grosses you out, all this stuff, I would never look at you and say, “Why do you not like it? How do you not like people getting mutilated and stuff like that?”
‘That sounds silly, you know, you’re one of the normal ones!’
Bronson admits his bosses aren’t totally keen on his deathmatch exploits, but he knows TNA is the right place to be,
‘I am the best version of myself that I’ve ever been in my 11 year career. I think the growth should never stop, but TNA is a place where I just watch people go to and grow into better versions of themselves, or the best versions of themselves,’ he beamed.
‘More than money, more than anything else, I need a place to grow. I need a place that’s going to put me to work, which they have big time!’
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