As Brock Lesnar is married to one of the matriarchs of sex in WWE his real-life heterosexuality has never been questioned. However, his WWE character was nearly written to be gay.
Former WWE writer Brian Solomon revealed on an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that he advocated Brock Lesnar being WWE’s openly gay ass kicker. The idea got traction as Stephanie McMahon not only approved but loved Solomon’s progressive thinking.
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The pitch would make it to Lesnar who balked at the role. The concept was put on the shelf only to be rebooted with Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo later in 2002. WWE would end up gutting that premise by having both Billy and Chuck admitting, during their staged wedding, that they were not gay.
Brock debuted in March of 2002, so in accordance with Solomon’s timeline, one of WWE’s earliest ideas was for Lesnar to be homosexual. Solomon underlined that Brock wasn’t to exploit any offensive stereotypes, but to simply be gay. Even further, the plans were for Brock to be just as dominant as we know him today. If that is indeed the case, WWE creatives were quite forward thinking as the company has rarely hesitated when it comes to exploitation in the 15 years that’s followed.
It’s hard to imagine what 2017’s version of Brock Lesnar would feel like after being written as a gay character since 2002. If it was simply going to be an extra layer that wasn’t to be gratuitously misused, Brock Lesnar could be gay tomorrow. While that’s likely not in the cards, it’s fascinating the think that it once was.
It’s curious to think that in all of their years, WWE has yet to commit to gay characters. While WWE Superstar, Darren Young is actually gay, that fact has yet to be mentioned on WWE programming.
Can we fully indict WWE for not having at least one homosexual character in their history? It’s a complicated conversation. To them, such a sensitive subject would be too hard to maintain and thus has been avoided. Then again, WWE has never shied from overtly (if not pornographic) lesbian situations.
While there may certainly be a double standard here at play, in the end, WWE is going to put out what their viewers want to to see. So until a gay character becomes an opportunity rather than a formality for the company, gay characters will be staying in WWE’s closet.
Then again, a gay Braun Strowman could be lucratively good.
[H/T ScreenRant]
