Former WWE Superstar Darren Young Talks About Reaction In WWE To His Coming Out As A Gay Man, What CM Punk Said, And More
Former WWE Superstar Darren Young recently spoke to Cerrito Live.
During the interview Young discussed his decision to come out as a gay man and how it was received in the WWE locker room, how CM Punk, Randy Orton, and others reacted to the news, Support from fellow Superstars, and thoughts on CM Punk’s WWE future.
Here are highlights from the interview:
Deciding to come out as a gay man:
“I was tired of just living my life as a lie.” Young admitted, “and for 30 years, I suppressed those feelings for so long, not being myself, not being my true, authentic self, and I was tired of being affectionate behind closed doors, and then, when I’m out in public, I can’t be like any other normal couples. That’s the best decision for me that I’ve ever [made].”
How Punk reacted after news broke that Young came out:
“When I came out publicly, I think it was summertime around the time of SummerSlam,” Young recalled. “And this was when SummerSlam was being hosted at the Staples Center. The summer I came out, he had a match with Brock Lesnar. And right after his match with Brock Lesnar, in catering, he was all iced up from head to toe, and he approached me in catering in front of everybody, and he told me to stand up. I stood up and he gave me a hug.
“And he said, ‘I’m very proud of you for coming out and being so courageous. If you have any problem with anyone in the locker room because of this, you let me know and I will take care of this.’ And he said this to me in front of everyone in catering. I was shocked! Here he just finished his match with Brock Lesnar and him coming up to me and showing me love was very moving to me.”
CM Punk, Randy Orton, and Big Show supporting him after coming out:
“CM Punk may be rough around the edges, but he has nothing but love from me. Same with Randy Orton, Big Show, these top guys showed me so much love personably that it made me feel so at ease. It made me feel comfortable. It gave me confidence.”
If we’ll ever see CM Punk back in WWE: “They say, ‘never say never’ and ‘anything could happen in the WWE,’” Young said. “The WWE is a revolving door. I feel like the OGs, they always come back and if he would have come back now, it would be great for business.”
An old 2011 Tweet from Road Dogg saying Billy Gunn was gay, Young said he has nothing against Road Dogg:
“Man, that’s news to me. To me personally, Road Dogg is an amazing producer, an amazing, amazing talent, and he’s a great friend of mine. People say stuff and it is what it is. Me personally, I love Road Dogg. He [has] been very helpful to me backstage and coming up with scenarios. I’ve got nothing but great things to say [about] Road Dogg. People say stuff, we’ve all said stuff that we didn’t mean to say, but I’ve got nothing against Road Dogg.”
“Young continued, “Road Dogg is so funny. Anytime I’d see him backstage, he’d walk passed me and say, ‘D, won’t you take a damn day off?’ And I’d say, ‘Road Dogg, no, I can’t! I’ve got to hustle! I’ve got to grind! I’ve got to be on TV! I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do!’ ‘No, no, no, take a day off!’ I said, ‘no, Road Dogg.’ But I love him. I don’t care what anybody says about him.”
You can listen to the entire interview Darren Young did with Cerrito Live by clicking this link here.
[H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions.]
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