Gay wrestler EFFY challenges for NWA World title in surprise debut
A critic of NWA owner Billy Corgan in recent years, gay wrestler EFFY will battle Silas Mason for the NWA World title on May 9.
Mark
“Never say never” is an old adage in pro wrestling that continues to hold true, and the most recent example involves one of the most vocal and actionable forces for LGBTQ inclusion and promotion in the art form.
EFFY, the 2025 QWI 200 No. 1 ranked wrestler and namesake of the annual LGBTQ pro wrestling showcase “EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch,” is coming to the National Wrestling Alliance.
EFFY will challenge NWA World Heavyweight champion “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason for his title at an NWA Chicago event on Saturday, May 9, in the former GCW World champion’s debut match with the promotion. When that match happens, he will join Brad Slayer and Rolando Perez as the only out LGBTQ men to challenge for that title since Billy Corgan took ownership of the NWA in 2017.
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If he wins, EFFY would become the first out LGBTQ male world champion in NWA history and join Alex Kane as the only out LGBTQ male wrestlers to hold world titles in multiple different promotions.
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Gay wrestler EFFY becomes the fourth out LGBTQ male world champion in pro wrestling history and the first to hold GCW’s top prize.
EFFY’s arrival with the company comes after being an outspoken critic of the NWA for years, including criticisms directed pinpointedly at Corgan for his booking of the promotion and the promotion of former WWE star, periodic Fox News talking head, transphobic and homophobic retired pro wrestler Tyrus as the company’s world champion between 2022-23.
“You know what I told Billy Corgan? I said go f*** yourself. They asked me to come work NWA. They begged … You know what I said? I’m not helping you,” EFFY said on a 2023 episode of his Weekend at EFFY’s podcast.
“They said Tyrus isn’t here anymore. You know what I said? You leaned into what Tyrus was doing, which was hate speech and Fox News… and now you want EFFY to come in and fix things and do a PR job? No. I’m not helping you … I’m not helping your company look competent.”
EFFY referred to that history of criticism in an in-storyline promo posted to social media on Tuesday.
“I’m doing the impossible because [Saturday] I have a championship match for the NWA World Heavyweight championship,” he said. “EFFY’s know something about this that you don’t: that it shouldn’t be happening. That it’s crazy that EFFY is in the NWA because I’ve talked and talked and talked, and the ‘Thrillbilly’ might have the NWA championship, but the other Billy can’t be thrilled that I’ve figured out a way to get it. Because EFFY is tired of just talking. EFFY’s tired of just telling you what he would do.
“And Billy will be thrilled when he sees the NWA that EFFY gives him.”
The NWA’s relationship with queer audiences and wrestlers has seen both positive and negative impacts in the near-decade since Corgan took ownership of the 77-year-old name. Beyond the promotion of Tyrus, past transphobic comments made by Corgan, including a self-made claim that he verbally went after a trans woman violently in 2005, resurfaced soon after he bought the promotion.
At the same time, the NWA has featured several out LGBTQ pro wrestlers on its programming during Corgan’s tenure, including multiple trans and non-binary pro wrestlers. The NWA made history on that front as well in 2023 when Max The Impaler became the first non-binary/trans masculine pro wrestler to hold an NWA championship. They later unified the NWA Men’s and Women’s World Television titles, another first for major North American pro wrestling.
Those accomplishments among others earned Max The Impaler the top spot on Outsports’ annual QWI 200 list that year. More recently, Gisele Shaw became the first out trans woman to win an NWA title and the second out trans woman to hold a title for a televised North American promotion.
All of that is to say that the NWA’s history with the LGBTQ community, EFFY’s past comments and the fact that EFFY has already announced a return date with the NWA on June 6 point to what will surely be an interesting month, or possibly even longer.
EFFY won’t be the only queer presence on the show Saturday either. Out pro wrestlers Mateo Valentine and Mad Maurice are also advertised to appear.
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