Trans wrestling event sets debut after T Boy Wrestling collapse

T4T Wrestling, a spiritual successor to the now-defunct T Boy Wrestling spearheaded by multi-time QWI Award-winning pro wrestler Kidd Bandit, now has a start date.

The brand celebrated the launch of its social media accounts Sunday by announcing its first event will take place on July 3 in Los Angeles, opening submissions for people interested in performing at the event and sharing a mission statement steeped in trans, nonbinary and queer empowerment.

“Express yourself through storytelling, music, drag, dance and stage combat all fused with the spectacle of pro wrestling,” T4T Wrestling said via Instagram. “This is a space for bold ideas, bigger personalities and unapologetic self-expression.”

Bandit announced the then-unnamed project last month, stating she was working with a selection of the production team that helped build T Boy Wrestling into a national phenomenon before allegations of financial malfeasance by the brand’s co-founder, Mich Miller, brought down the entire brand.

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“The Protagonist of Pro Wrestling” pointed to her own experiences working at T Boy Wrestling events as a major reason why she took up the mantle to bring something like it back with more structure and less centralized power.

“The match I had with Richie [Coy] was good, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since,” Bandit said during an appearance on the LGBT In The Ring podcast last month. “It was so loud. I’ve never felt that way.

“Divorced from the scandal was how it made people feel. I’m no stranger to people coming up to me and telling me ‘You’re the reason I was made more comfortable transitioning’ and I’m always grateful to hear these stories about how I’m affecting people’s lives. What I saw was something very similar to that where now this is a thing that is genuinely empowering, bringing people out of their shells, bringing a community together. There were so many beautiful elements to this.”

T4T Wrestling is taking a different approach out of the gate, focusing on the cooperative performance of pro wrestling rather than amateur wrestling and building out what the promotion is calling a “boot camp” for those who wish to participate in its debut event, or “recital” as the company calls it.

The “boot camp” is a 10-week training program developed to “help participants develop and fine tune a short live performance” across a variety of performance art mediums ranging from pro wrestling to drag to dance or any combination of them.

While the training process is meant to prepare participants for July 3, Bandit also hopes that those who want to continue in pro wrestling can see T4T Wrestling as a jumping off point for their journeys.

“[T Boy Wrestling participants] weren’t really trained to be wrestlers. They were trained to just fill a slot in the show. What we’re hoping to do is make this a serious pathway to becoming a pro wrestler,” Bandit said. “We want you guys to be able to take this craft, mold it into your own and then make money or go out there and be additional representation for the community.

“This isn’t for the approval of the wrestling crowd. This is for the queer community. It’s not like I can’t tap into my resources and bring in capable folks. I want this to be serious because wrestling is important to me, and if it can give the same kind of level of empowerment that it gave me to our potential signups, all the better.”

T4T Wrestling is now accepting signups for its first “boot camp,” which begins on April 26, ahead of its debut event on July 3.

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