Fred Rosser, FKA Darren Young, discusses his WWE career, Vince McMahon and being LGBTQ (Exclusive)
It's an often overlooked fact that Fred Rosser is one of the true innovators of professional wrestling. Rosser, while under the moniker of Darren Young, became the first ever openly gay active WWE Superstar. Not only this, though, but he's had an incredible career in his own right, being a crucial part of Nexus and participating in one of WWE's most memorable segments of all time when the faction invaded RAW, as well as winning tag team gold with Titus O'Neil, and being paired with the legendary Bob Backlund in WWE.
Well, Fred joined us for Episode 4 of Dropkick DiSKussions to chat about all of the above, and so much more!
First of all, I need to ask, I was actually incredibly naïve while you're in WWE and I thought your name was Darren Young. Where did the name Darren Young come from?
Darren Young actually was developed in Tampa Florida, FCW, Florida Championship Wrestling at the time. That's where my Performance Center was before it moved to Orlando.
It was Dusty Rhodes who was helping all the guys with promos and character development, so Dusty was the one that helped me come up with Darren Young, so I liked to call myself, when I was with WWE, D Young because it sounds more hip and stuff like that, but Darren Young was worked out with Dusty Rhodes.
You were the first ever openly gay WWE Superstar and, to date, you're still the only openly gay male to ever perform inside a WWE ring. How difficult was the decision for you to come out publicly being that you would know you were the first ever person to do so?
Well, for me, there are many reasons why I ultimately came out to the world, but one of the main reasons was because I found love, and my own happiness is more important than anything, even my career.
I sacrificed my career and my childhood dream so I could inspire others to be themselves and accept themselves. I came out because I ultimately wanted to bring my partner... I hate using the word "partner", I wanted to be able to bring my boyfriend to red carpet events, I wanted him to be able to experience what it's like backstage in the masculine world of professional wrestling, so I wanted him to be able to experience what I experienced and be proud to show him off to the world, and I did that.
I didn't realise my story was a big deal when I came out until, of all people, the icon Cher reached out to me on social media and said, because of her hearing my story, one of her friends is a big wrestling fan, so she thanked me and it was at that minute I realised my story was a big f***ing deal.
For my social media, I don't post for the thousands that are going to hate on my post. I post for the one person that is inspired by what I post. So, I would say my fight was much bigger outside of the ring in all actuality, fighting bigotry and hatred, trying to be the voice for the voiceless, when it comes to not only the LGBTQ community but anyone that gets bullied for various reasons.
That is why my whole "Block The Hate" is so near and dear to me because in this world, we all receive hate for various reasons but in order to be strong and successful, we have to block the hate. Especially in crazy times like this in the States and pretty much worldwide, we've got to have each other's back and it's easier to love that it is to hate. Hate is too big of a burden for me or anyone, so I love going and speaking to schools all over the world and sharing my story, giving some motivation, giving people hope out there that, whether you see me on my social media or whether you see me on the big screen, you might identify with me and say, "Do you know what? If Mr No Days Off Fred Rosser can do it, then so can I."
NEXT: Did WWE miss an opportunity?
COMING UP: Darren's relationships with Vince and Bob Backlund