Photograph courtesy Heather Gonzales
Rhinegeist’s taproom will transform into the ultimate wresting and drag extravaganza on Friday, November 14 for Cincinnati Pride’s fourth annual “Power! Pride! Pro Wrestling!” event. An all-star lineup of local wrestlers and drag queens will take to the ring, like the night’s host Kora Sline, reigning champion of Divine Pro Wresting Stxrm Garcon, and Marti Belle from NWA and Ring of Honor.
“From the wrestlers to the drag queens, the ref, the host, everybody falls under the rainbow somewhere,” says the event’s promoter and booker Heather Gonzales.
Gonzales helped create “Power! Pride! Pro Wrestling!” in 2021 when she was brought onto the board of Cincinnati Pride as the co-chair for athletics. Knowing her background in the world of professional wrestling (Gonzales has around two decades of wrestling experience fighting under the name Heather “Hardcore” Owens), sought out her help to organize a combination drag and wrestling show. The first event would be put on at Humble Monk Brewing in 2022 and quickly grew a massive following.
Photograph courtesy Heather Gonzales
Part of what Cincinnati Pride and Gonzales wanted to do with PPPW was have a full lineup of wrestlers that fell under the LGBTQ+ umbrella—this proved itself difficult in the beginning. “I was in the wrestling business for 15 plus years, so I had the connections. I knew the wrestlers, but there were a lot that were gay, but they weren’t out completely. They wanted to be a part of my show, but not yet,” says Gonzales.
Thanks to the event’s overwhelming success that first year, finding talent no longer became an issue. “I actually had two Facebook messages from wrestlers all the way down in Nashville that said, ‘Hey, if you’re still looking for talent for the show, we’d love to work for you.’ So it’s out there. People want to wrestle.”
Photograph courtesy Heather Gonzales
This year’s wrestlers will have five individual face-offs including “The Iced-Out Knockout” Avery Hurts vs. “Island Fury” Taino, “The Mean Girl” Austin Blayze vs. “Bi-Furious” Cameron Saturn, “The Queerbilly” GG Jacobs vs. “Miss Spontaneous Bootay” Super Oprah, a title-defending match between “The Main Event” Stxrm Garcon and “The Midwest Muscle Mommy” Juniper Gates, and “Dominican Dynamite” Marti Belle vs. “Grand Slam” Karter Cauffman.
Between the matches, attendees will get to see some of the city’s best drag queens perform like Kora Sline, P.H. Dee, Stixen Stones, and Brock Leah Spears as well as music from DJ Boywife.
“One of the coolest things about having the drag and wrestling show combined, is that I’ve had people who’ve gone to drag shows that have never been to a wrestling show and vice versa,” says Gonzales. “Or like these two old ladies, love wrestling. They would always sit in the front row for all the local federations around here. Never went to a drag show. This was their very first drag show. And they’re like ‘This was the greatest thing we’ve ever seen!’ They’re experiencing something that they would have never experienced elsewhere.”
Photograph courtesy Heather Gonzales
Of course, the parallels between drag and professional wrestling are quite obvious for those who’ve had a foot in both worlds long before this event was created. “You’re putting on costumes, performing for a crowd to get a reaction. You put on tights and dance around out there in front of everyone, how this is not different?” says Gonzales. “If you went to a drag show, you’d see some amazing dancing and splits and things like that. But then you get into the wrestling ring and you have these guys doing flips off the ropes. This is just having both of it combined.”
Cincinnati Pride and Gonzales hope the success of PPPW and other sports events like Reds Pride Night, FCC Pride Night, and Cyclones Shut Out the Hate Night are building stronger connections between the queer community and athletic world.
“I do have that moment and just going out there and standing in the back and watching the reaction from the crowd. It blows my mind how much they are enjoying themselves. There are just smiles everywhere, whether it’s a good guy bad guy, they’re, you know, poking jabs, it’s such a good atmosphere.”
“Power! Pride! Pro Wrestling!” will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 14 at Rhinegeist Brewery in Over-the-Rhine. Tickets are $13. Proceeds go to Cincinnati Pride and there will also be a canned food drive for Catino Choice Pantry at the Neyer Outreach Center.
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