The National Wrestling Alliance celebrated its 75th anniversary with a historic moment for LGBTQ pro wrestling courtesy of “The Non-Binary Nightmare” Max The Impaler.
In the opening match of Saturday night’s “NWA 75” event, Max defeated Kenzie Paige to win the NWA Women’s Television championship, becoming the first non-binary champion in the organization’s history.
The night felt special for Max from the jump, with Max entering the ring brandishing the non-binary Pride flag to cheers. The match itself was a rematch of the first NWA Women’s Television title match, which Paige won in April 2023.
Max’s manager, Father James Mitchell, addressed the meaning of the moment in a post-match promo released via social media. As Max happily clutched their newly won title, Mitchell said, “In 75 years, 75 years, the National Wrestling Alliance has never had a non-binary champion and you are looking at the first.”
The Prophecy fulfilled. @_theyaremax_ is your new NWA World Television Champion after defeating @KenziePaige_1 at #NWA75
— NWA (@nwa) August 27, 2023
Making important history in the process! pic.twitter.com/GPMeV9zc1c
The title win adds to the list of Max’s accomplishments since debuting for the company last year. They won the Mildred Burke Invitational last year to earn a NWA World Women’s title match. Max became the first non-binary wrestler in NWA history, the first to challenge for a world title, compete in the Crockett Cup tournament (a tag team tournament typically reserved for male competitors) and nearly earned a shot at the male NWA Television title.
But Max’s weekend wasn’t done. They entered the Mildred Burke Invitational later that night and Night 2of “NWA 75” on Sunday saw Max defend their title against Ruthie Jay.
Max’s victory took on even more significance because of anti-LGBTQ statements made by then-NWA heavyweight champion and Fox News talking head Tyrus just days before the event took place. On Aug. 21 during an appearance on Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” program, Tyrus jumped on the tired topic of pronouns as a means of denigrating trans and non-binary people. “If my kids came home and said, ‘Daddy, my pronouns are this, this and this,’ yeah, my pronoun would be ass-whooping,” Tyrus said.
THEY/THEM https://t.co/YWSQE8dYje
— Max The Impaler マックス・ジ・インペイラー (@_theyaremax_) August 27, 2023
Tyrus’ comments drew ire, as they were meant to, with much of the focus put on his seemingly positive attitude toward physically abusing his children over hypothetically expressing their identity with language the entire world uses.
Despite that hanging over the event in fans’ eyes, Max showed the strength (literally in many cases) that trans and non-binary individuals continue to hold and cultivate in the face of continual bigotry. Max is the NWA Women’s Television champion, and anyone who has a problem with it now has to survive the wasteland. Good luck.
Outsports congratulates Max The Impaler on their historic championship win and continuing to show that courage is contagious.