Nearly three years to the day that pro wrestling got its first out LGBTQ male world champion, EFFY, perhaps the most-recognized LGBTQ male wrestler in independent wrestling, etched his name into the same record book as pro wrestling’s fourth out world-title holder.
EFFY defeated Mance Warner at Sunday’s Game Changer Wrestling event, “The People vs. GCW,” to win the GCW World championship, planting himself firmly at the peak of the most popular independent pro wrestling promotion in the world.
His path to the title started earlier in the night when EFFY was awarded the number-one contendership after his match against former tag team partner Allie Katch ended prematurely due to Katch breaking multiple bones in her lower leg in a freak accident.
In the main event, EFFY and Warner wrote the latest chapter in their year-plus rivalry in a tough contest that saw chairs, doors, tables and a screwdriver utilized. The victory came after EFFY broke a guitar over Warner’s head and dropped him with his Sack Ryder finisher to secure the pinfall.
the only inauguration that mattered today. pic.twitter.com/92qYKic9Ds
— EFFY. (@EFFYlives) January 20, 2025
“Honored to carry the GCW championship,” EFFY said via X following the match. “Every time you told me how to be me you were wrong,” he added in a later post.
The win makes EFFY the first out LGBTQ wrestler to ever hold the GCW World championship in the company’s 26-year history and the second to hold any GCW singles title alongside retired pro wrestler Sawyer Wreck.
He now joins AC Mack, Alex Kane and Che Monet as the only out LGBTQ male world champions in the 100-plus year history of pro wrestling.
The moment itself was a long time coming for EFFY. First making his GCW debut during WrestleMania weekend in 2019, EFFY grew into a fan favorite and outright staple of the promotion over the last six years to the extent that he is now synonymous with the company.
G C
— EFFY. (@EFFYlives) January 21, 2025
EFFY
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He and Katch made history as the first out LGBTQ champions in GCW history with their GCW Tag Team title win in 2022, established the “EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch” events in cooperation with GCW and logged memorable matches against the likes of four-time AEW World champion Jon Moxley, GCW icon Nick Gage, Matt Cardona and the aforementioned Warner.
“Ride or die, thru thick and thin, till the very end…Congratulations Effy,” said GCW owner Brett Lauderdale via X.
Now that he sits atop GCW, EFFY’s first slate of title defenses will come this weekend when GCW heads to Europe for events in France and England.
Via OutSports
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