How this wrestler combined 2 forms of entertainment to build a community

An event that takes place on Saturday evening in Phoenix combines two forms of entertainment that you may not think at first glance. But Charles Pelayo, a former professional wrestler and co-founder of Wrestledrag, says, in fact, they really do it.

Wrestledrag is a professional wrestling company which also includes Drag’s performance. Pelayo says it is not, however, the fight of Drag Queens. Pelayo, which bears the name of Charles Cassus inside the ring, says that there are three shows per year, including that on Saturday.

Pelayo joined the series to talk more about it, starting with what thought was bringing these two forms of entertainment together.

Amber Victoria Singer / Kjzz

Complete conversation

Charles Pelayo: So, my trading partner, he is part of a softball team, La, the gay softball team, and he likes the Drag. I love the professional struggle and I did it for over 10 years and I went out in 2019. I always make a joke that I go out outside the pandemic.

So I released in December 2019 and, I started to get more involved in the community trying to discover me and one of my students, his brother hangs out, so I went with their mother to my first dragster show to see, their name is Beatrix Bella Rouge. I went to see it play and I saw, like a dragster race and stuff like that, but to see it in person, it was like a different experience and you realize very quickly that professional struggle and trail is quite similar.

Mark Brodie: What are the similarities between professional struggle and Drag programs? Because in a way on the surface, one seems to be a very very, very much in Macho business and the other does not really do it.

Pelayo: Yes, and that was the case, I think that for a very long time, it has been presented as the Super Macho as if we were just going to fight each other. And but if you think about it, we are human beings who dress in outfits to go to play for money, let’s hope.

So, it’s a more violence space, of course, but on the surface, when you really think about it, we are just dressing in nice costumes, brilliant outfits. We play, we play different types of characters. We hope to make money and get more popularity, and we return home.

Brodie: Do you find that other people establish this link between the similarities between professional struggle and Drag emissions? For example, I just wonder if the Venn diagram of people who are fans of these two things, as how many people are in this central circle there?

Pelayo: Yes, I think that if you are a fan of the two, especially, you can, you can see the similarities. For our shows like Wrestle Drag, it was great because we will have people who come for the Drag and the people who come for the fight, but they see the whole show.

Brodie: They live the other first.

Pelayo: Exactly, and they are so much as there is, “oh it was exciting”, and just that it is the combination or just the attraction of it. But, I did not, at least for me, came to see me afterwards and said: “I like the struggle, but the trail was UGH”, or vice versa. As if they came right and said to themselves: “This show was entertaining.”

Brodie: How was it for you to grow up fighting and even, you know, as a young adult, as a professional wrestler and somehow understand who you were as a person, in a field where, you know, there are LGBT characters, but they are characters and they tend to be somehow represented in a very specific way?

Pelayo: Yeah, as, at the time, I would say that in my opinion, I think it was very, because it was so macho. You had, these are all professional wrestlers, then here is our attraction of the gay wrestler, and that was all they were known. So the gay wrestler was only this unique thing that corresponds to each stereotype.

So, like the goal of the struggle, it is to show that we have a complete list of each part of the LGBTQ community, the allies and the queens and everything. But, you do not get the same thing again and again as they are personalities, they are different characters, different human beings, different experiences, like everything in one, and you are just there to be entertained and we are somehow reducing everything: “We only need one, right?

And for me growing up, I mean, I grew up in a very macho house, and for me, the fight was a great escape. So, as I started fighting, even if it was more open, it was more inclusive, it was always a little terrifying, and the way I seem, the way I introduced myself a little more because I said to myself: “I will be looked at in a certain way.

It was, it was a scary process and once I understood exactly like where I was standing and who I was, I said to myself: “Ok, now I take that with me forever or I go out and if I go out, should I be ready to no longer fight, not be accepted?”

But, when I got out the experience and the most positive and most overwhelming response when I did it, it was crazy. It was incredible, just all the support that I obtained like all directions.

Brodie: It’s interesting because I wonder if, even perhaps unconsciously, you know, as a wrestler, as we have spoken, you play a character and as you try to understand who you are, then how to let other people know, I imagine in some respects outside anyway, before going out, you also play a character, perhaps a struggle.

Pelayo: Oh yeah, my. I was told that my character was essentially my Shadow Self. So that was all I couldn’t be or I wanted to be. In real life, I am not a conflicting person. R3 or Charles Cassus, very conflicting. I am not tall like violence. R3, Cassus, very violent. So, if you see, it’s funny because even people see my photos of me and me on speed and they say: “I know it’s you, but they look like two different human beings.”

And when I got out, one of the things I didn’t want to do is feed, like stereotypes. As now that I have come out, I don’t want to be known, I don’t want it to be the thing. I can always. And yes, I mean that the best part was to be able to represent my community. All my equipment, on my clothes and be more open to stuff, and it helped in all aspects, as if it was such a huge weight.

Brodie: Did you find that in a way, having experience with the game of a character, in fact, it was a bit as who you really are, did he help in one way or another in your decision to go out ultimately?

Pelayo: Oh yes, definitely, just people, the struggle has become and is always like all my life, so meeting people and listening to experiences and simply learning from all this, because you are somehow thrown the wolves you have, you have to be in a way and have certain features.

It’s funny because I was afraid of going out because I thought I would lose the struggle, but the struggle and everyone in it helped me make the decision to go out at the end.

Brodie: For you, Wrestledrag takes on a different meaning this year, taking into account what is happening nationally, you know, for the LGBTQ community?

Pelayo: Oh yeah, totally. I mean, so the upcoming show is our three -year anniversary, and we have always had, like the message of fans, for example for our wrestlers, for the staff, and we are just trying to help people within the community.

We have collected funds for scholarships. And yes, now with, such as the potential funding of certain charities and hotlines like this is more important than ever, even if it is as simple as providing a space so that someone feels comfortable and safe for three hours and entertained.

And so that we simply reassure the crowd, so that I can go there and say: “Hey, that’s, here is the message, we will continue, we are not going to stop the show”, because obviously, when things like that happen. There is a fear, like: “Hey, if we make programs, we will close. Will it not be allowed?” But, I don’t think we can live, and I don’t want to live like that, so we will continue to do the shows, providing space. But, if all we can do is provide space and help the charitable organizations whenever we can, I think it’s worth doing.