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Now, you're kind of bringing in a lot more inclusiveness and you're making wrestling a much more tolerant place. We have people in WWE doing that, like Sonya Deville and of course Finn Balor that as well. Even in AEW, there's the likes of Sonny Kiss. Do you think that you have a duty to raise awareness and fight prejudice?
For me, I'm not the first and I won't be the last. I am the first openly gay WWE Superstar so I would say we need more representation out there. We need more athletes speaking up and speaking out, and making it easier for people to just live their truth, and follow their dreams, and not allow the opinions of others to derail them on their journey to greatness.
For me, being the first openly gay wrestler, being the first in anything, honestly, is a big deal but for me, being the first, I've encouraged other athletes.
Also by being the first, I've encouraged wrestling fans all over the world to go after their dreams and keep the head up, and never, never have their heads down. Always keep you head up. If you get knocked down eight times, you get back up nine times. So, I don't play the victim. I'm a fighter, and I'm going to keep fighting until I'm six feet under.
In terms of representation, should Darren Young have been able to be a bit more representative of the LGBTQ community in WWE? Do you feel like you should have been able to be more of Fred Rosser and less of Darren Young?
For me, like, I've been out of WWE, like, over two years now, so I can do one of two things. I could be like some old timers or some former WWE Superstars and be one of those guys that p***es and moans - upset over this, upset over that - but I'm very grateful for all of my experiences with WWE, I'm very grateful for all the friends that I have made.
When I came out, I was very fearful. Fearful of the unknown, fearful of losing my job, but when guys like Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Big Show, Titus O'Neil, Sheamus - when those guys embrace you... CM Punk also, of all people, when they embrace you with open arms, it makes it that much easier for me to walk into a locker room, it makes it much easier for me to go out there and wow the crowd and perform.
It was Mark Henry, years ago, before I came out, he kind of outed me a little bit. I just came up onto the main roster from NXT1, the original NXT, and, at the time, I had this gold sequence around my hair, and my hair was spiky. I felt like I was looking fly, flash and fabulous, but Mark Henry in the locker room said, "Why do you got your hair like that, boy? It makes you look gay." I was just like, blown away. I said, "Mark, I'm just trying to look different, I'm trying to stand out."
Fast forward to when I came out publicly, like I said, he was one of the first guys to embrace me and then he was like, "Boy, how come you didn't tell me? How come you didn't tell me?" I said, "Mark, man, I was fearful of the unknown, man."
I had a great career with WWE. I didn't just come off the football field and get into a WWE ring. I grinded on the independents, I started September 11th, 2002, professional wrestling. One year after 9/11. I grinded it out from 2002 until 2009 until I got signed, May 4th, 20009 out of 75 guys and girls from all of the world. I beat them all out.
The same day I got signed was the same day that AJ lee got signed. So, I'm very happy with the career that I had in WWE, so what do I do now? I take my platform that I built with WWE and I speak to schools, I am heavily involved with the community. I do so much work for the Covenant House here in California that deals with homeless youth, I deal with Athlete Ally, an organisation that deals with athletes that are LGBTQ. I'm involved in so much.
Just recently, it might not be big to anyone else, but it was really big to me. Recently, in South Beach, Miami, Florida, I recently received my biggest honour ever, the Vanguard award and the key to the city - which is a confirmation of something I had done and that motivates me to keep pushing a little harder and I will continue to roll up my sleeves and keep advocating for social change, which is so important to me.
Recently, at World Pride, in New York City, the biggest Pride ever. Over five million people in New York City, and I teamed up with the Gay Officer Action League and it was a celebration for me in the history books, so, to be a part of over five million people in New York at World Pride, representing the Gay Officers Action League was very, very special to me. It was special to me because I had my mom there, who is also gay, and we were representing like no other.
On top of that, on a bucket list of mine was being able to speak at UCLA. So UCLA is a major university here in Southern California and I was able to speak there, and I talked about what motivated me to start my Block The Hate movement, the challenges I faced and the successes that inspired me to continue my work.
For me, there is no quick fix for equality, the quick fix is education and love, so there are so many things that I've been doing since leaving WWE, so many honours that I've been receiving, but like I say, I'm 35 and I feel so alive.
My 20s gelled into my 30s, so like I say one monkey don't stop the show, so I've got to keep moving, keep hustling and I tell everyone, "I'll see you at the finish line." Mr No Days Off just isn't a nickname for me, I always stress that Mr No Days Off is a nickname for male, female, boy, girl, it's for anyone. You take that nickname and you run with it. For me, Mr No Days Off is just a way of life. It's constant grind, constant struggle and loving life and keeping my head up.
NEXT: Darren's relationships with Vince and Bob Backlund
COMING UP: Where will Darren Young wrestle next?
