Pro Wrestler ‘Money’ Matt Cage Comes Out Of The Closet: ‘I Truly Have Nothing To Hide’

Independent circuit professional wrestler “Money” Matt Cage has come out as gay, E! Online is reporting.

The 26-year-old Cage (real name: Matt Hullum), lives in the Chicago suburbs and has been making his a name for himself working the independent circuit. And in a Facebook post dated June 18, but that is just now gaining national attention, Cage did something rare for a male professional athlete: he came out of the closet.

“One of the biggest fears in my life has been rejection. I’m not sure why. I was never the most popular kid in school or in my neighborhood, but I always had a plethora of friends in many different cliques. I was never really rejected by anyone that I hung out with in one clique for hanging out with people in another, yet I always feared being rejected. But as I’ve grown older and continued down the road of adulthood, I have discovered that I truly don’t care as much about rejection anymore. And I why should I? My friends will like me for me, flaws and all. My family will love me for me. My peers will respect me for my work. And complete strangers can think whatever they want, because they’re strangers and they don’t know me.”

“That being said, it makes it much easier to post here publicly that I’m gay.”

Although the hyper-masculine world of professional wrestling may not seem like a welcoming place for a gay man, at least one professional wrestling organization – The WWE – has embarked on public campaigns to discourage bullying and promote acceptance of the LGBTQ community, according to New Now Next.

“Our mission at WWE is to put smiles on people’s faces and we do that, in part, by participating in initiatives that help fight bullying of all kinds. We are proud to support the LBGT community by taking part in the WWE NOH8 [No Hate] Campaign.”

Of course, Matt Cage is not the first professional male athlete to come out as gay: perhaps the most well-known gay male pro athlete in the U.S. is former Missouri football star Michael Sam, who unfortunately has failed to have much of a career in pro football.

Perhaps as “Money” Matt Cage works his way up through the ranks of professional wrestling, he’ll eventually find a home at the WWE, where gay athletes would appear to be welcome.

[Image courtesy of: Facebook]