Gisele Shaw, left, and Josh Alexander
Impact Wrestling Knockout Gisele Shaw just came out as transgender in a big way
TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
Gnash@dallasvoice.com
Gisele Shaw has always loved professional wrestling, going all the way back to her childhood days, growing up in Yellowknife, NW Territories in Canada, when she watched wrestling on TV with her family, especially with her grandmother.
“It was something we had in common, something we shared,” Shaw said of watching wrestling with her grandmother. And after her grandmother fell ill and passed away, she said, it was their shared love of the sport that helped Shaw maintain a connection to the grandmother she loved.
She was still living in Edmonton and working as a flight attendant, Shaw said, when the doors into the wrestling world began to open for her. “I would go to the gym with friends, and those friends were friends with some wrestlers. One day they asked if I want to go to a [wrestling] show with them.
“First I asked what kind of wrestling they meant — Olympic wrestling or professional wrestling, because I tried Olympic for about three months in high school. I wasn’t good at it,” she continued with a laugh. “They said no, it was professional wrestling, so I said sure. I went them, and I just fell in love with wrestling all over again.”
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A WRESTLING STAMPEDE
Impact Wrestling world champion Josh Alexander “the quintessential diva” Gisele Shaw will be in Dallas Aug. 26-27 for Lone Star Stampede, two back-to-back nights of professional wrestling starting at 6:30 p.m. each night at The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St.
Tickets start at $28 and are available online at AXS.com/events.
Shaw, who just came out as transgender at Toronto Pride, will also speak during opening ceremonies of the Gay Softball World Series happening Monday , Aug. 29, from 5-9 p.m. at Gilley’s Texas. She will also be throwing out the first pitch at several games during the series.
— Tammye Nash
GSWS
More than 250 teams will participate in the Gay Softball World Series in Dallas on Aug. 29-Sept. 3. That’s includes 5,000 players and attendees representing 48 cities competing in seven divisions.
Play will be spread over fields in four parks — Kiest Park in Oak Cliff, The Parks at Texas Star in Euless, McInnish Park in Carrollton and the Waxahachie Sports Complex in Waxahachie.
Teams will be staying at the Hilton Anatole and Crowne Plaza Market Center.
The host committee needs to fill 1,000 volunteer slots at the games, the hotels and related events. To volunteer, visit VolunteerMark.com/gsws. For more information about the Dallas games, visit DallasGSWS.org.
— David Taffet
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That was when Shaw admitted to herself that being a professional wrestler was her dream. And if she wanted to realize that dream, she just had to take a leap of faith and make it happen. So she found a top-notch wrestling school — Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary — and enrolled.
It was about seven years ago that Shaw started her career as a professional wrestler. Her goal was to join the Impact Wrestling team and become an Impact Knockout (the women wrestlers at Impact are Knockouts, a name they chose for themselves). But she was finding out that the opportunities to become a contract wrestler for Impact, rather than just freelancing, were pretty slim at the time.
Gisele Shaw, center, with fellow Knockouts Tenille Dashwood and Taya Valkyrie
So Shaw decided to take another leap of faith: She moved to the United Kingdom. “I felt like moving to the U.K. would give me a chance to do a lot of wrestling and really start to make an impression. I wanted to build up my reputation, make a name for myself, so that Impact would see me as someone they wanted on their team,” she explained.
Shaw lived and wrestled in the U.K. for about four years before moving back to North America. And about a year ago, she accomplished her goal: She was invited to join the Impact Wrestling team.
Shaw was finally living her dreams. But she was also living with a big secret: She was transgender.
Shaw said that she was 20 years old and still working as a flight attendant when she transitioned. So she was already living as her authentic self by the time she started her career in professional wrestling. None of her colleagues or the fans knew about her past, and she saw no reason to tell them.
“I wanted them to see me as a professional wrestler. Being transgender had nothing to do with it; that was part of who I was, but it was not all I was. If they were going to judge me, I wanted them to judge me as on my skills and abilities as a wrestler, not on something that was just part of me and not about wrestling.”
But it turned out, Shaw’s secret was a heavier load than she realized.
Shaw and a number of other Impact wrestlers were in Dallas last April for Wrestlemania.
GAWTV was in Dallas that same weekend, partnering with the Tag Me In United mental health initiative for Dresslemania II, an auction allowing fans to bid on dresses and gowns donated by stars in the world of women’s wrestling. Shaw attended the event, held at Fairmont Dallas.
“At that event, there was a transgender woman who came up and was talking to me, thanking me for participating and telling me her story, about her struggles,” Shaw said. “And it made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to talk to her, and I had to think really hard about why it made me uncomfortable.”
Then, a couple of months later, Shaw was out with a friend, another woman, at a bar, when she was approached by a woman she did not know, who was obviously inebriated. “She walked up to me, and she said, ‘Can I ask you a question?’ I said ok, and she said, ‘You’re a boy, right?’
“It caught me totally off guard. I just froze; I couldn’t defend myself, and anyway, defending myself would make it seem like there was something wrong with being transgender. And as a wrestler, I’m a public figure, so I can’t just deck people in the face in public.
“So I just took it on the chin. I went home that night, and I cried. A lot,” Shaw continued. “But when I was finished crying, I just realized, I’m done. I’m done with keeping secrets. I am going to live my life authentically, and if people can’t deal with it, that’s their problem.”
One of her first steps was to come out to her friend and fellow Impact wrestler, world champion Josh Alexander. Then step two: an appearance on Toronto’s Breakfast Television in June. That is, Alexander explained, Canada’s version of Good Morning America, “so it’s a big deal.”
Shaw went to the studio for the TV appearance along with Impact’s head of media relations Ross Forman and Scott D’Amore, executive vice president for Impact Wrestling. “I remember sitting there, shaking, wondering, ‘What am I doing here?!’ But at the same time, I knew that once I said it, once I came out, there would be this huge weight taken off my shoulders.”
Then came step three: Toronto Pride.
Various Impact wrestling stars were — and still are — in the process of filming individual documentaries, each telling their own story in hopes of providing inspiration and education about their personal struggles and triumphs and about the world of professional wrestling. The intention was for Shaw to attend the Toronto Pride celebration — her first — and “just kind of stand on the side and watch everything” while filmmakers shot footage for her documentary segment.
“But then Ross said, ‘Hold on a minute.’ Next thing I know, he had contacted the Toronto Pride organizers, and they were just ecstatic to have me there to participate,” Shaw said.
So she participated in the Trans March and gave a speech, coming out once again, at the opening ceremonies. Then on Sunday, the climax of the weekend, Shaw was asked to lead the Pride parade.
“It was a lot,” she laughed. “I mean, I went from zero to 100 just immediately.”
As exhilarating as it was, Shaw said, “I was really scared. I’ve had some terrible experiences in the past. So I was worried how people, the other wrestlers would respond. I call them my family, and we are all so tight-knit. So I was incredibly nervous about going back to work after coming out.”
Fortunately, the response has been amazingly positive: “Everyone has been incredible!” she declared. “I haven’t had any blow-back at all.”
And she won’t see any backlash in the future over it, either, Alexander pledged. “We take care of each other. We police each other, and we police ourselves.” The Impact family, he said, has no room for bigotry.
“Wrestling is a safe space for everybody,” the Impact world champion said. “We will keep it that way. As a dad, thinking of my two kids, I want them to not be afraid to be who they are or to go for their dreams.”
Shaw said her message — not just for other trans people, but for everyone — is to not be afraid to live authentic lives and to reach for their dreams.
“Everyone has their own journey, and no one else can tell you how you have to live,” she said.
“I feel like as a pro wrestler, I have a platform. And I want to use that platform to educate and inspire people. I hope people are inspired by my story and find a way to live their authentic life.
“Oh, and I want people to look at me and be inspired to follow their own dreams. I want them to know that it’s not always the one with all the talent that comes out on top. If you have a good work ethic, then you can always outwork the person who has talent but doesn’t want to do the work.
“So don’t be afraid to go for it.”