Ahead of his New Zealand debut, pro wrestling powerhouse Brian Cage tells Oliver Hall how gay wrestling pioneer Chris Kanyon challenged his perspective, why bodybuilding has an undeniably queer side, and what happened when Steven Spielberg directed him.
Brian Cage is a very big man.
Known to wrestling fans as ‘The Machine’, the American professional wrestler has spent his career combining the physique of a competitive bodybuilder with the athleticism and agility of performers half his size.
Now, ahead of his first appearance in New Zealand as part of World Series Wrestling’s MegaMania, Cage is reflecting on a career that has taken him from the independent wrestling scene to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) — with an unexpected Hollywood detour along the way.
One of the most important influences on that career was the late Chris Kanyon, a pioneering gay wrestler who became both Cage’s mentor and close friend.
When Kanyon came out to Cage in the mid-2000s, it prompted Cage to confront his own attitudes towards sexuality.
“At first I was shocked, or felt disappointed, for lack of a better word. And then I was so thankful because it showed me I had that attitude.”
Cage remembers asking himself why Kanyon being gay had provoked that reaction in the first place.
Orange Cassidy vs Lio Rush vs Brian Cage vs Rush
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“Does that change his wrestling? No. Does that change my relationship with him? No. Is there anything else different? No. Well, who cares then?”
Kanyon was also, Cage says, an extraordinary performer whose abilities extended well beyond the wrestling ring.
He helped train celebrities including Dennis Rodman and Jay Leno, while also working as a stunt performer in Hollywood.
Cage believes Kanyon’s talent was never fully recognised by the wrestling industry and wonders how differently his career might have unfolded in today’s more accepting environment.
“He was so ahead of his time in the wrestling ring and his moveset. His ability in the ring was so underutilised, so underrated.”
For Cage, changes inside professional wrestling have reflected broader changes in society.
LGBTQ+ performers now have opportunities and visibility that would have been far harder to imagine during much of Kanyon’s career.
One example is Effy’s Big Gay Brunch, the annual LGBTQ+-centred wrestling event that Cage himself has performed at.
While the show embraces a more flamboyant and unconventional side of wrestling, Cage says its audience ultimately wants the same thing as any other wrestling crowd.
“The vast majority are still diehard wrestling fans. They all just want to have fun, have a good time, and watch a good show.”
Cage says wrestling locker rooms have also become considerably more accepting, although he suspects there are still performers who have chosen not to publicly disclose their sexuality.
His perspective on the industry’s progress is grounded in his own experiences — and he repeatedly returns to the idea that, ultimately, what matters is what a wrestler can deliver once they step inside the ring.
Which brings us neatly to another world filled with an extraordinary quantity of muscular male flesh.
Cage recently returned from a lengthy injury absence and, at 42, won the Mr Nevada bodybuilding title.
That means he knows his way around tiny posing trunks, fake tan, oiled muscles and a stage full of extremely large men.
So there is an obvious question.
Is bodybuilding actually super gay?
Cage laughs.
He readily acknowledges bodybuilding’s homoerotic appeal and points to the sport’s historic links with gay muscle fetish culture.
He also has a confession about attending bodybuilding shows.
You might assume a heterosexual man would be particularly interested in watching the women’s bikini division.
Cage, however, finds himself far more excited about the enormous men competing in the open bodybuilding category.
“This is the only event where I feel like it’s not that gay to want to see half-naked guys more than the half-naked girls!”
He remembers sitting through the women’s competition thinking:
“Come on, get these girls off the stage. Where’s the guys?!”
Despite bodybuilding’s obvious appeal to gay audiences, Cage says sexuality itself is rarely openly discussed within bodybuilding circles.
“I would assume it’s hushed up because it’s not really talked about.”
Yet for all his success in bodybuilding, professional wrestling remains Cage’s priority.
And recently that career brought him face-to-face with one of the most famous directors in Hollywood history.
Cage was cast in Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day — although, when he first auditioned, he had no idea Spielberg was behind the film.
His agent simply told him a director named Steven had watched his wrestling footage and wanted him for the production.
Eventually, Cage asked an obvious question.
Who exactly was Steven?
“Oh, it’s Steven Spielberg, by the way,” Cage’s agent casually told him.
Cage also managed to help secure a role in the film for his friend and fellow professional wrestler Lance Archer.
During filming, Cage performed an elaborate sequence of wrestling moves that apparently left Spielberg stunned.
According to Cage, Spielberg exclaimed:
“What the hell? You can do that? You can do that flip?”
There was just one problem.
When Cage later discovered what had made the finished film, his favourite sequence was nowhere to be seen.
“I was so mad! The only cool stuff I did, and Steven Spielberg popped for it so hard. I thought, that’ll for sure be in the movie!”
Cage is now hoping the footage might eventually emerge as a deleted scene or perhaps in a director’s cut.
Still, his agent later pointed out that Cage had already achieved something even some of professional wrestling’s biggest Hollywood crossover stars could not claim.
“Who would have thought that Brian Cage would work with Steven Spielberg before The Rock or John Cena?”
“That’s a pretty good bucket flex right there!”
