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When it comes to professional wrestling, the energy comes from the audience. No matter how dramatic and athletic the in-ring action can be, even with over-the-top storylines and rivalries, the crowd reaction means everything.
To Milhouse Malott, founder of Las Vegas’ PrideStyle Inclusive Pro Wrestling, it’s the ringside mania that makes the match.
“It’s the feral-ness of being allowed—regardless of your identity, gender, or anything—to scream and yell at people, to cheer and boo and flip people off. The action is flying right past your head,” says Malott. “There’s just something about getting to let go and giving into that primal human desire, to be a little crazy for a while and not have to worry about the repercussions of it.”
The adrenaline that comes from watching a masked luchador clothesline a man three times his size never gets old, nor does the shock of seeing a barrel-chested tag team duo like PrideStyle’s Mariachi Montana steamroll through a fatal fourway match to victory. Since 2021, that’s the kind of action this local offshoot has used to turn lukewarm fans into lifelong fanatics—all while powerbombing the bigotry that has been associated in the past with this form of entertainment.
“It catches you off guard until you take a moment to think about just the nature of wrestling and men rolling around in their underwear and putting on soap opera stories for each other,” Malott says. “The core essence of it is quite dramatic and quite queer. Wrestling is a niche that … a lot of people think is a very traditional, cis white male, masculine type of show.
“I think we show, and so many other places show, that it’s such a varied space. The wrestling kids are like the cousins of the theater kids. It’s very much drag, it’s very much theater. Once people peel back that layer of thinking it’s this machismo thing, they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I love wrestling.’”
PrideStyle will host its first Shooting Star Fest this week, a three-day extravaganza bringing 10 companies and eight shows to Swan Dive in the Downtown Arts District. The festival coincides with WWE’s biggest event of the year, WrestleMania, which returns to Las Vegas for the first time since 1993.
“We’ve grown to this place where not only have we gained the respect of our queer peers and allies, but of the wrestling industry as a whole, to the point that we are able to host our own collective, our own festival with people that support not just wrestlers, but inclusive pro wrestling.It feels very triumphant in a lot of ways,” Malott says.
Regional and international promotions participating in the fest also include Vegas’ GrapHouse; Houston’s New Texas Pro Wrestling; Vancouver’s WrestleCore and Dusk Pro Wrestling; France’s Banger Zone Wrestling; Palmdale, California’s New Tradition Lucha Libre; Northern California’s Oasis Pro; Austin’s Uncanny Attractions; and LA’s Pandemonium Pro.
The Shooting Star Fest is just one of many Las Vegas wrestling happenings accompanying the two-night Wrestlemania at Allegiant Stadium. But Malott says he’s confident “our community is going to show out and show up.”
In the span of a few years, PrideStyle has gone from hosting shows for 40 people at the Boulevard Mall to selling out 200 tickets at Swan Dive. It’s become something that unites a diverse local community.
“There’s a group of trans and queer people that come, and it’s their support group’s monthly outing that’s non-therapy related,” he says. “We have couples, queer and non-queer, that their date night every month is to come to PrideStyle. Someone got married in a PrideStyle ring. It’s crazy to see the growth and the love that it’s fostered.”
PRIDESTYLE WRESTLING: SHOOTING STAR FEST April 16-18, times vary, $15-$31. Swan Dive, tickets.pridestylepro.com.
English (US) ·