Darren Young came out publicly as gay in 2013. By doing so, he became the first professional wrestler to ever publicly come out while still signed to a major promotion.
Darren was recently a guest on Cerrito Live where he gave his first interview since his WWE release. One of the topics that came up was the backstage reaction to him coming out.
Young ended up telling a pretty awesome story about how CM Punk reacted backstage. Here is what he said (h/t to Wrestling INC):
“When I came out publicly, I think it was summertime around the time of SummerSlam. And this was when SummerSlam was being hosted at the Staples Center. The summer I came out, he had a match with Brock Lesnar. And right after his match with Brock Lesnar, in catering, he was all iced up from head to toe, and he approached me in catering in front of everybody, and he told me to stand up. I stood up and he gave me a hug. And he said, ‘I’m very proud of you for coming out and being so courageous. If you have any problem with anyone in the locker room because of this, you let me know and I will take care of this.’ And he said this to me in front of everyone in catering. I was shocked! Here he just finished his match with Brock Lesnar and him coming up to me and showing me love was very moving to me.”
Young also said that the Big Show and Randy Orton were very supportive of him:
“CM Punk may be rough around the edges, but he has nothing but love from me. Same with Randy Orton, Big Show, these top guys showed me so much love personally that it made me feel so at ease. It made me feel comfortable. It gave me confidence.”
Speaking of CM Punk, here is what Roman Reigns told him about the legacy that he wants to leave in WWE.
Also, here is a list of matches that would be amazing if CM Punk was in WWE in 2018.