30-year-old male Champion, inspired by Trish Stratus & Lita, is officially added to the WWE roster

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Now, Aaron Rourke has officially been added to the WWE roster following his EVOLVE title win.

WWE’s Aaron Rourke now joins a very unique list of superstars

As mentioned, Aaron Rourke is an openly gay superstar, and while that’s no big deal in 2026, especially as we have seen LGBTQ+ superstars on both the men’s and women’s side (with the likes of Tegan Nox and Sonya Deville), Rourke ended up making history in quite a big way with his EVOLVE Championship win.

Not only did he join the likes of Sonya Deville and Darren Young as being one of the only openly gay Champions in the sports entertainment giant, but he may have just made history by becoming the first openly gay singles champion in the company’s history. However, this fact can be disputed by many due to one key name – Pat Patterson.

The late Pat Patterson, who also happens to be the first Intercontinental Champion ever, was known to be gay by many for several decades. In that regard, he was the first LGBTQ+ singles Champion in the company’s history, but it should be noted that Patterson himself only came out in 2014. So while it was publicly known that he was gay for decades, it wasn’t made official until after Darren Young came out.

An interview that Aaron Rourke did on the CCP Podcasting was very insightful, as he issued advice to any up-and-coming LGBTQ wrestler. He said that they needed to surround themselves with a support system that enables them to move forward. Rourke said that he had people in his life who told him he can’t be a wrestler as he was “too girly”, but the support of his parents, siblings, WWE, and others pushed him to where he is today.

It’s quite an inspirational story, and you can tell how the likes of Darren Young and Sonya Deville being openly gay paved the way for wrestlers like Rourke to thrive. So while being an LGBTQ wrestler might be normal in the 2026 landscape in wrestling, it’s important to remember how things were before leading up to now.

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