Before he wrestles at the home of the Texas Rangers on July 12, 2025, Bowens will serve as the Honorary Grand Marshal of the Dallas Pride Parade this Saturday.
DALLAS — Before he performs at Globe Life Field next month at All Elite Wrestling’s All In: Texas, wrestler Anthony Bowens is in Dallas serving as the Honorary Grand Marshal of the 2025 Dallas Pride Parade.
Bowens was announced last week, along with local actor RJAY, to serve as the Grand Marshals for this year’s parade. While he’s been to pride parades before, Bowens said this will be his first time serving in such a role.
“It’s an honor, because you know, in general, there was a time in my life where I didn’t think that I would have opportunities like these to be myself, to represent the community, to represent a national wrestling company like All Elite Wrestling,” Bowens said about the opportunity. “To be able to combine all of these worlds together while also being the representation for LGBTQ+ talent and queer wrestling fans on TV every week, so it’s really cool.”
Bowens, a gay wrestler, says he always tries to present himself as authentically as possible with an extra twist or flavor due to the heightened nature of professional wrestling.
“You are who you are and whoever you want to portray yourself to be, we have that luxury at AEW because [AEW Owner] Tony [Khan] allows his performers to just go out and be themselves every single week,” Bowens said.
One particularly memorable moment came last year when the wrestler Harley Cameron insisted to Bowens in the ring that he was romantically interested in her, only for Bowens to rebuff her, telling her he was, in fact, gay. This drew a huge positive response from fans, who started chanting “he’s gay.”
“Once I shut her advances down and told her I was gay, the crowd like exploded,” Bowens said. “I think it’s a powerful moment too, because it’s never been said in the wrestling world, so I hope people really appreciated how cool it was.”
Another one of Bowens’ family members went viral recently, his own father. Known as “the godfather of hockey fights,” an old news clip of Bowens’ dad has gone viral on X, showing his massive VHS collection of hockey fights. And Bowens says his dad is still just as much of a fan.
“There’s literally thousands [of tapes],” Bowens said about his dad. “He still has to go through stuff that he’s gotten from NHL teams, AHL, ECHL, IHL, like every hockey league you can think of; he has footage of them.”
Bowens just recently returned to AEW television after breaking up with his longtime tag team partner, Max Caster, with whom he was part of The Acclaimed. Now, Bowens is on his own for the first time in AEW as “The Pride of Pro Wrestling” and “The Five-Tool Player.” A lifelong baseball fan, Bowens says the five tools, in wrestling terms, are power, athleticism, intelligence, the look, and the it-factor.
And since coming back, Bowens has been aiming for the TNT Championship, currently held by Adam Cole. That match may happen when AEW comes to the home of the Texas Rangers on July 12.
For anyone coming to All In: Texas, unfamiliar with AEW, Bowens said they should be in for the time of their lives.
“There’s a little bit of something for everybody at an AEW event,” Bowens said. “We have the most elite roster in the world, that’s where the best wrestle.”
This is the second year in a row AEW has come back for a whole week of shows in North Texas, and Bowens says it’s the energy of the fans that keeps them coming back.
“That energy is infectious, and it helps us in the ring,” Bowens said. “When we have an audience that is exploding and they are making noise and we can hear that they’re having fun, that just kind of honestly makes it more dangerous for us because we start doing even crazier things. But it’s always exciting to be in Texas, to be in front of those fans and I can’t wait to see them.”
For a full line-up of shows the week of All In: Texas and how to get tickets, click here.